Quarterfinals set at PNGA Women’s Amateur; Medalist Renner advances at Men’s Amateur
The quarterfinal matches are set, and the round of 32 matches have been respectively determined at the 122nd playing of the PNGA Women’s and Men’s Amateur Championships.
Both championships are being held this week, with the Women’s being conducted at Tacoma Country & Golf Club in Tacoma, Wash., and the Men’s at Wine Valley Golf Club in Walla Walla, Wash.
Women’s Championship Links:
Men’s Championship Links:
In the Women’s Amateur championship, day one of stroke play featured the rounds of 32 and 16. Medalist and No. 1 seed Amber Li from Bellevue, Wash. won her morning match in the round of 32 but was defeated 2&1 in the round of 16 by Niuniu Zhao of Woodinville, Wash.
Zhao, 13, defeated four-time PNGA Women’s Mid-Amateur player of the year Amanda Jacobs from Portland, Ore. in the round of 32, and in Thursday morning’s quarterfinal match, she will take on reigning PNGA Women’s Mid-Amateur player of the year Gretchen Johnson of Portland.
Women’s Amateur quarterfinal matches:
- (16) Niuniu Zhao vs. (9) Gretchen Johnson
- (4) Kennedy Knox – Normandy Park, Wash. vs. (5) Hannah Reeves – Stanthorpe, Australia
- (2) Kyra Ly – Portland, Ore. vs. (7) Justice Bosio – Caboolture, Australia
- (3) Chloe Chan – Hong Kong, China vs. (6) Grace Lee – Bellevue, Wash.
In the Men’s Amateur, medalist and No. 1 seed Sam Renner from Bend, Ore. kept up his hot play and handily advanced to the round of 32 with a 6&4 win over Ruben Ruiz from Tucson, Ariz. Renner was bogey-free and 4-under through 14 holes at the conclusion of today’s match. He will take on Naoki Easterday from Portland, Ore. in Thursday morning’s round of 32 match.
Other notables to advance to the round of 32 include last year’s runner-up Ben Borgida from Shoreline, Wash., 2022 PNGA Men’s Mid-Amateur player of the year Andrew Von Lossow from Spokane, Wash., and two-time (2017-18) PNGA Junior Boys’ Amateur champion Drew Warford from Snoqualmie, Wash.
Quarterfinal matches in the Women’s Amateur get underway Thursday morning at 7:30 am at Tacoma Country & Golf Club, with the semifinals to follow in the afternoon. The round of 32 in the Men’s Amateur begins Thursday at 7:00 am, followed by the round of 16.
First held in 1899, these two championships are among the oldest amateur golf championships in the world. Players in the Men’s will compete for the Macan Cup, which is named after legendary golf course architect A.V. Macan, a member of the Pacific Northwest Golf Hall of Fame and winner of this championship in 1913.
Past champions in the Men’s include names such as Tiger Woods, Jeff Quinney, Ben Crane, Jeff Coston, Nick Flanagan, Jim McLean and Pacific Northwest Golf Hall of Famers Chandler Egan, Harry Givan, Jack Westland, Bud Ward and George Holland, among many others.
For the Women, this will be first time that the winner of the championship will earn an exemption into this year’s U.S. Women’s Amateur, to be held August 5-11 at Southern Hills Country Club in Tulsa, Okla. This opportunity has led to an exceptionally strong field in this year’s PNGA Women’s Amateur.
Past champions in the Women’s include Pacific Northwest Golf Hall of Famers who made up the Golden Age of female golfers in the Northwest such as JoAnne Carner, Jo Ann Washam, Pat Lesser Harbottle, Edean Ihlanfeldt, Violet Pooly Sweeney, Marcia Fisher, and Betty Jean Hulteng, among others. Past champions also include many others who would later go on to the LPGA Tour, such as Jimin Kang, Peggy Conley, Ruth Jessen and Shirley Englehorn.
The PNGA Men’s and Women’s Amateur Championships are among the 11 major, regional, amateur championships for men, women, juniors, and seniors conducted annually by the PNGA throughout the Northwest.
