First Round of Stroke Play Qualifying in the Pacific Northwest Men’s Amateur, Women’s Amateur and Women’s Mid-Amateur Championships
Men’s Amateur
After a nearly four-hour stoppage of play this afternoon due to lightning, play resumed this evening during the first round of stroke play qualifying in the 114th Pacific Northwest Men’s Amateur Championship, being held at Sunriver (Ore.) Resort. Today, the 168-man field played the resort’s Woodlands course, with tomorrow’s second round of qualifying scheduled to take place on the resort’s Meadows course.
Nearly half the field will have to come back tomorrow morning to finish their round at Woodlands, before heading over to the Meadows course to play their second round. With a full field, it will make for a long day for many of the players.
Those able to finish their round today, and posting an early good score, include Dylan Wu of Medford, Ore., who shot a 4-under par 67. Wu finished runner-up last month at the Oregon Amateur. Sitting at 5-under par is Anthony Quayle of Australia, whose round include an eagle 2 at the 398-yard par-4 third hole, when he holed his second shot from the fairway.
The rounds of the day seem to belong to Justin Wiles of Klamath Falls, Ore., who blistered the front nine of Woodlands, pouring in six birdies and making the turn at 6-under par before play was halted at 3:04 pm this afternoon, and then stumbling a bit as he started his second nine this evening; and also to Charlie Kern of Mercer Island, Wash., who had an afternoon tee time but the stoppage in play didn’t seem to bother him, as he carded six 3’s on his front nine this evening, a nine that included an eagle on the par-5 sixth hole. The big-hitting Kern finished T-7 last week at the Sahalee Players Championship.
After tomorrow’s second round of qualifying, the low 64 players will advance to single elimination match play.
Women’s Amateur
In today’s first round of stroke play qualifying in the 114th Pacific Northwest Women’s Amateur Championship being held at BanBury Golf Course in Eagle, Idaho, Gabrielle Barker of Caldwell, Idaho shot a 3-under par 68 and has a 2-stroke lead over Marianne Li of Bellevue, Wash. going into tomorrow’s second round of qualifying.
Barker had three birdies in her round. She double-bogeyed the par-3 16th hole, but rebounded by eagling the par-5 18th hole. Last week Barker won the Idaho Women’s State Amateur.
After tomorrow’s second round of qualifying, the field will be cut to the low 32 players, who will then advance to single-elimination match play.
Women’s Mid-Amateur
In the first round of stroke play qualifying in the 14th Pacific Northwest Women’s Mid-Amateur, being held concurrently at BanBury GC, Karen Darrington of Boise, a perennially contender on Team IGA at the PNGA Cup, birdied the par-5 18th hole to finish at 2-under par 69 and grab a 1-shot lead over Lani Elston of Milwaukie, Ore.
Players are competing for the seeding into the match play bracket. After tomorrow’s second round of stroke play qualifying, players will advance to single-elimination match play.