Texas golfer wins PNGA Men’s Amateur

Byungho Lee of Plano, Texas defeated Nilay Naik of Lake Oswego, Ore., 3 & 1 in the final match to win the 124th PNGA Men’s Amateur, held at Palouse Ridge Golf Club in Pullman, Wash.

This is the first PNGA title for Lee, who was the No. 8 seed of the championship following stroke play qualifying. He is a rising junior at Pepperdine University. Lee’s win breaks the two-year title run of Sam Renner and thus is the first new champion of the event since Joshua Koo in 2023.

In his match against Naik, Lee displayed a strong and consistent level of play. In the morning 18, both players exchanged back-and-forth hole wins; hole 5 was the first that halved. After Naik and Lee swapped birdies on 7 and 8, respectively, they made the turn tied. Naik subsequently birdied the 628-yard par-5 10th and took advantage of Lee bogeying the 11th to go 2-up as they reached the 12th tee. Five halved holes followed until Lee gained momentum, going par-eagle on 17 and 18 to tie the match at the break of the scheduled 36-hole match.  

After nearly being eliminated in the Round of 64, where his match went to 20 holes, Lee kept his opponents at bay. En route to the championship, he won his matches 4&3, 2&1, a win by concession in the quarterfinal, and 4&2 in the semifinal. 

Lee played without a caddie and carried his clubs through the 160-plus hole week-long marathon.