Ellie Slama, Spencer Tibbits and Lara Tennant (OGA photo)
Spencer Tibbits, Ellie Slama and Lara Tennant were crowned champions Saturday afternoon on the final day at the Oregon Amateur Championship played at Portland Golf Club.
Tibbits, from Vancouver, Wash., won his 36-hole championship match, 8 and 6, over Daniel Snoey of Camas.
Snoey birdied hole No. 10 to make the match all square, but Tibbits won five of the next eight holes to take a 3-up lead after the first 18 holes. The lead eventually swelled to 9 up before Snoey ran out of holes to win.
Tibbits never trailed in the contest, and trailed only once all tournament (in his semifinal match against Dustin Laney). This is Tibbits’ first Oregon Amateur Championship crown; he finished second in 2018.
Slama, the defending champion from Salem, Ore., won 3-and-2 over Haley Greb of Pendleton, Ore. Slama was 6 up through 23 holes before Greb made a run, winning two of the next three holes to get the match to 3 up in favor of Slama.
The lead narrowed to 2 up on the 32nd hole of the championship match, but Greb faltered on hole No. 15 (33rd overall hole).
Tennant, from Portland, won her third consecutive Oregon Senior Women’s Amateur title in an 18-hole final with Loree McKay. Tennant jumped out to a 5-up advantage through the first five holes, and was 7 up through the front nine. The match ended on hole No. 13 with the two competitors making par.
The Oregon Golf Association championship schedule continues June 25-28 with the Oregon Senior Men’s Championship played at Rock Creek Country Club in Portland.
QUARTERFINAL AND SEMIFINAL RECAP
The final matches for the 110th Oregon Amateur Championship were determined Friday with both men’s and women’s divisions playing quarterfinal and semifinal match play rounds. The six-day competition, which began Monday, has been played at Portland Golf Club.
Top-seed Spencer Tibbits, from Vancouver, Wash., advanced with wins over No. 57 Brent Mumford (7 and 6) and No. 4 Dustin Laney (3 and 2). Prior to Friday’s semifinal match with Laney, Tibbits had not trailed in a match this week. In dominating fashion so far, Tibbits has been 1 up or better for 60 of his 68 match play holes.
Squaring off against Tibbits in the final match will be 15th-seed Daniel Snoey, from Camas, Wash., who registered wins over No. 26 David Hansen (1 up) and No. 6 Sean Kato (2 and 1). Snoey entered the day coming off Thursday afternoon’s 1 up victory over second-seed and defending champion Robbie Ziegler.
On the women’s side, second-seed Ellie Slama and fifth-seed Haley Greb will meet in the championship match. That contest is set for Saturday at 8am and is the first match of the day.
Slama, the defending champion from Salem, Ore., won her quarterfinal match over No. 7 Victoria Gailey (4 and 3) before recording a semifinal victory over No. 3 Amanda Jacobs (6 and 5). Slama defeated Jessica Young (2 and 1) last year to win her first Oregon Amateur title.
Greb, from Pendleton, Ore., recorded a pair of 4-and-3 wins Friday, a quarterfinal triumph over No. 4 Amanda Elich and a semifinal victory over No. 9 Jasmine Cabajar.
The men’s and women’s finals played Saturday are 36-hole match play competitions, while the championship bout in the 36th Oregon Senior Women’s Championship is an 18-hole match.
All four of the semifinalists competing Friday in the senior women’s championship were previous winners of the event.
No. 8 Loree McKay, a three-time champion who last won the title in 2014, defeated two-time champion and fourth-seed Leilani Norman (3&2) to advance to Saturday’s final.
Joining McKay in the final match is two-time defending champion and second-seed Lara Tennant, who won her semifinal match over 2016 champion Anita Wicks (3&1), the No. 3 seed in the tournament.
SECOND-ROUND MATCHES RECAP
The top seed on the women’s side, and the No. 2 and 3 seeds on the men’s, were upset Thursday in match play rounds at the 110th Oregon Amateur Championship.
No. 17 seed Aerin Song defeated No. 1 seed Issy Taylor in the day’s first upset. Song, a Beaverton product entering her sophomore campaign at Oregon Tech, trailed on the back nine with Taylor 2-up through 11 holes. But Song squared the match two holes later, before going 1 up on the 15th hole.
Song will face No. 9 Jasmine Cabajar Friday at 8:03am in the quarterfinal round. Cabajar, a rising senior at Portland State, defeated the eighth seed, Madi Daniel, a rising junior at Oregon.
