Arora earns No. 1 seed at PNGA Women’s Amateur; Jacobs medals at Mid-Amateur; match-play brackets set
DuPont, Wash. – Angela Arora of Surrey, B.C. shot rounds of 68-73 to earn medalist honors in the 119th PNGA Women’s Amateur Championship; while Amanda Jacobs of Portland shot rounds of 68-67 to easily earn medalist honors in the 19th PNGA Women’s Mid-Amateur.
Both championships are being held concurrently this week at The Home Course in DuPont, Wash. and are conducted by the Pacific Northwest Golf Association (PNGA).
Arora and Jacobs have earned the No. 1 seeds in their respective match-play brackets. For the Women’s Amateur, 32 players advance to match play, while 16 players advance in the Women’s Mid-Amateur bracket.
The format will now be 18-hole single-elimination match play starting Wednesday, July 21, with the final match for each being contested on Friday, July 23. The Women’s Amateur will have a 36-hole final match, and the Mid-Amateur final match will be contested over 18 holes.
For stroke-play qualifying results and match-play bracket pairings and tee times, click here for the Women’s Amateur and here for the Women’s Mid-Amateur.
Arora had not played The Home Course before her practice round last weekend. “I like this course, and it’s in great condition,” she said. Arora made the journey across the border from Canada, but didn’t seem phased by it. “It was no problem coming here, but it will be a challenge going home because I’ll have to take a lot of (COVID) tests.”
Arora has competed previously in a PNGA Junior Girls’ Amateur, and is now in her second year playing on the Canadian National Junior Team. Last year she won both the B.C. Girls’ and Juvenile championships in 2020. After today’s qualifying round, she said she loves match play, and is looking forward to the rest of the week.
Click here to watch Arora’s post-round interview.
Jacobs’ two-round total of 9-under-par lapped the field, finishing 10 shots ahead of second-place finisher Jacqueline Bendrick of Mercer Island, Wash.
“I’m not sure where this came from,” Jacobs said, leaving the scoring table after today’s second round. “I put a lot of shots close to the hole, and when you have putts of 15 feet or less you’re going to make a few of them.”
Jacobs says she personally loves match play. “It’s just the hole you’re looking at, and in stroke play your playing the course and trying to protect yourself against the field.” Jacobs said she is playing more tournament golf this year, as opposed to last year when she played a lot of casual golf because a lot of tournaments were canceled. She competed in the Oregon Amateur two weeks ago.
For Jacobs, this is the third consecutive No. 1 seeding she has earned in the Women’s Mid-Amateur (last year’s championship was canceled due to COVID-19). She has her sights on her fourth title in this championship, having won in 2014, 2016 and 2018. Jacobs is a three-time PNGA Women’s Mid-Amateur Player of the Year (2015, 2016 and 2017).
