Bryan Kim wins 2023 U.S. Junior Amateur title after weather-delayed week in Charleston

Kim now joins a list of past champions such as Tiger Woods, Johnny Miller, Jordan Spieth and Scottie Scheffler.

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Bryan Kim hadn’t made match play in his first two appearances at the U.S. Junior Amateur, but after a long six days in South Carolina, the incoming freshman at Duke is leaving with the trophy.

The 18-year-old outlasted Joshua Bai in the weather-delayed 36-hole final match on Sunday at Daniel Island Club’s Ralston Creek Course in Charleston, South Carolina, claiming the 2-up victory to join the likes of past champions such as Tiger Woods, Johnny Miller, David Duval, Jordan Spieth, Scottie Scheffler and recent Open champion Brian Harman.

“It really hasn’t sunk in yet,” said Kim. “Especially coming into this week, I hadn’t made a cut at a USGA event, but to not only make the cut but win all six of my matches, especially against all these great competitors, it just means the world.

“It’s a huge stepping-stone. Just to have my name right next to those guys, those big guys, it just means if they can do it, I can do it. I’m right on track, so I’ve just got to keep doing what I’m doing and hopefully, I’ll get there one day.”

Kim shot 7 under (68-69) over the 36-hole final (with match-play concessions) while Bai shot 4-under (67-73).

Inclement weather pushed the championship match to Sunday after a slew of storms rolled through the area on Saturday and delayed the start of the final match by more than three hours. More than an inch of rain fell on the property on Saturday, and at the time play was suspended for the day, Kim held a 1-up lead thru 25 holes.

Kim is the lowest-seeded player, No. 52, to win the title since Charlie Beljan (No. 56) in 2002. Both Kim and Bai are now exempt into next month’s U.S. Amateur at Cherry Hills Country Club in Colorado, and Kim earned a place into the 2024 U.S. Open at Pinehurst No. 2. He also received a gold medal, as well as exemptions into all future U.S. Junior Amateurs (if eligible by age) as well as the 2024 U.S. Amateur at Hazeltine National Golf Club in Chaska, Minnesota.

“I played really well. It really boosted my confidence going to tournaments in the future,” said Bai, who’s choosing to look at the positives of the week. “Just helps me know that I can compete at the top level. Just want to say really congratulations to Bryan. He’s a great player and even better person.”

Next year the U.S. Junior Amateur will head to Oakland Hills Country Club, in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, July 22-27. The USGA will return to Daniel Island Club in three years’ time for the 2026 U.S. Women’s Amateur Four-Ball.

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Bryan Kim and Joshua Bai advance to 2023 U.S. Junior Amateur final

The winner will receive an exemption into the 2024 U.S. Open.

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The stage is set for the final match of the 2023 U.S. Junior Amateur at Daniel Island Club in Charleston, South Carolina.

Bryan Kim, 18, and Joshua Bai, 17, will battle it out in the 36-hole final Saturday. The match will begin at 8 a.m. ET, and will resume after lunch at 1:30 p.m. Golf Channel will have coverage from 3:30-5:30 p.m.

Kim, of Brookeville, Maryland, defeated Will Hartman of Charlotte, North Carolina, 2 and 1, in the semifinals.

“I didn’t even imagine this last year after missing the cut, and the year before, but I knew my game this year was in a good spot,” said Kim, who will be a freshman at Duke in a few months. “I didn’t have the tournament results that I wanted earlier this summer, but I knew I was coming around, just working a lot on my game, and I felt like I was kind of due to play some good golf, so hopefully I can keep it up and maybe bring home the title.”

In two previous trips to the U.S. Junior Amateur, Kim failed to make it to the match play stage.

Bai bested Billy Davis of Spring Valley, California, 3 and 1. Bai is looking to become the fourth USGA champion from New Zealand.

“It’s really cool,” said Bai. “Just thinking about how the Kiwi Michael Campbell, how he won at Pinehurst, and how cool it to be to follow in his footsteps and try to be there. It would mean a lot.”

The winner on Saturday will receive an exemption into the 2024 U.S. Open being held at Pinehurst No. 2.

6-foot-10 Tommy Morrison earns medalist honors at U.S. Junior Amateur

Tommy came to play.

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Coming into the week at the U.S. Junior Amateur, Tommy Morrison was one of the favorites.

