DuPont, Wash. – The opening round of the 17th Annual Washington Champion of Champions was completed today at The Home Course in DuPont, Wash. On a cloudy, windy day with chilly temperatures, the course nonetheless proved gettable, with the day’s lowest score being a 9-under-par 63.
The championship features a full field of club champions from across WA Golf territory in four divisions: Women, Men, Senior Women, and Senior Men.
Championship Links:
Colton Kleis of Kenmore fired a nine-under-par score of 63 – one shot shy of the course record – and is the outright leader of the Men's division. Kleis’s lead was formed by way of 10 birdies, eroded only slightly by a bogey on the par-4 seventh hole. Kleis’ place in the championship was earned by way of his 2025 title in the Bear Creek Country Club men’s club, which was his third in a row. Kleis finished in a tie for seventh in the 2025 Champion of Champions, and a victory this week would mark his first title in any WA Golf championship.
Cienna Lee
Cienna Lee of Lacey, defending champion of this event, opened with a four-under par 68 to pick up where she left off a year ago. Starting on the back nine, Lee birdied the opening 10th but found herself 2-over by the time she finished the 14th. Unfazed, she found her way to six more birdies to secure a three-shot lead over Ira Upadhyay (Issaquah) and Tatum Otto (Bellevue). Lee – a member of the high school class of 2028 – is one of the world’s best junior players, No. 53 in the Rolex AJGA Rankings. Last July, she won the AJGA Salt Lake Junior.
Contenders in the senior men’s division include Neil MacLeod of Burnaby, B.C., and Tom Brandes of Bellevue. MacLeod won the 2025 Washington Senior Men’s Four-Ball. Brandes – a PNGA Hall-of-Famer – will be in search of his ninth victory in the senior men’s division of this championship. He most recently won in 2024, and won the inaugural iteration in 2012.
In the senior women’s division, Tina Papatolis of Issaquah is playing as the defending Washington Women’s Mid-Amateur champion, which also took place at The Home Course. Papatolis went even through her first nine holes and took an early lead. Other contenders include Gretchen Klein (Hoquiam), who holed out for an eagle on the 13th hole, and Karen Bolton (Bremerton). Three-time defending Champ Leslie Folsom (Tukwila) is also contending.
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The Champion of Champions is one of 14 championships conducted annually by WA Golf.