No. 2 seed Ellie Slama (4 and 3) and No. 7 seed Victoria Gailey (7 and 6) won in the second round to set up a quarterfinal matchup scheduled for 8:21 a.m. The two are very familiar as Slama (Oregon State) and Gailey (Nevada) battled for years on the Oregon Junior Golf major tournament circuit.
Seeds Nos. 3-6 – Amanda Jacobs, Amanda Elich and Haley Greb – also advanced to the quarterfinals. Jacobs will face No. 11 seed and regular four-ball teammate, Gretchen Johnson, who upset Camden Decker in the second round.
The men played both the second and third rounds on Thursday, and by day’s end there were five third-round upsets that rattled the bracket.
Defending champion and No. 2 seed Robbie Ziegler fell to No. 15 seed Daniel Snoey (1 up), while No. 3 seed Trevor Harding lost to 51st seed Jake Oneal (2 up). Also falling in the third round was No. 10 seed Craig Ronne, a rising sophomore at Oregon, who lost to David Hansen (1 up).
Top seed Spencer Tibbits continued his strong play with 8 and 6 and 7 and 6 victories in the second and third rounds respectively. Tibbits will face No. 57 Brent Mumford at 8:40am in Friday’s quarterfinal; Mumford won 3&1 over No. 24 Austin Carnese in the third round.
There were no upsets in Thursday’s opening round of match play at the 36th Oregon Senior Women’s Championship. The top two seeds – Patti Omara (6&5) and Lara Tennant (5&3) – glided through their opening matches.
FIRST-ROUND RECAP
The opening day of match play at the 110th Oregon Amateur Championship yielded few upsets with the top four seeds in both men’s and women’s brackets advancing.
Issy Taylor and Ellie Slama, the top two seeds in the 32-player women’s match play bracket, each cruised to 9-and-8 results in their opening round matches. Nine of the top 10 female competitors advanced to the round of 16.
Thursday’s quarterfinal round for the women’s side begins at 11am.
The men, with a 64-player bracket, saw seven of the top 10 seeds win their opening matches. No. 1 seed Spencer Tibbits (8 and 6) and No. 2 seed Robbie Ziegler (5 and 4) each made quick work of their opponents on Wednesday.
Competitors on the men’s side will play rounds 2 and 3 on Thursday, which will narrow the field from 32 players to eight for Friday’s quarterfinal round.
The 36th Oregon Senior Women’s Championship, also played at Portland Golf Club, began Wednesday morning with their stroke play qualifying round.
Patti Omara earned the top seed for match play with a 6-over par 78. She fended off Anita Wicks who carded a 7-over par 79. Omara is seeking her first senior amateur title.
A trio of former champions claimed seeds 2-4. Lara Tennant, Wicks and Leilani Norman have combined the last four Oregon Senior Amateur Champions. Tennant is the two-time defending champion with wins in 2017 and 2018.
STROKE PLAY RECAP
Spencer Tibbits and Issy Taylor earned the top match-play seeds on the second day at the Oregon Amateur Championship.
The rounds played Monday and Tuesday were in a stroke-play format to determine seeds for the ensuing match play portion of the championship.
Tibbits, the Vancouver, Wash., native who last week played the U.S. Open, shot 69 for the second consecutive day to finish at 6-under par (69-69-138). He recorded a symmetrical number of birdies (five), pars (11) and bogeys (two) on both days. Tibbits will take the top seed into the 64-player men’s match play tournament; he opens play Wednesday at 11:15am.
Defending champion Robbie Ziegler (67-73-140) finished stroke play qualifying at 4-under par to earn the No. 2 seed. Trevor Harding (71-70-141) and Dustin Laney (69-72-141) earned the No. 3 and 4 seeds respectively.
On the women’s side, Taylor (70-70-140) shot 2-under par both days to finish the qualifying 10 strokes ahead of the next best finishers. The Australia native, who dropped a combined 10 birdies in stroke play, will take the top seed into an 8:45 am tee time in Wednesday’s round of 32.
Ellie Slama (76-74-150) and Amanda Jacobs (76-74-150) finished tied for second at 6-over par. Slama earns the No. 2 seed, while Jacobs and Amanda Elich (78-73-151) are the No. 3 and 4 seeds.
The championship continues all week at Portland Golf Club with the final matches occurring on Saturday, June 22.