Florida golfers win titles at PNGA championships

Carl Yuan of Lake Mary, Fla. defeated Andrew Whalen of Ephrata, Wash., 5 and 3, the final match to win the 115th Pacific Northwest Men’s Amateur Championship.

The championship was held at Wine Valley Golf Club in Walla Walla, Wash., and was conducted by the Pacific Northwest Golf Association (PNGA).

The match between Yuan and Whalen saw 12 lead changes in the first 18 holes of their scheduled 36-hole match, and the two players stood All Square after the morning round.

In the afternoon round, Yuan immediately won holes 19 and 20, and although Whalen did birdie the long par-3 26th hole to gain some ground, Yuan never gave up the lead, closing out the match by sinking an 8-foot putt for an eagle 3 on the uphill par-5 33rd hole. In all, Yuan had seven birdies and an eagle in the match.

“It was a really tough match right from the start,” Yuan said. “Andrew is a really good player. We don’t really know each other that much, but I knew he was a solid player. It was back-and-forth all morning. It was just shot-by-shot, and then I was able to build a little lead to start the second round, and got a little luck, and was able to pull it out at the end. You have to really know these greens to play well here. It was a long week, but by the end I was starting to figure out where to put the ball.”