Latest news with #77thU.S.JuniorAmateur
NBC Sports
3 days ago
- Sport
- NBC Sports
Augusta's Hamilton Coleman holds off Minh Nguyen for U.S. Junior title
Hamilton Coleman was up big, and then he wasn't. But Coleman never lost hope, or his lead, before birdieing the 35th hole to secure a 2-and-1 victory over Minh Nguyen in Saturday's final of the 77th U.S. Junior Amateur. Coleman, a 17-year-old from Augusta, Georgia, converted a birdie from 18 feet and led 5 up after 12 holes of the scheduled 36-hole championship match at Trinity Forest in Dallas. He went into the lunch break 3 up, too, before the 18-year-old Minh, of Vietnam, clawed back to just 1 down with six holes to play. 'Getting off to that hot start, I knew that I couldn't just ease my way into winning, and I knew I had to keep hitting quality shots,' Coleman said. 'I was playing well, and he just kept making putts and hitting shots close. It got a little tight there, but I never lost faith. And I told my caddie, I was nervous, but I was never scared. I'm proud of the way I handled that.' Minh, who will attend Oregon State starting this fall, began his afternoon comeback at the par-4 first, where he curled in a 5-footer for birdie to move to 2 down. Coleman then won Nos. 22 and 23, the latter after nearly holing out his third shot on the par-5 fifth, to stretch his advantage back to 4 up. But Minh birdied four of the next seven holes, including the lengthy par-3 11th where he landed his tee ball on the front of the green and watched it roll some 50 feet to close range, to get it to 1 down. Minh nearly tied the match on the 34th hole, the par-5 16th, but his 12-footer for birdie missed. He couldn't get a similarly distanced putt to drop at the par-3 17th, which set the table for Coleman to hole his match-winner from 10 feet. 'You try not to tell yourself what it's for, to qualify for the U.S. Open and be the U.S. Junior champion,' Coleman said. 'Just stuck to my line and made a free, aggressive stroke at it, and it happened to go in.' Like Coleman said, he's into the field for next summer's U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills. He's also the first U.S. Junior champion from Georgia since Andy Shim in 2012. A Georgia commit for 2026, Coleman is the first future Bulldog to win this championship since Brian Harman in 2003.
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Sport
- Yahoo
It's Scheffler versus McIlroy at U.S. Junior Amateur – well, sort of
It's Scottie Scheffler versus Rory McIlroy at the 77th U.S. Junior Amateur. Well, sort of. The top two ranked players in junior golf, No. 1 Miles Russell and No. 2 Luke Colton, will face off in one of four quarterfinal matches on Friday morning at Trinity Forest in Dallas. Russell, a 16-year-old from Jacksonville Beach, Florida, survived a scare in Wednesday's first round of match play, rallying from 2 down through three holes to win in extra holes. He made easier work of his opponents on Thursday, beating Lucas Latimer, 3 and 2, before taking down Miguel Garcia, 4 and 2. Colton, 17 years old and from nearby Frisco, rolled Texas A&M signee Shiv Parmar, 6 and 5, in the Round of 32 and then eliminated 15-year-old Chase Bauer, 3 and 1, to earn himself a second date with Russell in about a month. Colton and Russell last played a match against each other in the Round of 16 at the North and South Amateur in June. Colton won that match in 21 holes. Need further proof that this encore will be closely contested, look at these numbers: • In 48 common rounds since the start of 2024, Colton and Russell are 21-21-6 against each other • During that same span, they both boast 70.1 scoring averages It's possible that Friday's match also helps decide the 10-man U.S. Walker Cup team that will compete at Cypress Point this September. Russell, at No. 18 in the World Amateur Golf Ranking, had the greater shot starting this week, but the 26th-ranked Colton's stock would shoot up should he beat Russell and ultimately win this championship. That match begins at 8:30 a.m. ET. In Friday's other matchups: Hamilton Coleman of Augusta, Georgia, who won last year's AJGA Junior Players in a playoff over Blades Brown, will meet Sohan Patel, who joins fellow lefties Russell and Colton in the top half of the bracket. Just two lefties have ever won the U.S. Junior – Brian Harman (2003) and Cory Whitsett (2007). Coleman won each of his last three holes against the red-hot Tyler Watts (also a lefty) in a 2-and-1 win in the Round of 16. England's Ben Bolton will play China's Qiyou Wu. No Englishman has ever won, while Wu would be the second champion from China, following Wenyi Ding in 2022. Wu needed 21 holes to eliminate Ronin Banerjee, who on Wednesday won his first-round match, 9 and 8, tying the championship record. Nicholas Gross, a rising sophomore at Alabama, draws Vietnam's Nguyen Anh Minh, who is currently ranked No. 52 in WAGR.
