Another week, another golf title.
That pretty much sums up Rui Li’s life these days.
Li, heading into her junior year at Kentwood High, continued her torrid summer last Friday afternoon, successfully defending her title at the PNGA Junior Girls’ Amateur Championship at Longview Country Club.
Li, coming off a victory in the Washington Junior Golf Association state tournament in Spokane the previous week, matched up against Stacey Blunt of Federal Way in Friday’s championship match. Blunt proved to be Li’s toughest test of the week as the match went back and forth the entire day.
Li, who had not been behind at any point in her previous three matches, lost the first hole of the day to find herself in unfamiliar territory.
Blunt then birdied the fourth hole to take a 2-up lead before Li was able to answer with a win on the fifth hole and a birdie on the seventh to even things up.
As the pair headed to the back No. 9 tied, Blunt quickly got back ahead with a birdie on the 10th hole to take a 1-up lead. Li answered with a birdie of her own on 12, draining a big breaking 15-foot putt.
Li used another birdie on the 14th hole to grab the lead, but quickly lost it with a double bogey on the 15th. After halving the difficult par-3 No. 16 hole with bogeys; Li and Blunt went to the 17th hole all square.
After hitting a perfect drive on 17, Li stuffed her wedge shot within six feet and knocked in the birdie putt to head to 18 at 1-up. Li played the 18th hole perfectly and finished off the match with a four-foot par to win the match, 2-up.
The final match was the first time all week that Li was taken past the 14th hole.
With the title, Li became only the fifth two-time champion of the PNGA Junior Girls and the first repeat champion since Molly Cooper in 1992-93.
As a sophomore at Kentwood last year, Li would have taken second at the state tournament. However, a scorecard glitch resulted in her disqualification from the tournament.
To be eligible for the Pacific Northwest Junior Girls’ Amateur Championship, contestants must be 17 years or younger as of Aug. 7, and also carry a handicap index of 40.4 or less.
