Familiar faces top PNGA Women's Am brackets

PULLMAN, WA (July 10, 2018) - Alivia Brown of Gig Harbor, Wash., shot rounds of 68-69 to earn medalist honors in the 117th Pacific Northwest Women’s Amateur while Amanda Jacobs of Portland shot rounds of 70-74 to earn the No. 1 seed in the 17th Pacific Northwest Women’s Mid-Amateur Championship. Both championships are being played concurrently this week on the par-72 Palouse Ridge Golf Club in Pullman, Wash. They are conducted by the Pacific Northwest Golf Association (PNGA).

Brown and Jacobs have earned the No. 1 seed heading into their respective match-play brackets. Thirty-two players advance to match play for the Women’s Amateur while 16 players in the Women’s Mid-Amateur advance.

The format will now be single-elimination match play Each match will be conducted over 18 holes with the exception of the Women’s Amateur final match, which will be contested over 36 holes on Friday July 13.

Brown finished runner-up in the 2015 PNGA Women’s Amateur. She is a recent graduate of Washington State University, where she played four years on the women’s golf team and is playing this championship on the team’s home course of Palouse Ridge. She had won the 2015 Washington State Women’s Amateur and was named the 2015 WSGA Women’s Player of the Year.

The No. 2 seed in the Women’s Amateur is Gigi Stoll of Tigard, Ore., who recently led her University Arizona women’s golf team to the NCAA Division I National Title. Stoll made it to the quarterfinals of last year’s Women’s Amateur and has been named PNGA Women’s Player of the Year three times (2014, 2015, 2017).

In the Women’s Mid-Amateur, Jacobs will be tough to beat. She has won this championship twice (2014, 2016), made it the semifinals in last year’s championship, and was named the PNGA Women’s Mid-Amateur Player of the Year in 2015, 2016 and 2017.

The No. 2 seed in the Mid-Amateur is Gretchen Johnson, also of Portland. Johnson finished runner-up in last year’s championship and will be looking to take it all the way this year.

Also making it to match play in the Mid-Amateur is Alison Murdoch of Victoria, B.C., who has won this title twice (2006, 2008) and in 2013 was inducted into the Pacific Northwest Golf Hall of Fame.

Palouse Ridge Golf Club was designed by John Harbottle III and opened in 2008. Located on the campus of Washington State University, it is the home course for the school’s golf teams, and has hosted numerous local and regional championships, including the 2009 Washington State Amateur, the Pac-12 Championship for men and women, the NCAA Division I West Regional, as well as several USGA national championship qualifiers.