It's Ding vs. Surratt in Junior Am Final

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BANDON, Ore. -- The four players who made it to the semifinals of the U.S. Junior Amateur on Friday afternoon were playing their seventh rounds in five days, and they were doing it in temperatures that were in the upper 50s and winds that were averaging double figures and gusting to more than 20 miles per hour. That may help to explain why the level of golf wasn't quite as spectacular as it was in the morning quarterfinals. 

Nevertheless, the two best players in the field, according to the World Amateur Golf Rankings, were the ones who emerged and will face each other on Saturday in the 36-hole championship match. 

Caleb Surratt, an 18-year-old from Indian Trail, N.C., who will begin his freshman year at the University of Tennessee in a few weeks, is seeded No. 31, but he's No. 19 in the WAGRs, and he hasn't trailed yet in 74 holes of match play this week. On Friday morning, he was 4 under par on the iconic Bandon Dunes course through 15 holes, but he was all square with the No. 23 seed, Preston Stout, in their quarterfinal match.

Surratt pulled ahead with a birdie at the 361-yard, par-4 16th hole and held on for a 1 up victory.

He then beat the defending champion, Nicholas Dunlap (No. 30), 4&3 in the semis. Once again, Surratt grabbed an early lead, with a birdie at the 176-yard, par-3 second hole. He and Dunlap both birdied the par-5 third (574 yards), but Surratt won the par-4 fourth with a par to go 2 up. They both birdied the short, par-4 eighth (337 yards) and the par-5 ninth (575), but things got a little ragged on the back nine. 

Surratt won the long 11th hole, a 473-yard par 4 that was playing into the wind, with a bogey when Dunlap three-putted from 15 feet and made a double. Dunlap, an Alabama recruit, doubled the 135-yard, par-3 12th, too, and Surratt won it with a par to go 4 up. Dunlap cut his deficit to 3 down with a birdie at the downwind, 547-yard, par-5 13th, where the players were hitting short-iron second shots Friday afternoon. But Surratt won the 14th (409, par 4) with a par and then closed Dunlap out by halving the par-3 15th (192) with a par.

For the 15 holes he played, Surratt was 2 under.

In his quarterfinal match, Dunlap had to make a birdie on the 19th hole (No. 1, 404 yards, par 4) to subdue Florida State recruit Luke Clanton, who was a semifinalist in the 2021 U.S. Junior Am, and who won the North & South Amateur earlier this summer with a 64 in the championship match at Pinehurst No. 2. 

The other finalist is the No. 16 seed, Wenyi Ding, a 17-year-old from China who is No. 20 in the WAGRs. He beat the last player seeded in the top 10, No. 9 Luke Potter, another 2021 semifinalist, 1 up in the quarters. Potter grabbed an early lead with a birdie at the first hole, but Ding leveled the match with an eagle at the par-5 third hole and stuck his nose in front with a 2 at the 192-yard, par-3 sixth.

Potter, an Arizona State recruit, won the par-4 10th with a birdie and the daunting 11th with a par to get back to all square. Ding won the 12th with a birdie, and they both birdied the 13th. Potter pulled even one more time when he birdied the 14th and Ding bogeyed it, but Ding took the lead for good with a birdie at the 361-yard, par-4 16th.

Ding and Potter both had medal scores of 67 (5 under). 

In his semifinal against the No. 45 seed, Eric Lee, Ding had taken a 2-up lead with a par at the 12th, but Lee matched Ding's birdie at the par-5 13th to avoid falling 3 down. Lee cut his deficit in half by winning the par-3 15th with a par, and he won the par-5 18th with a birdie (to Ding's bogey). But Ding won the match with a par on the second extra hole (No. 10 was their first extra hole, and No. 14 -- 409 yards, par 4 -- was the second).       

It was Lee who had won in 20 holes a few hours earlier, in his quarterfinal against the 17-year-old prodigy from Australia, Jeffrey Guan, the No. 37 seed. Lee won the first two holes -- and then went birdie-birdie-eagle at the par-3 sixth, par-4 seventh and the 337-yard, par-4 eighth to go 5 up. They halved the par-5 ninth and par-4 10th with birdies -- which meant Lee played the sixth through the 10th hole in 6 under par!  

