Ko advances, Martirez takes down Keel in 115th Women’s Amateur; Proteau marches on in Women’s Mid-Amateur

It may seem an upset on the surface, but when Samantha Martirez of the Philippines handily defeated Jisoo Keel of Coquitlam, B.C. in this morning’s quarterfinal match in the 115th Pacific Northwest Women’s Amateur, it’s really not surprising. Earlier this summer, Martirez won the international championship, RSGC AmBank Junior Amateur against an elite international field.

In this afternoon’s semifinal match, Martirez will face Princess Superal of Sun City, Calif. Superal is a past champion of the RSGC AmBank Junior, and also won the 2014 U.S. Girls’ Junior. Their match begins at 12:39 today.

Keel, who last month won the BC Women’s Amateur, had tied for the top spot in this championship’s stroke-play qualifying, losing the No. 1 seed in a playoff to Naomi Ko.

Ko qualified for this summer’s U.S. Women’s Open. She defeated Ellen Secor of Portland, Ore. this morning, and will face Michelle Kim of Surrey, B.C. in this afternoon’s semifinal match. Kim had also tied for the top spot in the stroke-play qualifying, but lost the top seed to Ko. Kim plays on the women’s golf team at the University of Idaho, and is a member of the Canadian National Team.

Christina Proteau, meanwhile, continues her march through the match-play bracket of the 15th Pacific Northwest Women’s Mid-Amateur. The No. 1 seed, of Port Alberni, B.C., won her first two matches by the margins of 9 and 8, and 7 and 6. She’ll tee off this afternoon at 12:48 in the semifinal match against Shawn Farmer of Renton, Wash., who won the 2014 Washington State Women’s Mid-Amateur.