FINALS STAGE SET FOR 79TH OREGON JUNIOR AMATEUR

Lake Oswego, Ore. (July 2, 2009) -- With the national weather service issuing weather advisories for sweltering heat in the mid-90s and a very hilly golf course in from of them, junior golfers faced both physical and mental exhaustion in the hopes of achieving the goal of playing in Fridays finals at the 79th Oregon Junior Amateur held at Oswego Lake Country Club. At the end of the day, the stage was set for tomorrow's "March of the Champions" as the field for finals matches was established.   Leading the march tomorrow will be Jeremy Wu of Medford, Ore. in the Pee Wee (8-11) Boys final.   Jeremy had hoped to take on his twin brother Joshua in a Wu - Wu final, but that was not to be as Joshua lost to Mark Geniza of Corvallis, Ore., 2 & 1.   Both players have family legacy's at stake as Jeremy hopes to follow in the footsteps of his older brother Dylan, who won the Pee Wee title last year, while Kevin hopes to follow his brother Mark who won the title in 2005. There will, however, be two Wu's playing in finals matches as Dylan Wu advanced to the Intermediate (12-13) Boys division finals with a 6 & 4 win over John Nichols of Redmond, Ore.  He will face Cole Madey of West Linn, Ore. The next finals match slated for the march is the Intermediate (12-14) Girls division with Gigi Stoll of Portland, Ore. taking on Monica Vaughn of Reedsport, Ore.  Stoll advanced to the finals by again defeating Deanna Salvatori of Salem, Ore. who she beat last year to ear the Pee Wee Girls title. In the Boys (14-15) division, long time rivals and good friends Zach Foushee of Tigard, Ore. takes on Sulman Raza of Eugene, Ore.  Raza took the Intermediate Boys title in 2006, while Foushee was the runner-up in that division in 2007 and runner-up in the Boys division in 2008.  Foushee hopes to continue his winning ways from this season and add this title to the two stroke play titles he won earlier this season at Quail Point and Rogue Valley. The ultimate titles of Junior Amateur Champions go to the winners of the Girls (15-17) and Junior (Boys 16-17) divisions with several "upsets" setting the stage for new titleholders tomorrow. In the Girls Division, one of the semi-finals matches was a repeat of last year's Intermediate Girls semi-finals as Morgan Thompson of Tualatin, Ore. again faced Ashlee Pickerell of Salem, Ore.  and the result was the same as Thompson advanced with a 2 & 1 win.   Tomorrow she gets to face fellow West Linn High School teammate Sharon Shin.  Shin, the OSAA 6A High School champion dispatched defending champion Seshia-Lei Telles of Tualatin, Ore. and hopes to join a handful of other junior girls who have simultaneously held both the High School and Amateur titles. The Junior (16-17) division had the most difficult task this day as players in the Championship flight played morning quarterfinal matches with those advancing playing in afternoon semifinal matches. In the quarterfinals, medalist Tye Gabriel of Portland, Ore. won his match only to go down to defeat in the semifinals, losing on the final hole to Blake Jones of Camas, Wash. Defending champion Bobby Monaco of Eugene, Ore. also lost his quarterfinal match to Sam Mendez of Portland, Ore.    Mendez went on to defeat another Eugene resident, Cole Weinhold, on the 18th- hole of his semifinal match setting up tomorrow championship final matchup. Final matches for the remaining divisions begin at 7:20am at Oswego Lake Country Club and the "March of the Champions" - the championship flight finals commence at 10:10am. The public is welcome to attend and watch the finest junior golfers in the region.