Two PNGA Championships
For daily updates on the PNGA Junior Boys’ Amateur Championship, click here. For the PNGA Junior Girls’ Amateur Championship, click here.
The 58th Pacific Northwest Junior Girls’ Amateur Championship is set to begin on August 12at The Links Golf Club in Post Falls, Idaho. The region’s finest girl junior golfers will compete Monday through Thursday for top honors.
The 59th Pacific Northwest Junior Boys’ Amateur Championship is set to begin on August 12 at the Westin Bear Mountain Golf Resort and Spa in Victoria, B.C. as 114 of the best junior golfers in the region will compete for top honors.
Both championships are being conducted by the Pacific Northwest Golf Association.
At last year’s Junior Boys’ championship, Kevin Vigna of Coquitlam, B.C defeated friend and fellow junior club member at Vancouver (B.C.) Golf Club, Lucas Gatto, 4 and 2 in the Final match to win the 58th Pacific Northwest Junior Boys’ Amateur Championship, which was held at Port Ludlow (Wash.) Golf Club. Vigna returns to the championship this year to defend his title.
The rich history of the PNGA Junior Boys’ Amateur Championship has included past champions World Golf Hall of Fame member Fred Couples, Web.com Tour player Alex Prugh, and Andrew Yun, who earlier this summer won the prestigious Sahalee Players Championship. When asked for his advice to junior golfers, Couples once said, “To any youngster, I would say hang in there. You are playing the toughest sport there is. The highs and lows of golf are so great because it is an individual sport. Let the good times roll with the bad times.”
Among the players to watch for at the Junior Girls’ championship are Bree Wanderscheid of Goldendale, Wash. who qualified for the 2012 U.S. Girls’ Junior.
Last year Jordan Ferreira of University Place, Wash. won the championship, which was held at Sunland G&CC in Sequim, Wash. Ferreira would go on to receive the 2012 WSGA Junior Girls’ Player of the Year award for the second consecutive year.
Assisting in preparing the course for the championship at The Links GC is PGA and LPGA Head Golf Professional Patti Marquis. The first female to receive a full athletic scholarship at the University of Washington, Marquis went on to receive Teacher of the Year honors in 2003 from the Pacific Northwest Section PGA, and in 2005 was named one of the top golf instructors in the U.S. by Golf Magazine. As a player, she still holds 26 course records. “We’re absolutely thrilled to be hosting this championship,” said Marquis, who competed in this event several times as a junior player. “I also totally get how to set up the course for these young players.” A big supporter of junior golf, Marquis said her club offers junior rates seven days a week.
The rich history of the Pacific Northwest Junior Girls’ Amateur Championship has included past champions Jo Ann Washam, Peggy Conley, Joan Edwards-Powell, Mary Budke, and JoAnne Gunderson Carner, all of whom would later be inducted into the PNGA Hall of Fame after storied amateur and professional careers. Other past champions include current LPGA Tour players Paige Mackenzie and Jimin Kang.
