This week’s 2026 U.S. Junior Amateur at Saucon Valley Country Club has provided plenty of headlines.
On Monday, a promising high school player was disqualified for multiple breaches of a recently adopted rule.
On Wednesday, Charlie Woods nearly qualified for the match-play portion of the event his famous father won three times, only to be thwarted in a playoff by a fan with a camera phone.
But as we head into Saturday’s final match, the historic event has at least one fitting finalist: Miles Russell.
The No. 1 junior amateur in the world put on an incredible performance in Friday’s quarter -and semifinals to advance to the finale.
First, Russell dominated Washington State’s Dylan Boenning in the quarters 6 and 5. Next up was Tyler Mawhinney, who plays college golf at Vanderbilt.
Mawhinney gave Russell all he had, matching him throughout much of the round. By the end of the match, Mawhinney was seven under par. But it wasn’t good enough. Russell made birdie on 17 to win 2 and 1.
“Long day, but it was a lot of good golf. You don’t get many of those, that good of golf days a year, very few, and you’ve got to take them when you can get them, and just try to keep that rolling into tomorrow,” Russell said after his semi-finals match.
In all, Russell was 14 under through 30 holes played on Friday.
Russell, 17, has committed to play college golf at Florida State, but he’s already accomplished much in the game. In addition to multiple high-profile wins, Russell qualified for the 2026 U.S. Open with friend Charlie Woods as his caddie.
He went to Shinnecock Hills and showed just how good he is, making the cut and finishing T39.
Russell will now face Noah Maclauchlan, an alternate who beat Cooper Moore 1 up in the semis, in Saturday’s final match to determine the 2026 U.S. Junior Amateur champion.
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