Kevin Penner reaches second round of U.S. Amateur
August 6, 2008
By J.B. Wogan
Eastlake golfer continues high-level play
Kevin Penner, a rising senior at Eastlake High School, qualified for match play before losing in the second round of the nation’s largest junior golf tournament.
Penner traveled to Birmingham, Ala. for the U.S. Junior Amateur July 21-26.
The Junior Amateur is one of the country’s premier junior competitions. Only golfers 17 or younger can gain entry into the event.
It is one of 13 national championships conducted by the United States Golf Association.
Of 3,148 players who attempted to qualify for the 2008 tournament, only 156 made the cut.
On the first day, Penner shot a combined 147 in two rounds of stroke play.
All participants played two rounds of 18 holes and recorded their total number of strokes. This differed from the later rounds of the tournament, which pitted one player against another in match play, with a single point up at stake for each hole.
In stroke play, Penner had a 71 in his first 18 holes and a 76 on his second 18.
That placed him among the final 64 players and advanced him to match play. Penner’s combined 147 was the eighth best score that day.
In match play competition, Penner lost by two points to Gaston De La Torre of Brush Prarie, Wash.
Midway through the match with De La Torre, Penner was down by four, having tied or lost by one stroke for each of the first nine holes.
But the rest of the match was much closer, with Penner winning by a stroke or more on the 10th, 11th, 14th and 16th holes. He inched back to a one-point deficit going into the 18th hole, where De La Torre won four strokes to five.
De La Torre beat another opponent the next day before losing in the round of 16.
Penner, the 2007 4A state champion in golf, finished third in the high school 4A state tournament last spring.
Before his trip to Birmingham, Penner also finished 13th in an international junior golf tournament.
The Callaway Golf Junior World Golf Championship July 15-18 was a four-day international tournament held at Torrey Pines Golf Course in San Diego. Penner posted a 74, 73, 75 and 75 for a total score of 297.
He was nine over par in the end.
He faced off against 187 other golfers in the 15-17 age group, hailing from exotic locales such as Thailand, Argentina and Colombia.
Reporter J.B. Wogan can be reached at 392-6434, ext. 247, or jbwogan@isspress.com.
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JB – Thanks for the nice article.
Diane Penner
i have the same name