Emerald Valley Golf Club Set to Host 60th Pacific Northwest Junior Boys’ Amateur
The 60th Pacific Northwest Junior Boys’ Amateur Championship is set to begin on Monday, August 11 as the best junior golfers in the region will compete for top honors. The championship will be held August 11-15 at Emerald Valley Golf & Resort in Creswell, Ore. and is being conducted by the Pacific Northwest Golf Association (PNGA).
The championship consists of 36 holes of stroke play qualifying to determine flights for the match play portion of the championship. The lowest 32 scorers from the qualifying round will advance to the Championship Flight, with each of the remaining flights being comprised of eight contestants. All matches are contested over 18 holes in a single elimination format, with the exception of the championship match on Friday which will be played over 36 holes.
Results will be posted daily on the PNGA website.
Last year, Frank Garber of Kirkland, Wash. defeated Kevin Vigna of Coquitlam, B.C. 1-up by winning the 36th hole in their match. Garber would go on to be named the 2013 PNGA Junior Boys’ Player of the Year. Vigna was attempting to defend his title, having won the championship in 2012.
The rich history of the PNGA Junior Boys’ Amateur Championship has included past champions World Golf Hall of Fame member Fred Couples, Web.com Tour player Alex Prugh, John Bodenhamer who now is a senior director at the USGA, and Andrew Yun, a past champion of the prestigious Sahalee Players Championship. When asked for his advice to junior golfers, Couples once said, “To any youngster, I would say hang in there. You are playing the toughest sport there is. The highs and lows of golf are so great because it is an individual sport. Let the good times roll with the bad times.”
To be eligible for the Pacific Northwest Junior Boys’ Amateur Championship, contestants must not have reached their 18th birthday by the final day of the competition. This is one of 15 regional championships conducted annually by the PNGA.
Emerald Valley has been the site of numerous state and regional championships, as well as USGA national championship qualifiers. It hosted the 2007 Pacific Northwest Men’s Amateur Championship.
