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Aug 16, 2017

Some upsets at PNGA Junior Boys’ Amateur; favorites advance, barely, in Junior Girls’

Scotty Kennon of Bandon, Ore. easily advanced through the match play bracket today, winning his Round of 32 and 16 matches, and will face Gyan Bains of DuPont, Wash. tomorrow, August 17, in the quarterfinals of the 63rd Pacific Northwest Junior Boys’ Amateur.

Kennon is the No. 1 seed in the match play bracket. He is looking to add to his already-impressive playing resume. In 2017 he has qualified for the U.S. Junior Amateur and the Junior World Championships, was selected to represent Team Oregon at the Junior America’s Cup and the Hogan Cup, and finished runner-up at the Oregon Junior Amateur for the 14-15 age division. In 2015, he won the PNW PGA Junior Championship in the 12-and-under age division.

In this morning’s Round of 32, Spencer Tibbits of Vancouver, Wash. fell 1-up to Nate Stember of Portland, Ore. Tibbits was named the PNGA Junior Boys’ Player of the Year last year. But Stember is no pushover, having already competed in the U.S. Junior Amateur, the PGA Junior Championship, and this year was selected for Team Oregon in the Hogan Cup.

In this afternoon’s Round of 16, Stember then dispatched his Hogan Cup teammate, Austin Carnese, also of Portland, 4 and 3.

In tomorrow’s quarterfinals, Stember will face Drew Reinke of Meridian, Idaho. It was Reinke who easily handled Sean Kato, the No. 2 seed, in the afternoon’s Round of 16, 5 and 4. Last month Kato had won the Washington State Junior Championship.

In the 62nd Pacific Northwest Junior Girls’ Amateur, Cassie Kim of Yakima, Wash. had all she could handle with Taylor Koch of Puyallup, Wash. in today’s Round of 16. Kim, the No. 1 seed in the match play bracket, lost the first hole to Koch, the No. 16 seed, and it just kept getting worse. She was 3-down at the turn, and still 2-down after 14 holes. But Koch bogeyed three of the final four holes, including the final hole, and Kim pulled out the win, 1-up.

Kim has a great year going. Earlier this season she won the individual title at the WIAA 4A High School State Championship. She also finished third earlier this month in the Washington State Junior Championship, and qualified for the 2017 Junior World Championships.

Also advancing in the Junior Girls’ is Brittany Kwon of Bremerton, Wash., who won 8 and 7 over Hailey Oster of Camas, Wash. Kwon is a past champion of this event (winning it in 2014), and last year was the runner-up. She is the No. 2 seed this week. Earlier this spring, Kwon won her second consecutive WIAA 3A High School State Championship.

Montgomery Ferreira of University Place, Wash. defeated her younger sister Gabrielle, 2 and 1.

The quarterfinal and semifinal matches for both championships will be held tomorrow (Thursday), August 17.

For brackets, tee times, pairings and to follow along with live scoring, click here for Junior Boys’ and here for Junior Girls’.

To stay connected on social media, follow @PNGALIVE on Twitter for live updates, and use the hashtag #PNGAJunior.

The two championships are being held concurrently at Sandpines Golf Links in Florence, Ore. and are conducted by the Pacific Northwest Golf Association (PNGA).