107th Oregon Amateur Championship Begins June 20th at Black Butte Ranch
WOODBURN, ORE. – Known as Oregon’s flagship amateur golf event, the 107th edition of the Oregon Amateur Championship will begin Monday, June 20th and finish Saturday, June 25th at Black Butte Ranch – Glaze Meadow in Black Butte Ranch, Ore.
A total of 132 men and 26 women will compete in this year’s championship. Monday and Tuesday will mark 36-hole stroke play qualifying, with the top 64 men advancing to match play. The Women’s Amateur Championship will be formatted in a 32-player bracket, with some playing double matches on Wednesday after stroke play qualifying the first two days.
In the very first group on Monday are Zach Foushee (West Linn, Ore.) and Sulman Raza (Eugene, Ore.), fresh off winning the NCAA Division I Men’s Golf Championship with the University of Oregon last month. Fellow Duck golfer Nigel Lett (Beaverton, Ore.) is also in next week’s field.
Oregon State’s Conner Kumpula (Albany, Ore.) will be looking to take it a step farther in this year’s Oregon Amateur, after falling in the semifinals in last year’s championship. Also representing Oregon State in the field is Kevin Murphy (Rogue River, Ore.). Alex Wrenn (Lake Oswego, Ore.), who earned medalist honors in stroke play qualifying in 2015, returns to this year’s championship.
More notable names competing next week include Justin Kadin (Corvallis, Ore.), who won last year’s Oregon Mid-Amateur Championship; Bryce Wortman (Klamath Falls, Ore.), the 2015 Oregon Junior Amateur champion; Riley Elmes (Lake Oswego, Ore.), former Oregon Junior Amateur champion and 2015 OGA Tournament of Champions winner; and Clayton and Cole Madey (West Linn, Ore.). Clayton won the Oregon Junior Amateur in 2012, while his brother, Cole, finished as runner-up two years later.
Also in the field are 2014 and 2015 Oregon Public Links champion Hogan Arey (Corvallis, Ore.), Jim Dunlap (Beaverton, Ore.), who won the 2015 Oregon Men’s Master-40 Stroke Play Championship and earned second place in last year’s Oregon Mid-Amateur Championship, and Tanner Huddleston (Woodland, Wash.), who finished this year’s OGA Tournament of Champions in second place.
Highlighting the Women’s Amateur field is two-time defending champion Gigi Stoll (Tigard, Ore.), who just completed her freshman year at the University of Arizona. Stoll is attempting to become the first woman to win three-consecutive Oregon Women’s Amateur titles since Amanda Nealy from 1988-90.
Last year’s runner-up, Washington State golfer Madison Odiorne (Bend, Ore.), will be attempting to unseat Stoll as Oregon Women’s Amateur champion.
Plenty of local talent will be present for this year’s edition. Playing with Stoll in stroke play qualifying is Jenny Krause (Eugene, Ore.), who recently won this year’s OGA Tournament of Champions. Her sister, Haleigh Krause (Eugene, Ore.) is also in the field.
Haley Nist (Meridian, Idaho) and Hannah Swanson (Forest Grove, Ore.) will be representing Oregon State University at this year’s championship. Swanson advanced to the Oregon Women’s Amateur semifinals last year, falling to Stoll in the final four.
Also in this year’s field: Portland State’s Krissy Peterson (Canby, Ore.) and Carson Pickett (Star, Idaho); George Fox University’s Sarah Kotel (Sherwood, Ore.) and Janelle Decker (Tualatin, Ore.); Concordia’s Lynsie Furuya (Vancouver, Wash.), and accomplished former Oregon Junior golfers Daniele Giles (Talent, Ore.) and Taylor Hartley (Vancouver, Wash.).
The Glaze Meadow Course at Black Butte Ranch is one of the most iconic golf courses in Central Oregon. The track went through an extensive renovation in 2012, and features slightly elevated greens, square tee boxes and deep grass-faced bunkers. The North Sister and Mt. Washington are viewable through and over the Ponderosa pines and Aspen trees that border each golf hole.
This will be the first Oregon Amateur Championship hosted by Black Butte Ranch. Recently, the resort hosted the Oregon Mid-Amateur Championship in 2012, along with hosting the 2014 Oregon Open.
