Top 4 Seeds Advance in Junior Am, But Birdwell Is Eliminated

BLOOMFIELD HILLS, Mich. -- Being the higher seed in a match doesn't guarantee anythiing, but the higher seeds rarely have as bad a day as they did Wednesday, in the Round of 64 at the U.S. Junior Amateur Championship on the South Course at Oakland Hills.

The medalist and No. 1 seed, Blades Brown, the 17-year-old phenom from Nashville who qualified with a 36-hole total of 6-under-par 134 (66-68), struggled to separate himself from the No. 64 seed, Alex Huang, who had to surive a 13-for-9 playoff Wednesday morning just to get into match play. Huang was even par for 11 holes and tied with Brown after he won the 444-yard, par-4 11th hole with a birdie. But Brown took the lead for good with a birdie at the 569-yard, par-5 12th and ended up winning 3&2.

He will take on the No. 33 seed, Trevor Gutschewski, on Thursday morning. Gutschewski had to work the hardest of any of the Round of 64 winners. He was 4 up against No. 32 seed Rich Wills after eight holes, but Wills battled back pulled even by winning South's 495-yard, par-4 18th hole with a par to force overtime. Gutschewski and Wills tied three of the first four extra holes with birdies, before Gutschewski won fifth extra hole, the 485-yard, par-4 fifth, with a par.

The Nos. 2 and 3 seeds, Tyler Watts and Joshua Bai, also won, and by the same score as Brown, 3&2. No. 4 Liv Grinberg, who is from Ukraine, had an easier time of it. He won 6&5 over No. 61 Hsuan-Yi Chen.

But the next five seeds all lost, beginning with No. 5 Mack Edwards. He was leading the stroke-play portion of the tournament on Tuesday with four holes to go, then made three bogeys in a row and fell back into a tie for third. On Wednesday, his problems came in groups of 3 once again. Actually, twiice again. One up after seven holes against No. 60 seed William Lisle, Edwards played the next three holes in bogey, double, bogey and lost them all. He won the 11th hole with a par, but lost the par-5 12th, par-3 13th and par-4 14th with bogeys, and lost the match 4&3.

By the end of the day, the lower seeds had won 17 matches, to the higher seeds' 15. That doesn't happen very often in match-play tournaments.

Among higher-seeded casualties was Jake Birdwell, the 2023 Minnesota state high school champion from Spring Lake Park who will begin his freshman year at the University of Illinois in a few weeks. He shot 70 on the North Course at Oakland Hills on Monday in the first round of stroke play qualifying and followed it with a 71 at the more difficult South Course, for a 1-over 36-hole total of 141. With that, he put himself into a seven-way tie for 25th, and was seeded No 30.

In his Round of 64 match, he faced the No. 35 seed, C.J. Winchenbaugh, a soon-to-be freshman at Georgetown from Weston, Mass., who came from eight shots behind to win the New England Amateur Championship last week -- with a final-round 61! Birdwell had been right around par throughout the two days of stroke play, and that continued through the first eight holes of his match on Wednesday. After losing the first hole to a par, he birdied the par-5 second and then parred the next six holes in a row and was even with Winchenbaugh at that point. Then, suddenly, Birdwell boarded the bogey train, making three in a row at the 185-yard, par-3 ninth, the 476-yard, par-4 10th and the par-4 11th.

Winchenbaugh, now 3 up, went birdie-par-birdie on the 12th, 13th and 14th, extending his winning streak to six consecutive holes and closing out the match 6&4.



U.S. Junior Amateur Championship

At Oakland Hills Country Cluib

South Course, par 70, 7,330 yards

North Course, par 70, 6,808 yards

(All matches will be played on the South Course)

Bloomfield Hills, Mich.

Stroke play

Final results

(The top 64 went into match play)

1. Blades Brown 66N-68S--134

2. Tyler Watts 65N-70S--135

T3. Mack Edwards 66S-70N--136

T3. Joshua Bai 71S-65-N--136

T3. Chase Kyes 70N-66S--136

T3. Lev Grinberg 67S-69N--136

T7. Sean Keeling 69N-68S--137

T7. Michael Riebe 71N-66S--137

T9. Nicholas Gross 69S-69N--138

T9. Luke Colton 70N-68S--138

T9. Chase Cline 71N-67S--138

T25. Jake Birdwell 70N-71S--141

Failed to qualify for match play

Joe Honsa 75S-74N--149

Thomas Meader 82S-74N--156


Match play

Round of 64

No. 1 Blades Brown def. No. 64 Alex Huang 3&2

No. 2 Tyler Watts def. No. 63 Ieuan Jones 3&2

No. 3 Joshua Bai def. No. 62 Brayden Molder 3&2

No. 4 Lev Grinberg def. No. 61 Hsuan -Yi Chen 6&5

No. 60 William Lisle def. No. 5 Mack Edwards 4&3

No. 59 Alex Holder def. No. 6 Chase Kyes 1 up

No. 58 Davis Hartwell def. No. 7 Michael Riebe 4&2

No. 57 Jaxon Bandelier def. No. 8 Sean Keeling 4&3

No. 56 Bailey Sutter def. No. 9 Chase Cline 1 up

No. 10 Luke Colton def. No. 55 Pavel Tsar 20 holes

No. 35 C.J. Winchenbaugh def. No. 30 Jake Birdwell 6&4