Canadian golfer outlasts field to win PNGA Junior Boys crown

After an impressive week of championship caliber golf, No. 20 seed Kevin Vigna of Coquitlam, B.C. outlasted No. 15 seed Lucas Gatto of Burnaby, B.C., 4&2 to win the 58th Pacific Northwest Junior Boys’ Amateur Championship, conducted by the Pacific Northwest Golf Association (PNGA).

Playing against his friend and fellow-Vancouver Golf Club member, Gatto struck first in the championship match and, after a birdie on the par-4 second hole, found himself 2-up. The lead slipped back to 1-up through six holes as the pair navigated the front nine, the tension building along the way. A par on the par-3 eighth hole by Gatto extended the lead back to 2-up before Vigna went on a run, winning the ninth and 10th holes to pull all square. The match remained all-square until the par-5 13th hole, when Vigna took his first lead of the day.

• Jordan Ferreira of University Place, Wash. defeated Marianne Li of Bellevue, Wash. 2 and 1 in the final match to take home the trophy as Champion of the 57th Pacific Northwest Junior Girls’ held last month at Sunland Golf and Country Club.

Ferreira, the championship’s Co-Medalist and No. 1 seed, fell behind early in the match. On the first hole, a par-5, the two long hitters were both on in two. Ferreira, putting first, cozied her 60-foot eagle try to tap-in range for her birdie, but Li then dropped her 55-foot putt for an eagle three to win the hole. Ferreira had a 1-up lead standing on the ninth tee, when she hit a 3-metal off the tee into the pond on the right side of the fairway.