Walla Walla, Wash. - The 33rd Washington Women’s Amateur and 17th Washington Women’s Mid-Amateur are set to be held this week at Walla Walla (Wash.) Country Club. The championships will run concurrently from June 16-18, 2026, and be conducted over 54 holes of stroke play, featuring the top women players of any age and mid-amateur women players aged 25 and over, across Washington and Northern Idaho.
The scheduling marks the first time Walla Walla will have hosted either championship. It previously has hosted both the Washington Senior and Super Senior Men’s Amateurs in 2020, as well as the Washington Men’s Amateur in 2002 and 1941.
Walla Walla Country Club is one of the most historic golfing locations in the Northwest and was a founding member of the Pacific Northwest Golf Association in 1899. Designed by local banker W.W. Baker, the course was later remodeled by A.W. Tillinghast, whose original designs also include Baltusrol Golf Club, Winged Foot Golf Club and Newport (R.I.) Country Club.
Championship Links:
The Washington Women’s Amateur is the state’s premier amateur championship for women and has historically attracted the region’s best players. The championship is designated as an official USGA Exemption Event, with the winner exempt into the 2026 U.S. Women’s Amateur Championship field.
Grace Lee
In 2025, both championships were held at The Home Course in DuPont, Wash. In the Women’s championship, Grace Lee (Bellevue) won by a single stroke over Suzie Tran (Poulsbo). Tina Papatolis (Issaquah) soundly won the Women’s Mid-Amateur by a seven-stroke margin. Both champions are returning to defend their titles this year.
Lee’s win was part of a season in which she was named 2025 WA Golf Women’s Player of the Year. She played collegiately at Gonzaga University and graduated in 2026.
Angela Zhang
Four players who recorded top 10 finishes in the 2025 Women’s Am are part of this year’s field. Angela Zhang (Bellevue) will seek her third Women’s Amateur title, having won in 2022 and 2023. Zhang, 17, has for several years been among the world’s best junior players, and is committed to play college golf at the University of Southern California (USC). Currently No. 75 in the Rolex AJGA Rankings, she has eight AJGA wins, the most recent of which came at the 2025 Colorado Springs Junior.
Another returning contender is Darae Chung (Eugene, Ore.), who is a member of the women’s golf roster at the University of Oregon. Originally from New Zealand – where she had spent five years on that country’s national team – Chung is coming off a season in which she scored her first collegiate win and earned a Big Ten Sportsmanship Award.
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Tina Papatolis
In the Women’s Mid-Amateur, Papatolis has already begun 2026 with success. She finished a very close second in a playoff in the Washington Senior Women's Champion of Champions. Several weeks later, she and Taya Battistella won the Washington Women’s Four-Ball.
Desirae Clarke
Defending mid-am runner-up is Desirae Clarke (Puyallup, Wash.). A former golfer at Pacific Lutheran University who won an event there, Clarke qualified for and played in the 2024 U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur.
The Washington Women’s and Women's Mid-Amateur championships are two of 14 held annually by WA Golf.
About Washington Golf
Founded in 1922, WA Golf is a 501c4 non-profit amateur golf association governed by men and women volunteers that has grown into one of the largest golf associations in the United States, providing a multitude of member benefits and services to more than 103,000 golfers, 520 member clubs, and 260 golf facilities throughout Washington and Northern Idaho. WA Golf also serves as the statewide representative of the United States Golf Association and works closely with a number of allied associations within the golf industry for the betterment of the game. Visit wagolf.org for more information.
