Miles Russell closed out his Round-of-16 match in impressive fashion Thursday afternoon at the U.S. Junior Amateur.
Leading opponent Reed Arnaldo, 1 up, Russell got aggressive on the 324-yard, par-4 18th hole at Saucon Valley Country Club’s Old Course, taking driver and hitting his tee ball to 5 feet.
With Russell looking at an automatic birdie, at worst, Arnaldo ended up conceding the hole to the country’s top-ranked junior before Russell needed to even play his second stroke. Russell’s 2-up win sent him into Friday morning’s quarterfinals, where he’ll face Dylan Boenning, who advanced with a 19-hole victory over Owen Coniaris.
Miles Russell NEARLY makes an ace on the par-4 18th to win the match
His eagle putt was conceded to finish off a 2-up win over Reed Arnaldo and punch his ticket to the quarterfinals of the U.S. Junior Amateur. pic.twitter.com/sJct7pAAKS
— USGA (@USGA) July 23, 2026
Russell, who is also the world’s seventh-ranked amateur and already a member of this year’s U.S. Walker Cup team, is attempting to win his first Tiger Woods trophy, the new name of the U.S. Junior’s coveted prize, and complete what would be considered the modern grand slam of boys junior golf.
Russell, 17, has already twice won the Junior Invitational at Sage Valley (2025, 2026) and AJGA Junior Players Championship (2023, 2025), while also winning the 2023 Junior PGA Championship.
Russell’s best previous U.S. Junior finish is T-5, as he’s bowed out in the quarterfinals in each of the last two editions, including last year at Trinity Forest, where he was eliminated by Luke Colton, an incoming Vanderbilt freshman who turned 19 last month and was thus ineligible to compete this week.
A Colton is still represented in this year’s quarterfinals, however, as Luke’s dad, Jim, is caddying for Luke’s future college teammate, Tyler Mawhinney, who topped Czechia’s Louis Klein, 2 and 1, and will face 2027 Vanderbilt commit Sohan Patel in another quarterfinal. The winner of Mawhinney-Patel will meet either Russell or Boenning in the semifinals, which will take place Friday afternoon.
The top half of the bracket has Noah Maclauchlan playing Kuan Zhou and New Zealand’s Ryan Xie facing countryman Cooper Moore in the two other quarterfinals.