NBC Sports
5 days ago
- Sport
- NBC Sports
It's Scheffler versus McIlroy at U.S. Junior Amateur – well, sort of
It's Scottie Scheffler versus Rory McIlroy at the 77th U.S. Junior Amateur. Well, sort of. The top two ranked players in junior golf, No. 1 Miles Russell and No. 2 Luke Colton, will face off in one of four quarterfinal matches on Friday morning at Trinity Forest in Dallas. Russell, a 16-year-old from Jacksonville Beach, Florida, survived a scare in Wednesday's first round of match play, rallying from 2 down through three holes to win in extra holes. He made easier work of his opponents on Thursday, beating Lucas Latimer, 3 and 2, before taking down Miguel Garcia, 4 and 2. Colton, 17 years old and from nearby Frisco, rolled Texas A&M signee Shiv Parmar, 6 and 5, in the Round of 32 and then eliminated 15-year-old Chase Bauer, 3 and 1, to earn himself a second date with Russell in about a month. Colton and Russell last played a match against each other in the Round of 16 at the North and South Amateur in June. Colton won that match in 21 holes. Need further proof that this encore will be closely contested, look at these numbers: • In 48 common rounds since the start of 2024, Colton and Russell are 21-21-6 against each other • During that same span, they both boast 70.1 scoring averages It's possible that Friday's match also helps decide the 10-man U.S. Walker Cup team that will compete at Cypress Point this September. Russell, at No. 18 in the World Amateur Golf Ranking, had the greater shot starting this week, but the 26th-ranked Colton's stock would shoot up should he beat Russell and ultimately win this championship. That match begins at 8:30 a.m. ET. In Friday's other matchups: Hamilton Coleman of Augusta, Georgia, who won last year's AJGA Junior Players in a playoff over Blades Brown, will meet Sohan Patel, who joins fellow lefties Russell and Colton in the top half of the bracket. Just two lefties have ever won the U.S. Junior – Brian Harman (2003) and Cory Whitsett (2007). Coleman won each of his last three holes against the red-hot Tyler Watts (also a lefty) in a 2-and-1 win in the Round of 16. England's Ben Bolton will play China's Qiyou Wu. No Englishman has ever won, while Wu would be the second champion from China, following Wenyi Ding in 2022. Wu needed 21 holes to eliminate Ronin Banerjee, who on Wednesday won his first-round match, 9 and 8, tying the championship record. Nicholas Gross, a rising sophomore at Alabama, draws Vietnam's Nguyen Anh Minh, who is currently ranked No. 52 in WAGR.
NBC Sports
6 days ago
- Sport
- NBC Sports
Top-ranked amateur Miles Russell survives upset bid in opening U.S. Junior match
The top-ranked player in junior golf was on the ropes Wednesday at the 77th U.S. Junior Amateur. Miles Russell, the hotshot 16-year-old from Jacksonville Beach, Florida, who is also ranked 18th in the World Amateur Golf Ranking, drew Jackson Ormond in the opening round of match play at Trinity Forest in Dallas. It was Ormond, the 2026 Florida commit from Webster, New York, who an evening earlier had birdied his penultimate hole of stroke play to move the cut line and ensure that there would be no match-play playoff for the first time since 2008. That momentum carried over for Ormond, who jumped on Russell, a recent Florida State commit for 2027, taking a 2-up lead after just three holes. Russell trailed for much of the match, including 2 down with three holes remaining. He clawed back with a birdie at the par-5 16th and then drained a birdie bomb from nearly 40 feet at the par-4 18th to force extra holes. Two holes later, Russell was advancing to Thursday's Round of 32, where he'll face Lucas Latimer, an incoming freshman at D-III Mary Hardin-Baylor who was one of nine Texans to make match play this week. Texas claims eight of the last 25 U.S. Junior titles with its winners during that span including Jordan Spieth (twice), Scottie Scheffler and Will Zalatoris. Two other Texans, Henry Guan and Luke Colton, won early matches on Wednesday. Guan, a reclassified 2025 signee for Oklahoma State, took down medalist Mason Howell, a Georgia commit, 1 up, ensuring that Matthew Rosenfeld, another Texan, is still the last medalist to go on to lift the U.S. Junior trophy (2000). Guan advances to meet Chase Bauer, a 15-year-old from Gotha, Florida, in the Round of 32. Bauer, a 2028 recruit, upset defending champion and incoming Florida freshman Trevor Gutschewski, 3 and 1; Bauer won a Florida Junior Tour major at the Gators' home club, Mark Bostick Golf Course, in January. Colton, a Vandy commit who is ranked 25th in WAGR, was 3 up through three holes before Jace Benson rallied to tie the match after 13 holes. Colton eventually won, 2 up, and will face yet another Texan, Texas A&M signee Shiv Parmar, in the next round. The third top-50 amateur in the field, Tyler Watts, made easy work of Indonesia's Rayhan Abdul Latief, who is ranked No. 118 in WAGR. Watts won, 8 and 7, to continue his hot summer, which has included a record-breaking win at the Sunnehanna Amateur, top-10 at the Northeast Amateur and runner-up at the North and South Amateur. Watts, a Tennessee commit for 2026, was runner-up to Gutschewski at last year's U.S. Junior. More than half of Wednesday's 32 matches are still undecided. Check back for updates...
