Spencer Tibbits and Ellie Slama are the 2016 Oregon Junior Golf Players of the Year
Spencer Tibbits
(OGA Photo)
WOODBURN, OR (September 26, 2016) -- Ellie Slama
(Salem, Ore.) and Spencer Tibbits (Vancouver, Wash.)
have been named 2016 Oregon Junior Golf Players of
the Year, announced Sunday by Oregon Junior Golf and
the Oregon Golf Association.
The announcement marks the second consecutive
year that both Slama and Tibbits have earned Player of
the Year honors.
Slama, 17, backed up her historic year in 2015 with
another fantastic showing in 2016. She earned one
Oregon Junior Golf major victory at this year’s Peter
Jacobsen Junior Challenge held at Trysting Tree Golf
Club in Corvallis, Ore. in June. She finished runner-up in
the two biggest OJG events of the year – the Oregon
Junior Amateur Championship and the Oregon Junior
Stroke Play Championship. Regionally, Slama earned
the win at the 2016 PNGA Junior Girls’ Amateur.
In national events, Slama qualified for and
advanced to the round of 64 at the U.S. Girls’ Junior
Amateur Championship. She finished T-7 at the 2016
IMG Academy Junior World Golf Championships, and
also represented Oregon and Oregon Junior Golf at the
2016 Girls’ Junior Americas Cup, where she finished as
the team’s low-scorer, earning a T-18 finish.
Tibbits, 17, followed last year’s impressive year
with yet another one in 2016. He started the summer
with back-to-back wins at the Oregon Junior Amateur
and the Oregon Junior Stroke Play Championships. At
the 2016 PNGA Junior Boys’ Amateur Championship,
Tibbits advanced to the round of 16 after finishing
second in stroke play qualifying.
Nationally, Tibbits qualified for the 2016 U.S. Junior
Amateur Championship, and at this year’s Hogan Cup
Team Matches, he finished T-13 individually and helped
Team Oregon #1 win the team title for the first time
since 2008.
Both players also competed in the 2016 Junior PGA
Championship, after both won their division at the 2016
Pacific Northwest Junior PGA Championship. Slama and
Tibbits both made the cut and finished T-23 and T-21,
respectively, at the national championship.