The 25th Washington State Women’s Amateur Championship is being held concurrently with the 9th Washington State Women’s Mid-Amateur, 19th Washington State Senior Women’s Amateur and 5th Washington State Super Senior Women’s Amateur championships at Lake Spanaway Golf Course in Tacoma, Wash. on June 26-28.
All four championships will be conducted by the Washington State Golf Association (WSGA). The Women’s Amateur and Mid-Amateur championships will be contested over 54 holes of stroke play on June 26-28, while the Senior and Super Senior championships consist of 36 holes of stroke play on June 26-27.
A complete list of tee times, pairings, daily updates, and live scoring for each championship, will be available online at thewsga.org.
To join the conversation on social media, use the hashtag #WSGAWomensAm and follow WSGA Championships on Twitter @WSGAChampions.
The Washington State Women’s Amateur is the state’s premier amateur championship for women, and traditionally draws the region’s best players. Past champions in this year’s field include Marianne Li of Bellevue, Wash., who just finished her junior year at the University of California-Berkeley where she is the team captain of the women’s golf teams. She was the top-ranked junior golfer in Washington while at Newport High School in Bellevue, qualifying for five USGA national championships and winning the 2014 Pacific Northwest Junior PGA Championship.
Also in the field are Kelly Hooper of Spokane, Wash., who won the 2015 Pacific Northwest Junior Girls’ Amateur and is a junior at Montana State University; Olivia Benzin, a junior on the Oregon State University women’s golf team, who has won the last three Washington State Women’s Golf Association Championship; Brittany Kwon of Bremerton, Wash., who recently won her third consecutive 3A high school state championship; and Kenedee Peters of Ephrata, Wash., the 2018 2A high school state champion who has qualified for three U.S. Girls’ Junior Championships.
The field of the Women’s Mid-Amateur championship includes Victoria Fallgren of Spokane, Wash., who won this title last year and is returning to defend it. Fallgren, the assistant coach for the women’s golf team at Gonzaga University, was named the 2017 WSGA Women’s Mid-Amateur Player of the Year. Also in the field is 2014 champion Shawn Farmer of Renton, Wash. Farmer was named the 2016 WSGA Women’s Mid-Amateur Player of the Year.
Yasue Alkins of Steilacoom, Wash. is returning to defend her title in the Senior Women’s Amateur. She also won in 2009 and 2012.
All four past champions of the Super Senior Amateur are in this year’s field, with Sun Douthit (2017) of Steilacoom, Karen Madison (2016) of East Wenatchee, Mary Ryan (2015) of Renton, and Carol Dick (2014) of Lakewood. Also in the field is Sue Ursino of Sammamish, Wash., who won the Senior title three times (2003-05).
Karen Madison of East Wenatchee, Wash. returns to defend her title in the Super Senior. She also won the 2015 Pacific Northwest Super Senior Women’s Amateur and was named the 2015 WSGA Senior Women’s Player of the Year.
Past champions of the Washington State Women’s Amateur have gone on to make their mark in the golf community, and include Paige Mackenzie (2002), a member of the University of Washington Athletic Hall of Fame who finished her senior year ranked the No. 1 golfer in the nation by Golfweek, and is a studio analyst on Golf Channel and LPGA Tour player; Kelli Kamimura (2001) now is the head coach of the women's golf team at Washington State University; Jimin Kang (1999), who was the runner-up at the 1999 U.S. Women's Amateur while still in high school, and now a two-time winner on the LPGA Tour; Molly Cooper (1997, 2000), who was medalist at the 2000 U.S. Women's Amateur qualifier, and now is the director of tournament and member programs at the Pacific Northwest Section PGA; Renee Skidmore (2005), who competed on Golf Channel's “Big Break” series; and Erynne Lee (2011), who was selected the WSGA Women's Player of the Year in three consecutive years, made it to the quarterfinals or better of the U.S. Women's Amateur three times, and is now a rising star on the LPGA Tour.
Founded in 1922, the WSGA is a 501c4 non-profit, amateur golf association governed by men and women volunteers. Serving over 70,000 individual members at more than 550 member golf clubs and 270 golf courses throughout the state of Washington and Northern Idaho, the WSGA works to continually expand the game of golf to people of all backgrounds.
The WSGA also serves as a statewide representative of the United States Golf Association (USGA) and works closely with a number of allied associations within the golf industry for the betterment of the game.