NBC Sports
7 days ago
- Sport
- NBC Sports
On heels of U.S. Open, Mason Howell medals at U.S. Junior Amateur; tough matchup on tap
It all began on a bridge back in early May. Mason Howell, a 17-year-old standout from Thomasville, Georgia, was battling for the Georgia Independent Athletic Association's Class AAA state individual title when he yanked his final tee ball onto the paved structure. But instead of taking a drop, Howell decided to play the ball as it lay, and he hit his approach to 9 feet, to set up a closing birdie and spot in a playoff opposite Clemson signee Jackson Byrd, the son of five-time PGA Tour winner Jonathan Byrd. Howell won in extras, sparking a run that's still going. A few weeks later, Howell fired back-to-back 63s to qualify for the U.S. Open. Then at Oakmont, he missed the cut but beat 34 competitors. Now, he's the medalist of the 77th U.S. Junior Amateur. 'It's been a really fun run,' Howell said Tuesday evening. 'Really like where my game's at right now.' Howell opened Monday with a 3-under 67 around Brook Hollow, the companion course for stroke play and over two shots tougher than Trinity Forest, which Howell played Tuesday to the tune of 4-under 67. He carded six birdies, including a bounce-back birdie from 12 feet at the par-4 seventh hole. 'That kept the momentum going,' said Howell, who joins recent U.S. Junior medalists such as Blades Brown, Tommy Morrison and Kelly Chinn, a two-time medalist. Since 2003, there have been 11 medalists who have gone on to earn PGA Tour cards, including major champions Jordan Spieth and Brian Harman, and fellow Tour winners Sung Kang, Seung Yul Noh, Nico Echavarria, Austin Eckroat and William Mouw. Four of the medalists during that span are still in college. At the same time, the medalist rarely takes the whole thing. Just seven times since stroke-play qualifying was added in 1964 has the medalist gone on to win. Johnny Miller accomplished the feat that first year. Tiger Woods did it twice. But not since Matthew Rosenfeld in 2000 has it happened. 'Some people think it's a curse, but I think it's whoever is playing the hottest gets that medalist spot,' Howell said. 'Yeah, it should be a lot of fun. My caddie and I are going to take it one step at a time, and I know everybody is going to be gunning for me, but that's what I like; I like everybody's best because it brings out the best in me.' Howell, a University of Georgia commit for 2026, is currently ranked 24th in the AJGA rankings. He's nearly 6 feet, 4 inches tall, having experienced about a 6-inch growth spurt less than two years ago. In the process, he added about 10 mph to his ball speed, which now grooves in the low 180s. 'I feel like my swing is starting to fit my body,' Howell said. This is Howell's fourth U.S. Junior. Only last year did he finally reach match play, though he lost his first match. 'Ever since then I've really wanted to get back and try again,' Howell said. 'I'm grateful to have another chance. I love match play, but you never know, match play is crazy.' Unlike most years, Howell will go to bed Tuesday night knowing who he'll face in Wednesday's Round of 64. Jackson Ormond birdied Brook Hollow's par-4 17th hole to move the cut line to 3 over, and for the first time since 2008, the was no playoff needed to determine the 64 match-play competitors. Howell's prize for earning the No. 1 seed: Incoming Oklahoma State freshman Henry Guan, who is ranked 135th in the World Amateur Golf Ranking (Howell is No. 366). Ormond didn't get off any easier; he will face top-ranked junior Miles Russell in a matchup of Florida and Florida State commits. Russell, a 2027, recent committed to the Seminoles. Other notables making match play included defending champion Trevor Gutschewski and last year's runner-up Tyler Watts, who is one of four players ranked 51st or better in WAGR to advance. Watts is ranked 45th. Russell (18), Luke Colton (25) and Nguyen Anh Minh (51) from Vietnam also qualified for the knockout stage. Cameron Kuchar, the oldest son of PGA Tour veteran Matt Kuchar, was among those who finished at 3 over. Another son of a famous pro, Charlie Woods, fared better on Tuesday at Trinity Forest, shooting 3-over 74, but at 14 over, he missed his second straight U.S. Junior cut.