And he’s standing out after the first two rounds of stroke play. Morrison, who’s 6-foot-10 and the second-oldest player in the field, shot 8-under over the first 36 holes to earn the top match play seed at the 75th U.S. Junior Amateur at Daniel Island Club in Charleston, South Carolina, on Tuesday. The rising sophomore at Texas finished one shot ahead of his competition.

“It means a lot,” said Morrison of medalist honors. “I want to win as many medals and trophies as I can. Any USGA medal is a good one.”

Earlier this year, Morrison competed with Tony Romo in the U.S. Amateur Four-Ball at Kiawah Island.

Andrew Gregory, 17, of Spartanburg, South Carolina, is one of five South Carolina natives in the field. He finished just one back of Morrison after shooting rounds of 66-70 for a two-day total of 7-under 136. Gregory, who will begin his freshman season at Liberty University in the fall, is playing in his third straight U.S. Junior Amateur. This is his first time advancing to match play. 

“There is always a chance,” said Gregory about the match-play format. “Just let the other person make all the mistakes and just keep it in the fairway. Don’t show any emotion. Just make pars all day and when birdies come, birdies come.” 

On Wednesday morning, there was a 14-for-7 playoff to determine the final match play spots. Then, the Round of 64 got underway.

Matches continue through Saturday’s 36-hole championship match.

Everything to know about the 2023 U.S. Junior Amateur at Daniel Island Club

Scottie Scheffler won the event 10 years ago.

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The best juniors in the world are heading to Charleston, South Carolina, to battle for one of the biggest titles available.

The 75th U.S. Junior Amateur begins Monday at Daniel Island Club’s Ralston Creek and Beresford Creek courses. The field of 256 golfers will battle it out, playing 18 holes on each course, before the top 64 make the 36-hole cut for match play, which begins Wednesday.

The final is set for Saturday, July 29.

Last year, Wenyi Ding, an Arizona State signee, became the first male golfer from China to win a USGA championship, topping Caleb Surratt 3 and 2 at Bandon Dunes.

Here’s everything you need to know for the 2023 U.S. Junior Amateur.

Here’s what you need to know about the USGA’s changes to qualifying for premier amateur events starting in 2024

The U.S. Amateur will see the most significant changes.

Want to get into one of the United States Golf Association’s premier amateur events in 2024? The qualification process is going to look a bit different than the past.

The governing body announced Wednesday “significant modifications” to its qualifying model for the first time in 20 years. Beginning in 2024, the U.S. Amateur, U.S. Women’s Amateur, U.S. Junior and U.S. Girls’ Junior will adjust the number of players who are exempt into the championships and expand exemption categories and adjust how it fills the remainder of the fields.

The U.S. Amateur will see the most significant changes, which will move from a one-stage, 36-hole qualifying format to a two-stage qualifying format with 45 18-hole local qualifying sites and 19 18-hole final qualifying sites to fill out the 312-person field.

The changes will allow events to retain their openness while ensuring that high-caliber players are provided ample opportunity to earn a spot in the field and that qualifying can be conducted at the highest level among growing entries and field sizes.

The USGA will increase the number of players fully exempt off the World Amateur Golf Ranking from 50 to 100. In addition, the top 600 players in the WAGR will be exempt from local qualifying.

“The openness and aspirational nature of our championships is a defining characteristic of USGA championships,” Brent Paladino, senior director of Championship Administration, said. “As the number of entries and qualifying sites have continued to increase on a yearly basis, we looked at ways to evolve our structure to ensure the long-term sustainability of qualifying without excessively burdening Allied Golf Associations (AGAs) and host clubs. These revisions will provide players with additional pathways to our championships through traditional qualifying, expanded exemption categories and performance in state, AGA, regional and national amateur championships.”

For the U.S. Women’s Amateur, the number of players exempt into the championship will increase to 50 from 25. There will be no change in qualifying structure, but the number of qualifying sites will be reduced.

For the junior championships, both exemption categories have been adjusted (top 100 from 80 for boys and top 50 from 40 for girls). In addition, the qualifying-event structure will encourage conducting join or concurrent qualifiers.

In 2022, the USGA accepted 44,737 total entries and collaborated with AGAs to conduct a combined 678 qualifiers across 15 championships. There will be a reduction of 94 qualifying sites next year.

