Lauryn Nguyen Medals at U.S. Girls' Junior Qualifier at Fircrest Golf Club

By wsga

Posted on Jun 18, 2018

Lauryn Nguyen of Seattle shot 3-under-par 70 to earn medalist honors in leading the field of 50 players who competed today in U.S. Girls’ Junior Championship sectional qualifying at the par-73 Fircrest (Wash.) Golf Club.

Lauryn Nguyen

The other three players to advance from this qualifier are Morgan Bentley of Tacoma, Wash., Coco Pei of Surrey, B.C., and Victoria Liu of Vancouver, B.C.

Liu earned the final available spot by winning a one-hole playoff against Cassie Kim of Yakima, Wash. Kim is now the first alternate, while Tiffany Kong of Vancouver, B.C. is the second alternate.

The four qualifying players will now advance to compete in the 2018 U.S. Girls’ Junior Championship, which will be held July 16-21 at Poppy Hills Golf Course in Pebble Beach, Calif.

L to R: Morgan Bentley, Coco Pei and Victoria Liu

Nguyen played in the day’s final group, and made the turn at 1-under. She then posted four birdies against two bogeys on the back nine to overtake Bentley on the leaderboard and earn medalist honors.

Nguyen also qualified for last year’s U.S. Girls’ Junior. Last week she finished second in the Pacific Northwest Junior PGA Championship, in the 16-18 age division, which qualifies her to compete in the 2018 Girls’ Junior PGA Championship being held the week before the U.S. Girls’ Junior. In May, Nguyen finished second in the 3A Girls’ State High School Championship.

Bentley, who just graduated from Bellarmine Prep in Tacoma and will attend Weber State University in the fall on a golf scholarship, posted an early 2-under 71, before Nguyen finished. She hit the shot of the day by acing the 126-yard par-3 16th hole, her first career hole-in-one.

Earlier this year, Pei won the Bantam Girls’ title in the Canadian Junior Golf Association’s Humber College PGM Championship.

The Washington State Golf Association (WSGA) is the local representative of the United States Golf Association (USGA) and conducted this qualifier for the U.S. Girls’ Junior Championship.

Click here for complete hole-by-hole scores of all players.

The U.S. Girls’ Junior is one of 14 national championships conducted annually by the USGA, 10 of which are strictly for amateurs.