Henry Guan, admittedly, did not have his best stuff during the stroke-play portion of the 77th U.S. Junior Amateur Championship at Trinity Forest Golf Club and co-host Brook Hollow Golf Club.
Barely qualifying for match play on the cutline (3-over-par 144), the 17-year-old from nearby Irving then was handed the fate – by way of the USGA’s computer draw to break ties – of being the No. 64 and having to face top seed and medalist Mason Howell in Wednesday’s Round of 64 at Trinity Forest.
Playing the equivalent of 1-under-par golf – with match-play concessions – was good enough to advance on another extremely hot mid-July day in north Texas, where the Heat Index again reached triple digits. One of seven current U.S. National Junior Team members to qualify for match play and an incoming Oklahoma State University freshman, Guan eliminated the 2026 University of Georgia commitment, 1 up.
It's the first time that a medalist/co-medalist has lost in the opening round of the U.S. Junior Amateur in 23 years (Shane Sigsbee over Jarred Texter at Atlanta Athletic Club), and the first solo medalist to be eliminated in the Round of 64 since James Vargas was defeated by Zack Amole – also 1 up – at Oak Hills Country Club, in San Antonio, Texas. Vargas, now the assistant coach at Texas Tech, has been in attendance this week recruiting.
“Really tough competitor. Really tough player,” said Guan of Howell, an 18-year-old from Thomasville, Ga., who qualified for last month’s U.S. Open at Oakmont Country Club. “Mason is an incredible player. This guy hits it long [and] putts it well. He does everything really well, and there’s a reason why he got medalist.
“But, obviously, going into the event, I didn’t think I was going to be the 64 seed. I know I had the game [to win]. I just didn’t have it these past couple of days, but like everyone says, match play is a different beast.”
Guan made only two birdies – one conceded – the entire match, the second coming when he stuffed a 56-yard, wedge approach to 5 feet. Leading 1 up at the time, the matching birdies – Howell missed a 16-footer for eagle – kept Guan from losing momentum. Howell’s putter never heated up, despite winning the opening two holes with birdies. He followed with three consecutive bogeys to fall 1 down and he never regained the lead.
On the par-3 17th, Howell watched his 8-footer lip out, and to Howell’s amazement, Guan also missed from 5 feet that would have closed out the match. Howell had a 20-foot birdie attempt on the par-4 18th, the same hole he made a 3 on 24 hours earlier to earn medalist honors at 7-under 134. This time, his putt trailed off, and Guan coaxed his 15-footer to a foot for a conceded par.
At last year’s U.S. Amateur, Guan lost his opening-round match in 25 holes to Garrett Engle, an experience he drew upon against Howell.
“You definitely get experience playing those big-pressure moments,” said Guan. “Playing in these [USGA amateur] tournaments and playing match play over and over again, you are eventually going to get used to it.”
Five other members/past members of the USNJT advanced into the final 32.
Tyler Watts, 17, of Huntsville, Ala., the runner-up in last year’s championship who has enjoyed a successful summer on the amateur circuit, rolled to an 8-and-7 victory over Rayhan Lateif, of Indonesia. The left-hander won the first six holes and shot the equivalent of 4 under par over the 11 holes. Watts arrived in Texas with a win in last month’s Sunnehanna Amateur and a runner-up showing in the North & South Amateur, a match-play event annually held at Pinehurst.
Another left-hander, Miles Russell, 16, of Jacksonville Beach, Fla., had a dramatic 20-hole victory over Jackson Ormond, of Webster, N.Y., who late Tuesday afternoon birdied his 17th hole at Brook Hollow to knock the 15 players at 4-over 145 out of a possible playoff for the last match-play spot. Russell, a member of last year’s USNJT, trailed, 2 down, going into the 16th hole, but rolled in an 8-foot birdie to win the hole, then made a clutch par save on 17 to keep the match going. Facing elimination on 18, Russell drained a 35-footer for birdie that forced extra holes. Ormond did have a chance to win the match at 18, but his 20-footer trailed off to the left.
“I was in a very similar situation at the North & South Amateur [last month in Pinehurst] and I was on the backside of it,” said Russell of his 21-hole defeat to Luke Colton in the Round of 16. “So this time around I was just trying to flip it and make a birdie and if he makes a birdie kudos to him. It’s a challenging hole to birdie.”
Two holes later, Russell, the 2023 American Junior Golf Association’s Player of the Year and the highest-ranked competitor in the field (No. 18 in the World Amateur Golf Ranking®/WAGR®), two-putted for birdie on the 539-yard, 2nd hole to advance. The rising high school junior has verbally committed to attend Florida State in 2027.
Speaking of Colton, another southpaw who is on the USNJT and headed to Vanderbilt University in 2026, posted a 2-up victory over Jace Benson, of Morgan, Utah. The 18-year-old from Frisco, Texas, saw his 3-up lead after nine holes completely evaporate, only to birdie Nos. 14, 16 and 18 to close out Benson.
Ronin Banerjee, 16, of Irvine, Calif., a newcomer to the USNJT in 2025, accomplished something that hadn’t occurred in an 18-hole match at the U.S. Junior Amateur in 48 years: win 9 and 8. The rising high school junior played 4-under golf over his first nine holes, then eliminated Alejandro Caraballo with a par on No. 10. Mitch Allenspach, in 1977 at Ohio State’s Scarlet Course, last achieved the feat. It has now been done seven times.