The USGA will also lower the Handicap Index limits across all four championships and modifications to the performance policy that will be announced later.

Entries for 2024 USGA amateur championships will open next spring. The 2024 U.S. Amateur will be held at Hazeltine National Golf Club in Chaska, Minnesota, with the 2024 U.S. Women’s Amateur coming at Southern Hills Country Club in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The 2024 U.S. Junior will be at Oakland Hills Country Club in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, and the 2024 Girls’ Junior will be at El Caballero Country Club in Tarzana, California.

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USGA announces Chambers Bay will host 2027 U.S. Junior Amateur, 2033 U.S. Amateur

“The property remains a favorite for players and fans alike.”

Chambers Bay has proved its ability to test the best professional and amateur players in the world, so much so that the U.S. Golf Association has announced it will return to the municipal course on the Puget Sound near Seattle twice over the next 10 years.

The USGA will hold the 2027 U.S. Junior Amateur and 2033 U.S. Amateur championships in University Place, Washington, the fifth and sixth USGA championships to be contested on the design by Robert Trent Jones Jr., Bruce Charlton and Jay Blasi (a Golfweek’s Best rater ambassador and contributor to Golfweek.com). A stroke-play companion course for both championships will be named later.

Chambers Bay previously hosted the 2010 U.S. Amateur (Peter Uihlein) and 2015 U.S. Open (Jordan Spieth), as well as last summer’s 2022 U.S. Women’s Amateur (Saki Baba) and 2022 U.S. Amateur Four-Ball (Kiko Francisco Coelho/Leopoldo Herrera III).

The layout ranks No. 52 on Golfweek’s Best list of modern courses in the U.S. and is No. 2 in Washington on Golfweek’s Best list of top public-access courses in each state.

Future sites: U.S. Amateur bound for Bandon, Hazeltine, more

“There have been several memorable moments for us already in Chambers Bay’s short history, and the property remains a favorite for players and fans alike,” said Mark Hill, USGA managing director of championships. “We’re grateful for our continued partnership with Pierce County and look forward to bringing these two premier championships to such a special property.”

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Wenyi Ding, 17, wins 74th U.S. Junior Amateur, becomes first male from China to win USGA championship

Ding is the first men’s player from China to win any USGA championship.

Wenyi Ding made history on Saturday.

After losing his first two holes during the 74th U.S. Junior Amateur at Bandon Dunes in Oregon, Ding played great en route to his 3-and-2 victory over Caleb Surratt to capture the championship.

Ding is the first male player from China to win any United States Golf Association championship, and he’s the second who made the final of the U.S. Junior Amateur, following Bo Jin in 2019. Ding is also the first international champion since Min Woo Lee in 2016.

With the victory, Ding earned an exemption into the 2023 U.S. Open at Los Angeles Country Club. He and Surratt, who will attend Tennessee in the fall, were both already exempt into next month’s U.S. Amateur.

Ding, 17, is committed to Arizona State and has one year left before his college career begins.

The duo came in as the highest ranked players in the World Amateur Golf Rankings competing in the championship (Surratt at No. 19 and Ding at No. 20), and the final match certainly lived up to the hype.

Surratt started the 36-hole championship match great, winning the first two holes to take an early advantage. Ding fought back, winning the fourth hole with a par and the seventh with a birdie to tie it. Then, he won three straight holes on Nos. 10-12 to go 3 up. Surratt stopped the bleeding with a birdie on the par-4 14th, but Ding responded, winning the 15th hole to go into the lunch break 3 up.

That’s when the rout started. Ding won five of the first 10 holes during the pair’s second 18, and Surratt didn’t win any. Ding’s lead reached 8 up with 8 to play after a great second shot into the par-4 10th settled just a couple feet from the hole, giving him an easy birdie.

Surratt wouldn’t go down without a fight. After taking a drop on the par-4 11th, Ding dropped the hole with his first bogey on the second half of the day. Surratt proceeded to birdie the par-3 12th and par-5 13th hole to make it 5 down with 5 to play.

Ding’s approach shot to the 14th hole nearly hit the flag stick and settled just behind the hole. Surratt one-upped Ding, his approach hitting the flag stick and deflecting off the pin just left of the hole. Ding conceded the putt, and his birdie lipped out, extending the match yet again.

