Welcome to the "116th PNGA Women's Amateur Championship" Event Portal
Renton, Wash. - Fairwood Golf and Country Club in Renton, Wash. will host some of the best women amateur golfers in the Pacific Northwest and beyond as the 116th Pacific Northwest Women's Amateur and 16th Pacific Northwest Women's Mid-Amateur championships will be held concurrently July 17-21.
Both championships are conducted by the Pacific Northwest Golf Association (PNGA).
Each championship begins with 36 holes of stoke-play qualifying on July 17-18, followed by 18-hole single-elimination match play, with the final match for each being contested on July 21. The Women's Amateur will have a 36-hole final match, and the Mid-Amateur final match will be contested over 18 holes. The field this year will include players from Oregon, Washington, Idaho, British Columbia, Alberta, Arizona, Montana, Utah, California and the Philippines.
For tee times, pairings and to follow along with live scoring, visit www.thepnga.org.
To stay connected on social media, follow @PNGALIVE on Twitter for live updates and use the hashtag #PNGAWomensAm.
Last year's championships concluded on the Prospector course at Suncadia Resort in Cle Elum, Wash. when Princess Superal of Sun City, Calif. defeated Naomi Ko of Victoria, B.C. 6 and 5 in the Women's Amateur, while Amanda Jacobs of Portland, Ore. defeated Shawn Farmer of Renton, Wash. 3 and 2 in the Women's Mid-Amateur.
There is an exceptionally strong field in this year's Women's Amateur. In the first group of the day in the first round of stroke-play qualifying, teeing off at 7:30 am on July 17, are Julianne Alvarez and Karen Miyamoto, both of Seattle, and Gigi Stoll of Tigard, Ore. Last week all three players qualified for the 2017 U.S. Women's Amateur, with Stoll taking medalist honors.
Stoll is a rising junior at the University of Arizona, and last month she won her third Oregon Women's Amateur title. She is a two-time recipient of the PNGA Women's Player of the Year award (2014, 2015), and also named the 2013 PNGA Junior Girls' Player of the Year.
Alvarez and Miyamoto are teammates on the University of Washington women's golf team, and last month Alvarez won the Washington State Women's Amateur, with Miyamoto finishing second. Alvarez, a native of New Zealand, has twice won the New Zealand Amateur (2013, 2015).
Others in the field include Jisoo Keel of Coquitlam, B.C. who won the 2016 BC Women's Amateur, and was twice named the PNGA Junior Girls' Player of the Year (2011, 2012); Kelly Hooper of Spokane, Wash., who won the 2015 PNGA Junior Girls' Amateur; Naomi Ko of Victoria, B.C., the 2014 PNGA Junior Girls' Player of the Year and 2016 PNGA Women's Player of the Year who also won the 2016 Canadian Junior Girls' National Championship and qualified for the 2016 LPGA Tour's Cambia Portland Classic; and Marianne Li of Bellevue, Wash., who won the 2016 Washington State Women's Amateur.
In the Women's Mid-Amateur, Jacobs will return to defend her title, and will be trying for her third title in this championship, having also won in 2014. Farmer, last year's runner-up to Jacobs, is also in the field, along with past champions Alison Murdoch (2006, 2008) of Victoria, B.C. and Sandra Turbide (2010, 2011) of Maple Ridge, B.C. Christina Proteau of Port Alberni, B.C., a three-time PNGA Women's Mid-Amateur Player of the Year (2012-14), is another Canadian player to keep an eye on.
Jacobs was named the PNGA Women's Mid-Amateur Player of the Year in 2015 and 2016, and Murdoch was inducted into the PNGA Hall of Fame in 2013.
First held in 1899, the Pacific Northwest Women's Amateur Championship is one of the oldest amateur golf championships in the world. Past champions include Pacific Northwest Golf Hall of Famers who made up the Golden Age of female golfers in the Northwest such as JoAnne Gunderson 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 Pacific Northwest Women's Amateur and Mid-Amateur are two of 15 major, regional, amateur championships for men, women, juniors, and seniors conducted annually by the PNGA throughout the Northwest.
The PNGA was founded on February 4, 1899. It is a 501c3 charitable, international, amateur golf association dedicated to preserving the true spirit of golf by supporting its allied associations, conducting quality championships, and promoting activities beneficial to golfers in the Pacific Northwest. For more than a century, the Association has been a pioneer in developing competitions and services and its mission has grown and evolved. Today, the PNGA remains committed to being a truly regional organization providing benefits and services to its members and member clubs throughout the Northwest.