Miles Russell's victorious stretch continues with come-from-behind win at Sage Valley
The 16-year-old phenom from Jacksonville Beach, Florida, captured the prestigious Junior Invitational at Sage Valley on Saturday in Graniteville, South Carolina. The victory marked Russell's fourth straight against junior competition.
He's also won in four out of his past five amateur starts, including the South Beach International Amateur. He was third at the Jones Cup during that stretch and hasn't finished outside the top 10 in a non-pro tournament since last summer's AJGA Junior Players, where he tied for 16th.
Russell began the final round at Sage Valley trailing leader Joshua Bai, a Florida signee from New Zealand, by four shots. And through nine holes, Russell was three back of Bai, who went out in 1-under 35. However, Bai bogeyed three of his first five holes on the back before double-bogeying two of his last three to fall back to solo third.
Jackson Byrd, the son of former PGA Tour player Jonathan Byrd, pushed to 13 under after four birdies in his first 13 holes and seemed to be on his way to slipping on the gold winner's jacket. But Byrd, too, slipped up, playing Nos. 14-17 in a combined 6 over. He ended up two shots back of Russell, who carded just two bogeys in his final 36 holes; Russell bogeyed the last on Saturday but still shot a third straight 2-under 70 to finish at 9 under.
Charlie Woods, who received an invite into the 36-player field despite being ranked significantly worse in the two national junior rankings, posted a respectable T-25 finish at 11 over. He beat reigning U.S. Junior champion Trevor Gutschewski by six shots.
Canada's Aphrodite Deng ran away with the girls division, beating China's Yujie Liu by six shots at 7 under. Kai Trump, the granddaughter of President Donald Trump, finished 24th out of 24 competitors, 22 shots back of her closest opponent.
Russell's victory, which puts him alongside past champions such as Scottie Scheffler, Joaquin Niemann, Akshay Bhatia and Austin Eckroat, further improves his chances to make Walker Cup history. Should Russell qualify for this year's match at Cypress Point, he will become the event's youngest competitor ever, breaking the record held by Scotland's Connor Graham by four days. Russell is currently the 24th-ranked American in WAGR, though he has at least seven players ahead of him who are expected to turn pro this summer.
Ten players, including at least one mid-amateur, will earn places on captain Nathan Smith's squad, which figures to already have at least two locks in Auburn's Jackson Koivun and Virginia's Ben James. Texas' Tommy Morrison and mid-amateur Evan Beach have strong chances to make the team as well, while Vanderbilt's Jackson Van Paris and Auburn's Brendan Valdes, both seniors, attended last December's practice session and would be candidates provided they remain amateur.
The last high-schooler to represent the Americans in a Walker Cup was Bhatia in 2019. Before that, it was Jordan Spieth and Patrick Rodgers in 2011.
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