Tyler Mawhinney, 17, of Fleming Island, Fla., the 2025 U.S. Amateur Four-Ball champion (with Will Hartman) and USNJT member, rolled in a 15-foot birdie on the closing hole to defeat Lapassapon Heras-Gomez, of Thailand, 1 up.
All but Banerjee are in the upper portion of the bracket.
The longest match of the day saw Hamilton Coleman, of Augusta, Ga., outlast Isaiah Igo, of Sundown, Texas with a par on the 25th hole. It matched the third-longest in championship history, and it was the longest since Casey Wittenberg beat Daniel Im in 26 holes in 2002 at Atlanta Athletic Club.
The championship for Cameron Kuchar, the 17-year-old son of 9-time PGA Tour winner and 1997 U.S. Amateur champion Matt Kuchar, came to an end with a 2-and-1 loss to Kailer Stone, of Alameda, Calif. Stone, a 2026 Pepperdine University commitment, shared the 18-hole lead in stroke play. Kuchar will return to the Metroplex in the fall of 2026 when he plays for Texas Christian University.
WHAT'S NEXT
Match play continues on Thursday with the Rounds of 32 and 16 beginning at 7:15 a.m. CDT and going off in 10-minute intervals. The Round of 16 is scheduled to begin at 1:15 p.m.The quarterfinals and semifinals will be staged on Friday, followed by Saturday’s 36-hole championship match. Peacock has live streaming on Friday from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. EDT. Golf Channel will carry the afternoon portion of the final from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. EDT. Admission is free and the public is encouraged to attend.
NOTABLE
- Trevor Gutschewski survived a 23-hole opening-round match en route to the 2024 U.S. Junior Amateur title. But the defending champion from Omaha, Neb., had no such fortune in 2025, dropping a 3-and-1 decision to Chase Bauer, 15, of Gotha, Fla.
- Three matches went extra holes in the Round of 64. A year ago, just one match went beyond 18, and it was the first of the championship.
- No. 5 seed Stuart Boulware, 16, of Fairway, Kan., has now eagled the par-5 second hole at Trinity Forest twice in two tries. He did it in Monday’s first round en route to a 4-under 67, and again in his 6-and-4 win in the Round of 64.
- Nine of the 17 Texans in the field this week advanced to match play and six moved on to the Round of 32. That list of winners includes Henry Guan (Irving), Luke Colton (Frisco), Shiv Parmar (Selma), Lucas Latimer (Rockwall), Brooks Simmons (Dallas) and Adam Villanueva (Austin). Villanueva, an incoming University of Texas freshman, birdied his last three holes to post a 1-up win over Andrew Hinson.
- Of the 64 competitors who qualified for match play, 31 were fully exempt players. From that group, four players got into the field by claiming Allied Golf Association (AGA) or elite junior tournaments: Shiv Parmar (2024 Texas Junior); Hamilton Coleman (2024 Junior Players); Peyton Smith (2025 Kansas Junior); and Mingbo Jiang (2025 Florida Junior). The USGA created this exemption in 2024 for its Junior and open Amateur competitions.
- Thirteen different countries were represented in match play led by the United States with 44. The People’s Republic of China had five, followed by Mexico (3), Thailand (2), Vietnam (2), Indonesia (1), Colombia (1), England (1), the Republic of Korea (1), Puerto Rico (1), Singapore (1), Hong Kong, China (1) and Canada (1).
- Brayden Miller, of Goshen, Ind., is the oldest match-play qualifier. The incoming University of Cincinnati freshman turns 19 on July 29. Four 15-year-olds advanced into the draw with the youngest being Anh Huy Ho, of Vietnam, who turned 15 on March 21 of this year.
- Fourteen of the 26 players in the field associated with the U.S. National Development Program qualified for match play, including eight current/past members of the U.S. National Team (Miles Russell is an alum). Three from Georgia’s State Team advanced to the final 64: medalist Mason Howell, Hamilton Coleman and Trace Carter.
- One interesting past 64 seed who failed to upend the medalist is current world No. 1 and Dallas resident Scottie Scheffler. In 2010 at Egypt Valley, in Michigan, he lost to Curtis Thompson, the brother of major champion Lexi Thompson. Three years later at Martis Camp, Scheffler won the U.S. Junior Amateur.
QUOTABLE
“I am staying at home [35 minutes away]. It’s definitely nice. Get to sleep in my own bed. Get to chill in a proper way rather than just being at a hotel. That’s a very nice thing.” – Henry Guan
“I was pretty close to passing out. It was rough. I knew it wasn't going to last forever. At one point I didn’t really care which way it went, I just wanted to get it done.” – Hamilton Coleman on his 25-hole victory
“The putt on 18 was probably one of the best putts I’ve had. I had three great putts coming down the stretch there.” – Miles Russell on his comeback win in 20 holes
“I had the tee on the first tee box and never gave it away and that's always important in match play to be able to go first and apply pressure to your opponent.” – Tyler Watts
“I wasn’t thinking about any records or anything. I just wanted to close out my match. I was thinking more about just continuing to play good golf because I have more [matches]… I was thinking about [the heat] too. I wanted to save my legs and save my energy.” – Ronin Banerjee on posting the first 9-and-8, 18-hole victory in 48 years
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