Noah Maclauchlan Stuns Miles Russell To Win US Junior Amateur

Noah Maclauchlan is the new US Junior Amateur champion after a brilliant performance in the final to stun teenage prodigy Miles Russell.

Moseley, Virginia player Maclauchlan began the 36-hole final of the prestigious Saucon Valley tournament as the heavy underdog for several reasons.

One was that he only made the field as an alternate, earning his spot when Rawlin Sutter won the Alabama State Boys Junior to become exempt.

Another was the fact that he began the week 2,047th in the World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR).

Then there was his opponent, Russell, who held off Tyler Mawhinney to reach the final for the first time and who is regarded as one of the brightest emerging talents in the game.

He went into the prestigious tournament with a string of junior achievements, while he has even made an impact on the PGA Tour and the recent US Open at Shinnecock Hills, where he placed T39.

As a result, much of the attention was on the 17-year-old, who is seventh in the WAGR, when the two began the match play final.

However, it was Maclauchlan, who beat Cooper Moore to reach the final, who settled first.

He was 3 up after just six holes courtesy of three birdies before Russell gradually came back into it.

When he made his third consecutive birdie at the 13th of their opening 18, the pair were tied once more, with Russell going 1 up two holes later with his fourth birdie of the day.

At that stage, it appeared Russell’s class was about to tell, but a double-bogey at 16 wiped out his advantage, with Maclauchlan, whose putting was stunning throughout, back in front at the 17th with another birdie.

That remained the case when they stopped for a lunch break after the first 18, and at that point, Russell would still have fancied his chances despite being narrowly behind.

Maclauchlan had other ideas, though, going 2 up immediately after they resumed, and he was 3 up with his eighth birdie of the day two holes later.

Further birdies followed at the 23rd and 24th for Maclauchlan as a major shock increasingly looked like becoming a reality.

Russell, who has verbally committed to Florida State University, steadied the ship with three consecutive birdies, but by that point, holes were beginning to run out.

When yet another birdie gave Liberty University-bound Maclauchlan a commanding 6-up lead through 28 holes, it appeared a matter of when, not if, he would close out a brilliant victory.

Russell wasn’t quite finished, taking advantage of Maclauchlan’s bogey at the par-3 29th with a par to close the gap to 5 up, but he needed much more of the same, and quickly.

After both players made par at the 30th, Maclauchlan was potentially just one hole from victory, and he sealed it with a six-foot birdie for an outstanding 6&5 win to lift the newly renamed Tiger Woods Trophy.