On the par-3 15th hole, Surrat’s shot settled on the green while Ding wasn’t on after three shots, so Ding conceded the hole, making it 3 up with 3 to play.

On the par-4 16th, both players hit their tee shots pin high and left of the flag. Ding’s approach settled close to the hole, and Surratt’s was left. His birdie putt missed, and Ding closed with a par of his own to half the hole and clinch the match.

The only other players from China to win a USGA championship are Alice Jo at the 2014 U.S. Women’s Amateur Public Links and Lei Yi at the 2019 U.S. Girls’ Junior Amateur.

Ding made 11 birdies and one eagle during the championship match. Surratt hadn’t trailed in match play until Saturday.

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Jack Cantlay, Patrick’s younger brother, sets USGA record at U.S. Junior Amateur at Bandon Dunes

The old record was set in 2014 and matched in 2018.

The Cantlays are pretty good at golf.

Patrick Cantlay is ranked fourth in the world and the reigning FedEx Cup champion. His youngest brother, Jack, is proving his worth, too.

During the first round of stroke play Monday at the 74th U.S. Junior Amateur at Bandon Dunes in Oregon, the 18-year-old set a United States Golf Association record for lowest nine-hole score, when he shot an 8-under 28 during his inward nine. The previous record of 29 was set by Eric Bae (2014) and Yuki Moriyama (2018).

Jack, who was four over after eight holes, had two eagles on his inward nine, which was the front. He made an eagle on both of the par 5s, the third and ninth holes. He birdied four other holes, Nos. 1, 4, 5 and 8.

“I think that’s the first time I have broken 30,” Jack said. “There’s a first time for everything, I guess. It’s just another round of golf, sometimes you play good and sometimes you play bad.

“Today I played good.”

Jack, an incoming freshman at Long Beach State, finished at 5-under 67 following his first round, one shot behind leaders Erich Fortlage and Harvey Young.

Jack plays his second round of stroke play Tuesday at Bandon Trails, the co-host for stroke play. The top 64 players following stroke play advance to match play, which begins Wednesday.

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‘This is the big one’: Nicholas Dunlap, 17, claims U.S. Junior title over Cohen Trolio

Nicholas Dunlap now gets his name etched into the U.S. Junior trophy after a long week at the Country Club of North Carolina.

As Nicholas Dunlap correctly noted on Saturday night, the U.S. Junior “is the big one” in junior golf. Dunlap now gets his name etched into the trophy after a long week at the Country Club of North Carolina in Pinehurst, North Carolina.

“My heart is still beating 100 times fast. This is unbelievable,” he said by way of reaction.

Dunlap, a 17-year-old from Hunstville, Alabama, playing his second USGA championship, took down Cohen Trolio on Saturday evening at the end of the scheduled 36-hole final. Dunlap prevailed by a 3-and-2 margin after being in control of the match for much of the day.

Scores: U.S. Junior Amateur

Trolio, who will play for LSU beginning this fall, did this dance backwards. Two years ago, he was a semifinalist at the U.S. Amateur played at nearby Pinehurst No. 2. His trip to the U.S. Junior finals gets him a return trip to that championship next month (though he was already safely in courtesy of his 2019 U.S. Am run).

2021 U.S. Junior
Cohen Trolio hits his second shot from the fifth fairway during the final match at the 2021 U.S. Junior at The Country Club of North in Village of Pinehurst, N.C. on Saturday, July 24, 2021. (Chris Keane/USGA)

Dunlap’s spoils are on an entirely different level. Courtesy of his win, he’ll play the 2022 U.S. Open.

“It’s my first PGA Tour event, first major,” Dunlap said. “I’m sure I’m probably going to be this nervous or even more. As a 17 or — I don’t know if I’ll be 18 by then, it’s just going to be a learning experience for me, and I’m going to go into it with as much confidence as I can and play my game.”

At CCNC, Dunlap benefited from a caddie who has been on that stage. Jeff Curl, who played the 2012 U.S. Open at Olympic Club, proved to be a formidable partner when it came to navigating the match-play bracket.

“You know, more words than I could ever say to thank Jeff,” Dunlap said. “He’s been there through all my ups and downs. He’s taught me so many things. He had, gosh, 20, 40 times this week he would either call me off, different club, different read on a putt, and without him this week there’s no way I would be here.”

