Jason Huff medals at 51st PNGA Men’s Master-40 Amateur; match-play bracket set
Walla Walla, Wash. – Jason Huff of Moscow, Idaho shot rounds of 66-67 (-11) to earn medalist honors at the 51st PNGA Men’s Master-40 Amateur. The championship is being held this week, Aug. 3-7, at Wine Valley Golf Club in Walla Walla, Wash.
With stroke play complete, the field has been cut to the low 32 players ahead of the match-play portion of the championship. The rounds of 32 and 16 will be held tomorrow, August 5, followed by the quarterfinals and semifinals on Thursday, with the championship match following on Friday, August 7. Each match will be contested over 18 holes.
Championship Links
Huff had a morning (7:40) tee time Monday and shot 66. Playing later (10:20) Tuesday, Huff put on a similar performance. He opened with birdie-bogey, but picked up three more of the former to go out in 33, just as he did in round 1. He birdied the 10th and carded three straight pars before finishing with an odd five-hole stretch of birdie-bogey-birdie-bogey-birdie. It still added up to a 5-under 67, sticking him at a top-seed-clinching 11-under par for the stroke play portion.
Huff is prominent in the West Idaho golf community. Last fall, he won his fourth straight Whing Ding Sole Survivor championship – a Labor Day event at Lewiston (Idaho) Golf & Country Club – and sixth overall.
As stroke-play medalist, Huff will be the No. 1 seed in match-play.
Behind Huff on the leaderboard, Reid Hatley (Hayden Lake, Idaho, -10) took solo second, followed by Jack Meehan (Woodinville, Wash., -8) in third.
Kris Martonik (Kennewick, Wash.) and defending Champion Nate Smith (Tetonia, Idaho) are tied for fourth at 6-under.
Other notables to advance to match play include Paul Hogben (Seattle), Erik Hanson (Kirkland, Wash.) and Nate Hair (Spokane Valley, Wash.). Hanson and Hair won the PNGA Men’s Master-40 in 2017 and 2014, respectively.
To be eligible for this championship, players must have been 40 years of age or older by August 3, 2026. They also must have had an up-to-date USGA Handicap Index or Golf Canada Handicap Factor not exceeding 8.4 at the time of entry and be a member in good standing of a PNGA Member Association.
The Pacific Northwest Men’s Master-40 Amateur is one of 11 major, regional, amateur championships for men, women, juniors, and seniors conducted annually by the PNGA throughout the Northwest.
About Wine Valley
Wine Valley Golf Club was designed by Northwest architect Dan Hixson and opened in 2009. The long, treeless course sits some seven miles west of Walla Walla, among the rolling waves of pure Eastern Washington prairie. Built on land that once was wheat and alfalfa fields, Wine Valley is one of the state’s most expansive courses, measuring a little more than 7,600 yards at its longest. It has been an ideal location for Northwest championship golf, having hosted the PNGA Men’s Amateur three times, the Washington Men’s Amateur twice, and the Northwest Open Invitational a total of 12 times, among an assortment of other events.
