Lauryn Nguyen wins 120th PNGA Women’s Amateur Championship

Lauryn Nguyen of Seattle, Wash. won the 120th PNGA Women’s Amateur Championship with a 7&6 victory over Angela Arora of Surrey, B.C.; while Amanda Jacobs of Portland, Ore. won the 20th PNGA Women’s Mid-Amateur with a 1-up victory over Gretchen Johnson of Portland, Ore.

Both championships were held concurrently at Salishan Golf Links in Gleneden Beach, Ore. and were conducted by the Pacific Northwest Golf Association (PNGA).

Each championship began with 36 holes of stroke-play qualifying on July 11-12, followed by 18-hole single-elimination match play, with the final match for each being contested on Friday, July 15. The Women’s Amateur was a 36-hole final match, and the Mid-Amateur final match was contested over 18 holes.

In today’s final match in the Women’s Amateur, Nguyen found herself in a hole as she was 3-down to Arora after the first 12 holes. Then, the momentum shifted.

Nguyen went on an absolute tear, winning four of the final six holes in the morning 18 and then birdieing holes two through six in the afternoon round to build a 6-up lead. This shift in momentum was too much for Arora to overcome as she won just one hole the rest of the way and Nguyen cruised to a 7&6 victory.

“I feel pretty good, it was a really solid week and I played with some pretty amazing people,” said Nguyen, “I gained a lot of experience.”

Nguyen is a rising sophomore on the Northwestern University women’s golf team. In 2022 she was named the Big Ten Freshman of the Year and in 2020 she was named the WA Golf Junior Girls’ Player of the Year. This is her first PNGA title.

Amanda Jacobs

In the Mid-Amateur final match, the No. 2 seed Jacobs squared off against No. 1 seed Johnson. The two finalists are best friends, additionally, they faced off in the final match of the 2018 championship and the 2019 championship.

Johnson got out to an early lead in today’s match going 2-up after the first nine holes. The score held steady until the 15th hole where Jacobs made a par to tie the match. The two players traded pars on the 16th before Jacobs went birdie-birdie on 17 and 18 to win both holes and take the match 1-up.

“I thought the round today between Gretchen and I was a great match,” said Jacobs, “we each played really good golf. It was a great dogfight.”

“Part of golf is just hoping that you hit a good shot and finally on 17 I put some good shots together and converted a birdie,” said Jacobs, “and as Gretchen would say, I got a little lucky on 18 rolling in a long birdie, but I’ve been putting well all week so it’s nice to see something go in.”

This is the second consecutive title in this championship for Jacobs and fifth overall (2014, 2016, 2018, 2021, 2022). She has been named the PNGA Women’s Mid-Amateur Player of the Year four times (2015, 2016, 2017, 2021).

First held in 1899, the PNGA 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 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 PNGA Women’s Amateur and Mid-Amateur are two of 11 major, regional, amateur championships for men, women, juniors, and seniors conducted annually by the PNGA throughout the Northwest.