Peters defeats No. 1 seed to advance to final of PNGA Junior Girls Amateur Championships

FLORENCE, Ore. — Kenedee Peters punctuated her run to the championship match with a wave of the magic wand, chipping in on No. 14 to beat No. 1-seeded Cassie Kim of Yakima in one semifinal Thursday afternoon at the 62nd PNGA Junior Girls Amateur Championships at Sandpines Golf Links in Florence, Ore.

Peters, who will be a senior at Ephrata High School this fall, beat Kim 5 & 4, dismantling the top seed to advance to Friday’s championship match with No. 2 Brittany Kwon of Bremerton.

“I feel very good and very confident in myself,” she said. “Based on the way I performed at the PNGA Women’s Amateurs (reaching the semifinals) a month ago and how well I played in match play, I know by beating the third or fourth player on the University of Washington’s team there, then I can sure as heck play with these juniors.”

Peters moved into the match play portion of the tournament (76-75-151) as the fourth seed behind Kim (1), Kwon (2), and Montgomery Ferreira of University Place (3). The two-time 2A state medalist disposed of No. 5 Phoebe Yue, West Vancouver, B.C. 3 & 2 in the morning match and rose to the occasion against the top seed, ending her semifinal match with Kim by the 14th hole.

“This is the best I’ve ever driven the ball,” she said. “This course is more open than target golf. But if you’re not in the fairway, you’re on a sidehill, in deep grass, because it’s links (style with rolling hills). It is wide open, but there’s a penalty for not being in the fairway.

“My putting has been just money. I out-putted both of my opponents today, just making everything in sight.”

Peters has given a verbal commitment to Washington State University. Kwon has just committed to the University of Washington. Friday’s championship is as good a time as any to start up what is expected to be a tremendous university rivalry over the next four years.

“I know Brittany very well. We are going to a play 4-ball tournament together in September,” Peters said. “She’s been a rival all during junior golf. I’m going to WSU and she just committed to go to U-Dub, so now we’re going to be college rivals. It’s one more time here. But we’ll be playing on the same team for a 4-ball, so that will be fun.”

It’s been a breakout summer for Peters. She advanced to the semifinals of the 116th PNGA Women's Amateur at Fairwood Golf & Country Club in Renton where she lost to Samantha Martirez, from California Baptist University, 3 & 2 in the semifinals with another impressive run through a predominantly collegiate field that included just two high school players.

Peters was also 20th at the U.S. Women's Open Sectional Qualifier and ninth at the IMG Junior World Championships qualifier earlier this summer.

On Friday, she’ll try and close out with a championship on the wind-blown Oregon coast against a friend and rival.

Rodney Harwood is a sports writer with the Columbia Basin Herald and can be reached at rharwood@columbiabasinherald.com