Already this year, Dunlap has won the Dustin Johnson Junior World Championship by two strokes, placed second in the Pete Dye Invitational, tied for second in the Wyndham Invitational and tied for fifth in the Western Junior. Interestingly, he’s a former national finalist in the NFL Punt, Pass & Kick competition.

Saturday, however, was on a different level. It will forever be the day that Dunlap became a USGA champion.

“I’ve won tournaments in the past, but nothing like this,” he said. “This is unbelievable. The setting of it, in Pinehurst, to win — hopefully maybe I can win and defend next year, but to win this year at Pinehurst on this golf course, I’ll remember it forever.”

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College coaches were back recruiting at the U.S. Junior this week. A few in particular have a special connection to this event.

John Crooks and Tim Straub were back recruiting this week at the U.S. Junior, where they happen to be past champs.

Back in 2018, when then-Campbell-freshman Pontus Nyholm qualified for the 2018 NCAA Championship at Karsten Creek in Stillwater, Oklahoma, Camels head coach John Crooks orchestrated a detour. There was a scroll in Oklahoma City that Crooks wanted to see.

The player scroll is a familiar tradition for USGA championships, and Crooks knew that the one from the 1967 U.S. Junior at Twin Hills Golf Club would have his name on it – if it was still there.

“I called ahead and they were very gracious, met us and had carts for us,” Crooks remembered. “They showed me that I signed during registration for all the participants and then we rode by the golf course.”

Crooks’ run to that U.S. Junior title rarely comes up within his team, but it’s nice for the longtime coach of both Campbell golf teams to occasionally reference if he needs to drive home a point with a player.

Crooks spent this week recruiting at the U.S. Junior just up the road from Campbell. Walking the fairways at Country Club of North Carolina in Pinehurst, North Carolina, was a return to normalcy. For much of the past year, in-person recruiting was off-limits because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Because of COVID, I don’t know how other coaches felt but it’s just like I’ve just been standing in quicksand, there was nothing I could do, no place I could go,” he said. “To be able to walk the golf course and go up and down and walk nine holes and then nine more and then nine more, that’s what we’re supposed to do during the summertime, see players and be seen by players.”

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Crooks won his U.S. Junior title in his first and only trip to the championship when he was 17. He had a local caddie at Twin Hills – one who had just signed to play basketball on scholarship at a school in Oklahoma and who Crooks distinctly remembers being unfamiliar with how to tote a golf bag. He would often pick it up by the handle and carry it that way.

Crooks met Andy North, a three-time PGA Tour winner turned ESPN golf analyst, in the final and got an early advantage. He was 6 up when he made the turn and held on to that advantage even as North came to life on the back nine. Crooks won, 2 and 1, when he birdied the 17th on top of North.

“I can’t tell you the length of every putt that I hit but I think that I played that round over in my head so much that if I can’t remember every shot I can remember most of them,” he said.

In the years since, Crooks has only seen North in person one time.

Back when Crooks competed, a player aged out of U.S. Junior eligibility when he was 18. Now, junior players have an extra year to compete. Plus, there weren’t as many outlets for word of the tournament to spread.

Still, Crooks was very much aware what it meant to be a U.S. Junior champion even before he was one.

Crooks isn’t the only current college coach for whom U.S. Junior week means a little something extra. Cincinnati men’s coach Doug Martin won in 1984 and Davidson men’s coach Tim Straub won in 1983.

Straub is one of a distinguished group to finish runner-up (in 1982 at Crooked Stick in Carmel, Indiana) before going on to win the next year at Saucon Valley in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.

“The first year – the U.S. Junior when I was 15 – it was the first real big national tournament I played in,” Straub said. “I remember thinking it was the hardest golf course I’d ever seen in my life.”

A deep run in ’82 meant Straub returned in ’83 as the favorite. He also felt he was playing like one.

For Straub, winning in ’83 meant also getting a spot in the U.S. Amateur. College coaches began to turn their heads, too. Straub went on to play college golf at Wake Forest where he was a member of the 1986 NCAA Championship team.

“Even from the previous year I knew what an accomplishment it is to play well in the U.S. Junior,” he said.

And no matter how many years go by, that’s one thing that never changes.

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