Mill Creek, Wash. – Vinnie Murphy of Edgewood, Wash. and William Holdridge of Bellingham, Wash. won two matches today to advance to the finals where they will square off against each other.

The 36-hole final match will be played tomorrow at the 54th PNGA Junior Boys’ Amateur Championship being held at Mill Creek Country Club in Mill Creek, Wash.

In the morning quarterfinal matches, Jack Pennington of Eugene, Ore. (#7) def. Matt Rawitzer of Bellingham, Wash. (#2), 3 and 2. Vinnie Murphy of Edgewood, Wash. (#17) def. Max McKinley of Shoreline, Wash. (#24), 3 and 1, Alex Abbruzza of Redmond, Wash. (#12) def. Frank Olav Garber of Kirkland, Wash. (#13), 3 and 1 and William Holdridge of Bellingham, Wash. (#6) def. Justin Haase of Spokane, Wash. (#30), in 19 holes.

Murphy continued his solid play in his afternoon semifinal match, defeating Abbruzza 5 and 4. Murphy won the first hole with a par and never looked back as he used birdies at holes 4, 5, 8 and 12 to build on his lead. This decisive victory will give Murphy a little extra rest and momentum heading into tomorrow’s 36-hole final match.

Holdridge advanced to the finals after a 2 and 1 victory of Pennington in the semifinals. Holdridge had to survive his quarterfinal match this morning which lasted 19 holes and then with not much time in between matches, Holdridge was late to the tee which cost him the first hole. He was forced to the second tee already 1-down. The back-and-forth match was all square after the first nine holes, and then after a rare Holdridge bogey on the par-4, 10th hole to go 1-down, he caught fire. Pennington couldn’t withstand the birdie barrage with Holdridge birding holes 11, 12, 14, 15 and 17 to close out the match 2 and 1.

The shot of the day went to Riley Lamb of Port Coquitlam, B.C. who aced the 203-yard, 6th hole. Riley’s match was all square at the time and he used the ace to take a 1-up lead. He went on to win his match and will play for the 10th flight title tomorrow.

The championship consists of 36-holes of stroke play qualifying to determine flights for the match play portion of the championship. The lowest 32 scorers from the qualifying rounds advanced to the Championship Flight, with each of the remaining flights being comprised of eight contestants. All matches are single-elimination and contested over 18-holes.

To be eligible for the Pacific Northwest Junior Boys’ Amateur Championship, contestants must be 17 years of age or younger as of August 15th, and also carry a handicap index of 24.4 or less.

The PNGA Junior Boys’ Amateur is one of 15 regional championships conducted annually by the PNGA. For more information about the PNGA and the Junior Boys’, you can visit www.thepnga.org.

The PNGA is a 501(c) 3 charitable, international amateur golf association dedicated to preserving the true spirit of the game of golf and promoting activities beneficial to golfers in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. Over the past 100 years, the Association has been a pioneer in developing competitions and services to its members. Today, the PNGA remains committed to being a truly "regional" organization providing benefits and services to its members and member clubs throughout the Northwest. The PNGA territory is broken down into five zones, which are: Zone 1 - Oregon; Zone 2 - Eastern Washington; Zone 3 - Western Washington and Alaska; Zone 4 - British Columbia and Alberta; and Zone 5 - Idaho and Montana. The PNGA currently has 687 member clubs and approximately 225,000 individual members. The PNGA also shares ownership of a golf course in DuPont, Washington, (The Home Course – www.thehomecourse.com) with the Washington State Golf Association.

For more information on the PNGA Junior Boys’, you can also visit www.thepnga.org/championships.