Gliege/Warkentin Share Medalist Honors at 61st PNGA Junior Boys’ Amateur
Joshua Gliege of Eagle, Idaho and Sam Warkentin of Bainbridge Island, Wash., each shot two-round totals of nine-under-par 135 at Wildhorse Resort in Pendleton, Ore. to claim Medalist Honors at the 61st Pacific Northwest Junior Boys’ Amateur Championship.
Warkentin and Gliege played in the same group both days and battled to take the top two seeds heading into the Championship Flight with match playing beginning tomorrow.
Warkentin, who is committed to play at the University of Washington is the defending champion of this event, winning last year at Emerald Valley Golf Club in Creswell, Ore. He enters the Championship Flight coming off a win in the Washington Junior Golf Association’s State Championship last week at Bremerton, Wash.’s Gold Mountain Golf Complex., which he also claimed last year.
Gliege, a Texas A&M committ has qualified for the last three U.S. Junior Boys’ Amateur Championships, and claimed the 2015 High School 5A Idaho State Championship.
Joe Klemencic of Seattle, Wash., Roy Kang of North Vancouver, B.C., and Nicholas Nolan of Bellingham, Wash., each shot seven-under-par scores of 137 over Monday and Tuesday to claim seeds three through five.
Jack Plaster of Spokane, Wash. and Christopher Mogg of Sammamish, Wash. finished at six-under-par 138, while Ryan Maine of Spokane, Wash. and Spencer Tibbits of Vancouver, Wash. both posted scores of five-under-par 139.
Match play begins tomorrow with the lowest 32 players from Monday and Tuesday’s stroke-play qualifying entering the Championship Flight, with all other players divided into flights of eight players each based on their scores in qualifying.
Five players entered a playoff to determine the 32nd and final seed in the Championship flight. Andrew Spalti of Vancouver, B.C. made a birdie on the first playoff hole to claim the last place. Spalti holed a long birdie putt to end the contest after just one hole.
Head to www.thepnga.org to find Wednesday’s match-play pairings.
The Championship Match will be held on Friday, August 14th and will be played over 36 holes.
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, and Andrew Yun, who earlier this summer won 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.”
Follow along on www.thepnga.org for updates and news following each round, and use the hashtag #PNGAJrBoysAm to participate on Twitter.