With Vo & All Other Top-8 Seeds Gone, Watch out for the Lukes

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BANDON, Ore. -- A moment of silence for the top eight seeds in the 2022 U.S. Junior Amateur. They're all gone, most notably the No. 1 seed, Keaton Vo. Two days after tying the course record of 7-under-par 65 at Bandon Dunes, the No. 1 seed was dismissed Wednesday morning  by the No. 32 seed, John Broderick, 1 up, in the Round of 32.

By the time the Round of 16 matches were concluded Wednesday afternoon, none of the top eight seeds was still in the tournament. 

Broderick was gone, too. He was excused by No. 16 Wenyi Ding, 5&3, in the Round of 16. Ding, a 17-year-old from Beijing, made seven birdies in 15 holes. 

The highest remaining seed, No. 9 Luke Potter, also looked impressive. A semifinalist in last year's U.S. Junior, the Arizona State recruit was 3 under for 15 holes in a 5&3 victory over Nicholas Prieto (No. 24) in the morning, and he was 5 under as he blitzed his former high school teammate, No. 8 Caden Pinckes 7&5 in the afternoon.

Ding and Potter will meet Friday morning in the quarterfinals. 

Luke Clanton, who will be heading for Florida State in a few weeks, won the North & South Amateur earlier this summer, shooting 64 at Pinehurst No. 2 in the final. He got off to a slow start this week, with a 74 at Bandon Trail in the first round of stroke play. But he came back with a 68 at Bandon Dunes, and since match play began, he's looked a lot better than his seeding of No. 43.

In the Round of 64, Clanton was 5 under for 13 holes in a 7&5 thumping of No. 22 Shengqian Li. He was a mere 3 under while dismissing the No. 11 seed, Akshay Anand, 5&4, and on Wednesday afternoon, he was 5 under again and birdied six of his last nine holes while burying Johnnie Clark 3&1.

Like Potter, Clanton made it to the semifinals at this tournament last year. 

The player who beat Clanton last year was Nicholas Dunlap, and he went on to win the tournament. He's seeded No. 30 this year, and he beat No. 46 William Love 1 up on Thursday afternoon in the Round of 16. He will play Clanton Friday morning in the quarters. 

Another player to look out for is the Australian phenom Jeffrey Guan, a two-time Australian Junior champ. In his Round of 16 match against Charlie Palmer (No. 44), Guan birdied the first hole but then made a triple bogey at the par-3 second. Unfazed, he proceeded to birdie five of the next 10 holes in a 5&4 victory. That was after he came from 2 down with six holes to go against the No. 5 seed, Nicholas Gross, making four birdies in the last six holes to win 1 up.

Guan will face Eric Lee in the quarters. Lee got there by knocking out one of the last two top-8 seeds, Jack Cantlay, 2&1 on Thursday afternoon. Cantlay is the younger brother of Patrick Cantlay, the winner of last year's FedEx Cup Playoffs -- and the first prize of $15. Lee was 4 under for 17 holes.

The other quarterfinal will pit No. 23 Preston Stout against No. 31 Caleb Surratt. Surratt was 2 under in a 7&5 trumph over No. 50 Ethan Fang. Stout was 3 under and 7 up after nine holes against the other last surviving top-8 player, No. 7 Joshua Koo. Koo rallied on the back nine but eventually lost 3&2.  


U.S. Junior Amateur 

At Bandon Dunes Golf Resort 

Bandon Dunes (par 72)

Bandon Trail (par 71) 

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