Kang and Gliege to Meet in Final Match at 61st PNGA Junior Boys’ Amateur Championship
Roy Kang of North Vancouver, B.C. and Joshua Gliege of Eagle, Idaho will meet in tomorrow’s final match at the 61st Pacific Northwest Junior Boys’ Amateur, which is being held at Wildhorse Resort in Pendleton, Ore.
The 36-hole final match will begin tomorrow morning at 7:30 a.m. PDT. Visit the PNGA website to follow along with live scoring of the final match. To stay connected on social media, follow @PNGALIVE on Twitter for live updates, and much more, and use the hashtag #PNGAJrBoysAm.
The championship is being conducted by the Pacific Northwest Golf Association (PNGA).
Kang defeated Brody Bonfilio of Boise, Idaho 2-up in this morning’s quarterfinal match, and then in the afternoon’s semifinal match he defeated defending champion Sam Warkentin of Bainbridge Island, Wash., 2 and 1. Warkentin had cruised through the bracket, and in this morning’s quarterfinal match had defeated Spencer Tibbits of Vancouver, Wash. 4 and 3 by going 10-under par in the match’s 15 holes. In this afternoon’s semifinal match against Kang, Warkentin continued his hot playing with consecutive birdies on the first five holes, taking a 2-up lead over Kang. But Kang came back, and closed out the match, and the upset, on the par-4 17th hole with a birdie.
“I’ve been working hard on my game this summer back home, but have still be struggling,” Kang said. “So a win tomorrow would make everything different.”
For Gliege, who has committed to play next year at Texas A&M, breezed through his bracket, winning his previous three matches by margins of 7 and 5, 6 and 5, and 6 and 4. “I’ve never played a 36-hole match,” he said. “I’m really looking forward to tomorrow. It will be exciting. It’s a lot of golf to play, and it’s been a long week that really does take the best player to win, so it would be awesome to win.”
Both players will be looking to add their name to the rich history of the PNGA Junior Boys’ Amateur Championship, which includes past champions such as World Golf Hall of Fame member Fred Couples, Web.com Tour players Alex Prugh and Andrew Yun, and John Bodenhamer, the former CEO and executive director of the PNGA who now is a senior director at the USGA.
Wildhorse Resort is located in northern Oregon in the city of Pendleton. The course was host to the 2012 PNGA Men’s Master-40 Championship and is hosting the PNGA Junior Boys’ Amateur for the first time.