But Guan staged a ferocious comeback, winning the 12th with a par and the 13th with a birdie, losing the 14th to a birdie, and then winning the 15th, 16th, 17th and 18th holes to take the match into overtime. Lee settled the matter by making a 35-foot putt for birdie at the second extra hole (No. 2, 176 yards, par 3). 


U.S. Junior Amateur 

At Bandon Dunes Golf Resort 

Bandon Dunes (par 72)

Bandon Trail (par 71) 

Bandon, Ore. 

Stroke Play

Final results (the top 64 advanced to match play, beginning Wednesday 

1. Keaton Vo                    69 BT 65 BD -- 134

T2. Jaydon Ford              68 BD 68 BT -- 136

T2. Grant Lester               66 BT 70 BD -- 136

T4. Joshua Koo                69 BT 68 BD -- 137

T4. Nicholas Gross           68 BT 69 BD -- 137

T4. Jack Cantlay               67 BD 70 BT -- 137

T4. Dianchu Wu                 67 BT 70 BD -- 137

T8. Luke Potter                   69 BD 69 BT -- 138

T8. Caden Pinckes             68 BD 70 BT -- 138

T8. Zachery Pollo               69 BD 69 BT -- 138



Playoff (11 for 5)

Qualifiers

Weston Jones birdies first hole (No. 1, 367 yards, par 4)

Connor Williams pars first two holes, birdies third (No. 18, 361 yards, par 4)

Oscar Bach pars five holes

Carson Brewer pars five holes

Emilio Gil Leyva pars five holes 

Eliminated 

Sam Udovich pars first hole, double bogeys the second (No. 2, 212 yards, par 3)

Logan Batiste pars the first four holes, but bogeys the fifth (No. 2, 212 yards, par 3) 


Match Play

Round of 64

(1) Keaton Vo def. (64) Carson Brewer 4&3

(63) Oscar Bach def. (2) Jayden Ford 3&2

(3) Grant Lester def. (62) Gil Leyva 20 holes

(4) Jack Cantlay def. (61) Connor Williams 4&3

(5) Nicholas Gross def. (60) Weston Jones 5&3

(59) Aidan Cohl def. (6) Dianchao Wu 5&4

(7) Joshua Koo def. (58) Jonas Appel 3&2

(8) Caden Pinckes def. (57) Omar Khalid Hussain 4&3 

Round of 32

(32) John Broderick def. (1) Vo 1 up

(31) Caleb Surratt def. (63) Bach 3&1

(30) Nicholas Dunlap def. (3) Grant Lester 3&2

(4) Jack Cantlay def. (29) Aidan Emmerich 2 up

(37) Jeffrey Guan def. (5) Gross 1 up

(27) Johnnie Clark def. (59) Aidan Cohl 3&2

(7) Joshua Koo def. (39) Ethan Lien 3&1

(8) Cade Pinckes def. (25) JeanPhilippe Parr 2&1

(9) Luke Potter def. (24) Nicholas Prieto 5&3 

(43) Luke Clanton def. (11) Akshay Anand 5&4 

Round of 16

(16) Wenyi Ding def. (32) Broderick 5&3

(9) Potter def. (8) Pinckes 7&5 

(45) Eric Lee def. (4) Cantlay 2&1

(37) Guan def. (44) Charlie Palmer 5&4

(31) Surratt def. (50) Ethan Fang 7&5

(23) Preston Stout def. (7) Koo 3&2 

(30) Dunlap def. (46) William Love 1 up

(43) Clanton def. (27) Clark 3&1 

Quarterfinals

(16) Ding def. (9) Potter 1 up

(45) Lee def. (37) Guan 20 holes

(31) Surratt def. (23) Stout 1 up

(30) Dunlap def. (43) Clanton 19 holes

Semifinals

(16) Ding def. (45) Lee 20 holes

(31) Surratt def. (30) Dunlap 4&3