Peters makes it to the semifinals of the 116th PNGA Women's Amateur

RENTON — Ephrata senior Kenedee Peters established herself a rising star on the women’s amateur golf horizon with a top-20 finish at the Women’s U.S. Open sectional qualifier last month.

The two-time 2A state medalist made a significant jump up the leaderboard last week, making it to the semifinals in the elite field at the 116th PNGA Women's Amateur at Fairwood Golf & Country Club in Renton.

Peters, who will be a senior at Ephrata High School this fall, lost to Samantha Martirez, from California Baptist University, 3 & 2 in the semifinals after an impressive run through the predominantly collegiate field that included just two high school players. The top four players in the tournament included Julianne Alvarez of the University of Washington, who had seven top 25 finishes during the NCAA season; Samantha Martirez of California Baptist, who won the RSGC AmBank Junior Amateur Open in Malaysia as a high school player; Naomi Ko, North Carolina State, who competed for Canada in the 2016 World Amateur Championship in Mexico, finishing T6th overall and Peters, who just finished her high school junior season.

Peters advanced to the match-play portion of the tournament (top 32), which dates back to 1899, as the No. 14 seed.

She defeated Emily Baumgart, who will be a redshirt freshman at Washington State University next year, 1 up in the round of 32. In the round of 16, she easily handled Kylie Jack, from Simon Fraser University, 5 & 4, then beat University of Washington’s Karen Miyamoto 2 up in the quarterfinals to move just one match away from the championship.