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Sep 8, 2026

Northwest juniors show their game on local and national stages

by Logan Groeneveld-Meijer

Summertime is when golf is at its most playable. Not just because of sunshine, but also inactive academic schedules that allow the best junior players across the Northwest to make names for themselves through exceptional tournament play. That much was evident again this year.

In Moscow, Idaho, for instance, where Vandal Golf Course at the University of Idaho hosted the PNGA Junior Boys’ and Girls’ Amateur championships in August, Christian Harlow (Vancouver, Wash.) a complete start-to-finish performance good enough to earn himself the honor of being the 71st Boys’ Champion. Harlow was the boys’ stroke play medalist, having recorded cool rounds of 65-63. He had a couple close calls as he progressed through match play but eventually claimed the title by way of an 8 & 7 win in the final match.

Prior to his near-perfect week at Vandal, Harlow had finished second in the WIAA 1A State Championship earlier this year.

Amanda Peng won the 2026 PNGA Junior Girls’ Amateur.

In the PNGA Junior Girls’ Amateur, Amanda Peng (Bellevue, Wash.) took the title by way of a 3 & 2 win in the final match. Peng entered the week’s match play portion as the No. 2 seed and clinched each of her four matches with at least two holes remaining.

Peng is an incoming high school junior whose excellent results go beyond Moscow. In June, she placed third in the Washington Women’s Amateur at Walla Walla (Wash.) Country Club. Most prominently, Peng won the individual girls’ 16-18 title at the WJGA Cup, a little over a month after she placed second in the Washington State Junior Amateur.

Clairey Lin won a national title at the U.S. Girls’ Junior.

Harlow and Peng’s wins only contributed to the larger success total delivered from the Northwest contingent of players this summer. Clairey Lin, for instance, who hails from Langley, B.C., earned herself a USGA national title at the U.S. Girls’ Junior Championship in July. Ranked 54th in the World Amateur Golf Rankings (WAGR), Lin has become one of the world’s best, and not just because of the USGA win. In May, Lin finished second in the AJGA Thunderbird Heather Farr Classic, fourth in the GolfBC Group BC Women’s Open and second again at the RLX Ralph Lauren Junior Classic and. For good measure, she earned a spot in the Wyndham Cup.

At the U.S. Girls’ Junior, Lin defeated Amelie Zalsman – herself one of the world’s best junior players – 5 & 4 in the final match.

Madeleine Conser won both the Oregon Women’s Amateur and the Bob Norquest Oregon Junior Girls’ Amateur. (USGA)

Portland’s Madeleine Conser just cannot stop winning. She had springboarded into the summer having already won the Mizuno West Coast Classic, Sacramento Junior Championship and AJGA Junior at Geneva during the spring season. At the turn of the season, Conser won the Bob Norquist Oregon Junior Girls’ Amateur too, as well as the Oregon Women’s Amateur, a historic, all-age event.

Like Clairey, Madeleine advanced to match play at the U.S. Girls’ Junior and showed exceptional mettle once there. In the Round of 32, Conser outlasted Bella Dovhey in 24 holes, after being 2-down to Dovhey following the 15th. Returning to OGA competition a few weeks after that, Conser won the Girls’ Junior Americas Cup, marking her 8th WAGR-counting win.

Conser is a member of the high school class of 2027 and committed to play college golf at the University of Kentucky.

Nicole Tang (Bellevue) won the Washington State Junior Amateur last year, and followed that up in August this year with a WJGA State Championship victory at Manito Golf and Country Club in Spokane, Wash. With rounds of 70-69, Tang won by three shots over hometown friend Peng. Tang is now sixth in the WJGA Player of the Year points standings.

On the boys’ side, Connor Holden’s competitive mettle in his home state has been well-documented. The OGA phenom won the boys’ 14-18 open divisions at the 2026 Peter Jacobsen Junior Challenge and Klamath Basin Junior Championship, to go with his international triumphs in the 2026 Callaway FCG World Championship, boys 15–18. Prior to that, Holden won the 2026 FCG Callaway West Coast Championship, college prep division.

Ewan Baldwin has continued to make noise for Vancouver Island in B.C., qualifying for the U.S. Junior Amateur. In a qualifier for that tournament at Chilliwack (B.C.) Golf Club, Baldwin showed off his skills by shooting 30 on his back nine, good enough to earn himself a medal and entry into the prestigious USGA championship that the likes of Jordan Spieth, Scottie Scheffler and others have won.

Atop the WJGA Player of the Year Points list is Ethan Schwan, who scored a win at the WJGA Players Open. He also placed second in both the WJGA Cup and WJGA Eastern Open. His stellar form is not limited to just WJGA competition, a fact he showed by winning the PNW Junior PGA Championship and tying for ninth at the Washington Men’s Amateur.

Taighan Chea (Bothell, Wash.) played well enough in 2025 to be named Washington Junior Boys Player of the Year, and his 2026 statistics have remained consistent. He placed third in the Washington State Junior Amateur, and second in the WJGA Joel Dahmen Invitational, part of a points season good enough to place him second as of Mid-August.

Aydin Mawjee won the 2026 Junior World Championships.

Aydin Mawjee is maintaining trajectory on what should be a remarkable competitive junior career. Taking on the Uswing Mojing Junior World Championships in the 13-14 division, Mawjee took victory by taking the back nine of the vaunted Torrey Pines South Course in 32, finishing at a 7-under par total.

Mawjee – an always-motivated kid who’s been known to design 3D print models of putters – still has three more high school years at The Bush School to keep refining his short game.

Briggs Winfree has the unique distinction of being a golfer from Alaska, and the 17-year-old has been making his results count in 2026. He placed third in the 2026 Palencia Junior Open (boys 16-18 division) on the Florida-based Hurricane Junior Golf Tour, and himself conquered U.S. Junior qualifying to advance to the tournament.

Winfree has one year remaining at the Junior Players Golf Academy in Hilton Head, South Carolina.

The boys’ side of the WJGA State Championship was taken home by Jack Brigham (Spokane). Brigham’s hometown victory at Manito came several weeks after he placed in a tie for second at the WJGA District 5 Championship.

On the team side of things, it was all about Idaho at the 2026 Hogan Cup. The Gem State’s team of Justin Anderson, Korben Kowitz, Andy Metzler and Aidan Szentenai shot a 36-hole gross total of even par, three shots clear of team Southern California. Anderson’s two rounds of 70 were a large part of his team’s success, and he won the individual championship.

As August turns to September and the 2026 golf season wanes, leaves on trees may change, but the level of golf talent in our region will all but continue to thrive.