Kern Takes Medalist Honors in Qualifying for Sahalee Players Championship
Charles Kern of Mercer Island, Wash. shot a 4-under par 68 to take medalist honors in leading the field at the Sahalee Players Championship (SPC) qualifier held today at The Home Course in DuPont, Wash.
This qualifier was conducted by the Pacific Northwest Golf Association (PNGA), which assists in administering the SPC.
Kern, Jake McRoberts of Kirkland, Wash. and Spencer Weiss of Sammamish, Wash. all earned spots to play in the 21st Sahalee Players Championship, which will be held at Sahalee Country Club in Sammamish, Wash. on June 30-July 2, 2014.
Kern, a senior at the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia, is a member at Sahalee, as is Weiss, who will be playing at the University of Washington next year. Weiss won a two-hole playoff in today’s qualifier for the final available spot into the SPC.
This year the SPC field will consist of 66 of the top amateur golfers from around the world. Among the players committed to play is Scottie Scheffler, the young phenom from Texas who finished tied for 22nd last month in the PGA Tour’s HP Byron Nelson Championship and who is currently the No. 3-ranked amateur in the world. Also playing will be Cheng-Tsung Pan, the senior-to-be at the University of Washington who qualified for last year’s U.S. Open and has qualified for next month’s British Open, and who last year was ranked as the No. 1 amateur in the world. Bryson Dechambeau, who finished tied for second in last year’s SPC and is currently the No. 8-ranked amateur in the world, will be returning this year to Sahalee.
For a complete list of players, and with their competitive bios, committed to the 2014 Sahalee Players Championship, please click here.
Past champions of this prestigious amateur championship include Kyle Stanley, Casey Martin, Peter Uihlein, Nick Taylor, Daniel Summerhays, Ryan Moore, Chris Williams, Arron Oberholser and Jason Gore, among others.
Five of the past 10 SPC champions were winners of the Ben Hogan Award, given to the nation’s top collegiate golfer. More than a dozen SPC participants have gone on to play on the PGA Tour.
This year will mark the 21st installment of the Sahalee Players Championship. In addition to the 2010 U.S. Senior Open, which was won by Bernhard Langer, Sahalee also tested the world’s best when it hosted the 1998 PGA Championship, won by Vijay Singh, and the 2002 World Golf Championships-NEC Invitational, won by Craig Parry.
The PNGA partnered with Sahalee Country Club 15 years ago to create the “Western Swing” with the Pacific Northwest Men’s Amateur Championship. The Sahalee Players Championship is the first leg of the swing, with the Pacific Northwest Men’s Amateur being played the following week. The two championships combined with a primary goal of providing amateur golfers in the West an opportunity to play two major national amateur championships without having to travel to the East Coast. This year will mark the 113th Pacific Northwest Men’s Amateur Championship, and will be held July 6-11 at Palouse Ridge Golf Club in Pullman, Wash.
Visit www.sahaleeplayerschampionship.com for more information.
