Miles Russell of Jacksonville Beach eliminated by Luke Colton in U.S. Junior Am quarterfinals

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Miles Russell had a nice run in the Texas heat.
But it ended in a battle of national junior heavyweights on July 25 when the Jacksonville Beach resident lost to Luke Colton of Frisco, Texas, 4 and 3 in the quarterfinals of the U.S. Junior Amateur at the Trinity Forest Golf Club in Dallas.
Russell is first on the American Junior Golf Association rankings and 18th on the World Amateur Golf Rankings, and Colton is third on the AJGA and 26th on the WAGR. Both are verbally committed to play for college golf powers, Russell to Florida State in 2027 and Colton to Vanderbilt in 2026.
Junior Players defending wins Junior Am title
Hamilton Coleman of Augusta, Ga., defeated Nguyen Anh Minh of Vietnam 2 and 1 in the 36-hole championship match on July 26. Coleman led 4-up through 25 holes before Minh cut into the lead when he birdied two par-3 holes and a par-4 and was 1-down with seven holes left.
They halved four holes in a row before Coleman closed out the match with his second birdie of the day on the short par-3 17th hole
Coleman, who won the 2024 Junior Players in sudden death over Blades Brown, beat Colton 5 and 4 in one semifinal, while Minh topped Qiyou Wu of China 4 and 3 in the other.
Miles Russell fell behind, tied the match twice
Russell, who never trailed in two matches on July 24 to reach the quarterfinals, was two holes down to Colton through three holes, but battled back to square the match with birdies at Nos. 5 and 6.
Colton birdied the seventh hole to regain the lead but Russell squared the match again with a par at the 11th hole.
Colton then went on a hot streak, winning three of his last four holes on birdies.
Miles Russell won three matches to reach the quarters
Russell tied for eighth in the stroke-play qualifying, won his opening match in 20 holes over Jack Ormond, then beat Lucas Latimer 3 and 2 and Miguel Garcia 4 and 2.
Russel told usga.org that Colton put the pressure on early.
'Really, [I was] just trying to make birdies because that's all he was doing," said Russell. "He was making … a lot of putts. It's hard to beat somebody when they make a bunch of putts. That means you have to make just as many and more."
Russell said he will take positives from the experience.
"It was a great week," he said. "I hit a lot of good golf shots and hit a lot of bad ones, but kind of only remember the good ones now."
Tyler Mawhinney of Fleming Island got to the round of 16 with two victories, then fell to Rohan Patel 1-up. Patel lost to defending Junior Players champion Hamilton Coleman in another quarterfinal match and played Colton in the semifinals late on Friday.
Miles Russell, Tyler Mawhinney have two big summer events left
Russell and Mawhinney will now look to the U.S. Amateur Aug. 11-17 at the Olympic Club in San Francisco, where both are exempt into the field of 312.
They will then play in the 18th Junior Players Championship Aug. 29-31 at the Players Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass. Russell won the tournament in 2023.
This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Miles Russell's U.S. Junior Amateur run ends with loss to Luke Colton