Papatolis jumps out to early Senior Women’s Amateur lead; Darrington on top in Super Senior
Renton, Wash. – Tina Papatolis (Issaquah) shot a 5-over par 76 to lead the 37th PNGA Senior Women’s Amateur at that total, while Karen Darrington (Boise) shot a 7-over par 78 and leads the 15th PNGA Super Senior Women’s Amateur.
Both championships are being held this week, Sept. 8-10, at Fairwood Golf & Country Club in Renton, Wash.
Conditions Tuesday were mostly sunny with temperatures in the 70s, though wind gusts of up to 10 miles-per-hour made scoring conditions moderately difficult.
Championship Links
Making her debut in the senior championship, Papatolis’ leading scorecard could have been even better if not for a particularly troublesome hole. Even par through her opening eight holes, Papatolis triple-bogeyed the par-5 ninth, resulting in her going out in 38. On the back side, she carded two more bogeys and a double, but birdies on the 12th and 18th holes mitigated some of those dropped shots. Another side of 38 gave her a 5-over total that is currently one stroke better than that of Sarah Gallagher (Canton, Ga., +6).
Papatolis has an established track record in mid-amateur competition. She won the PNGA Women’s Mid-Amateur in 2019 and 2023 and won the Washington Women’s Mid-Am in 2019, 2025 and 2026. Newly eligible for senior competition this year, Papatolis placed in a tie for second at the 2026 Washington Senior Women’s Amateur.
Behind Papatolis and Gallagher are Sharon Lorenzo (Seattle, +8), and the 9-over trio of Sheryl Scott (Boise), June Zhang (Coquitlam, B.C.) and Josee Deslauriers (Parksville, BC).
In the Super Senior division, Darrington did all she needed to maintain control of the solo lead, not carding a double bogey or worse throughout her round and making no score higher than a 5 on a hole. Her total of 78 was the only sub-80 round of the super senior division.
Darrington has never won a PNGA title but is one of the greatest players her home state of Idaho has produced. She has over 20 victories in IGA competition and has won its state Women’s Amateur, Mid-Am and Senior Am at least six times each.
Kathryn Wright (Camas, Wash.) is three shots adrift of Darrington at 10-over. Also in the super senior mix are Ginny Burkey (Eugene, Ore.) Kyoungsook Cho (Easton, Wash.) and two-time winner Penny Gibbons (Vancouver, Wash.), who are all five back at 12-over.
These championships are two of 11 major, regional, amateur championships for men, women, juniors and seniors conducted annually by the PNGA throughout the Northwest.
