Ephrata's Peters ninth at IMG Junior World Championship Qualifier
Kenedee Peters
TUMWATER — Ephrata senior Kenedee Peters’ bid to dance again on the world stage again came up five strokes short over the weekend at the IMG Junior World Qualifier at the Tumwater Valley Municipal Golf Course.
Peters, a two-time Class 2A state medalist, finished the two-day qualifier with a 9-over-par, two-day total of 153 to finish ninth in a field where the top four advanced to the Junior World Golf Championships July 8-14 in San Diego.
Brittany Kwon of Bremerton (144), Cassie Kim of Yakima (144), Janine Surge of Seattle (147) and Alyssa Nguyen from Renton (148) were the qualifiers for the 2017 Junior World Golf Championships.
Despite a second-day 78, Peters was able to birdie three of the final seven holes, but wasn’t quite able to catch Nguyen for the fourth and final qualifying position. A double-bogey on the 367-yard, par-4 16th hole and followed by bogey on 17 pushed her out of contention. Nguyen’s card included six birdies in the final round en route to 2-under-par 70.
Peters did finish strong with birdie on the 365-yard finishing hole to show some character in the face of adversity at a tournament featuring the best junior golfers in the Pacific Northwest.
In 2015, Peters qualified for the Junior World Championships at Torrey Pines North where placed 75th in the 145-golfer field with rounds of 81-80-76 in her first world-class tournament.
The Tigers senior has verbally committed to play Pac-12 golf at Washington State and has been on the cutting edge of taking the next step in her golf career this summer.
She finished 15th in the elite field at the USGA Girls Junior Qualifier at Meridian Valley Country Club in Kent. She also had a top-20 finish at the U.S. Women's Open Sectional Qualifier.
The remainder of Peters’ summer schedule includes the PNGA Women's Amateur July 17-21 at Fairwood Golf & Country Club in Renton and the PNGA Girls Junior Amateur Aug. 14-18 in Florence, Ore. She is also scheduled to play in the WJGA State championship in the Tri-Cities area Aug. 1-3.