Rodgers and McDonald to meet in PNGA Junior Boys’ final; Breedlove and Hsiao to face off in Junior Girls’
Pendleton, Ore. – Jake Rodgers of Mulino, Ore. will face Braxton McDonald of Coldstream, B.C. in the final match of the 67th PNGA Junior Boys’ Amateur Championship; while Jillian Breedlove of Pasco, Wash. will square off against June Hsiao of South Surrey, B.C. in the final match of the 66th PNGA Junior Girls’ Amateur.
The final matches for both championships will each be contested over 36 holes on Friday, August 19th at Wildhorse Golf Course in Pendleton, Ore. The Junior Boys’ final match will tee off at 7:30am, and the Junior Girls’ final will tee off at 7:40am.
Championship Links:
Junior Boys’:
Junior Girls’:
Rodgers, the No. 21 seed in the bracket, earned a spot in tomorrow’s 36-hole final match by defeating Grady Millar of Vancouver, Wash. 4&3 in this morning’s quarterfinal round before defeating No. 1 seed Max Herendeen of Bellevue, Wash. in this afternoon’s semifinal. Rodgers was required to play some extremely good golf in the semifinal round, he finished at 9-under par, while his opponent Herendeen shot 7-under in a tightly contested match.
McDonald, the No. 14 seed in the bracket, earned a spot in the final match after defeating Trey LeCheminant of Yakima, Wash. in the quarterfinals and defeating Ryan Vest of Vernon, B.C. in the semifinal by a score of 1 up.
In June, Rodgers finished runner-up in the Bob Norquist Oregon Junior Amateur, and he advanced to the match-play round of 32 at the Oregon Amateur Championship. Last month he advanced to match play at the PNGA Men’s Amateur Championship. He will be a senior in high-school this fall.
The 16-year-old McDonald is a regular on the British Columbia junior golf circuit. Last month he finished in the top-20 at the British Columbia Men’s Amateur Championship.
In the Junior Girls’, Breedlove, the No. 4 seed, won her morning quarterfinal match 3&2 over Nicole Koong of Sammamish, Wash. before defeating Jade Gruher of Camas, Wash. in this afternoon’s semifinal by a score of 2&1 to secure a spot in the final match.
Hsiao, the No. 2 seed, earned a spot in the 36-hole final match by winning her quarterfinal match 2&1 over Erin Lee of Langley, B.C. and defeating Jasmine Chen of Camas, Wash. 2&1 in this afternoon’s semifinal.
Earlier this summer, Breedlove won the WJGA District 4 Championship, earlier this month she finished T5 in the WJGA State Championship. As a junior this past year, she finished 4th in the WIAA Girls’ State Golf Championship.
At 15-years-old, Hsiao is the youngest player remaining across both championships. Last year she finished 5th in the B.C. Juvenile Girls’ championship. This is the first PNGA championship she has competed in.
The two championships are being held concurrently August 15-19, and are being conducted by the Pacific Northwest Golf Association (PNGA). Both championships are considered as counting events for the World Amateur Golf Ranking, as well as AJGA Performance Based Entry.