Three down after four holes. Facing the No. 62 seed whose résumé is far better than a player barely qualifying for match play and a world ranking 554 spots higher.
That was the predicament co-medalist/No. 3 seed Sohan Patel found himself in during the Round of 64 on Wednesday in the 78th U.S. Junior Amateur on Saucon Valley Country Club’s Old Course. But the left-hander from Weston, Fla., illustrated the kind of intestinal fortitude it takes to hoist the Tiger Woods Trophy come late Saturday afternoon.
Patel, a second-year member of the U.S. National Junior Team and 2027 verbal commit to Vanderbilt University, battled back, eventually holing a clutch 25-foot birdie putt on the 18th hole to eliminate incoming Pepperdine University freshman Luke Ringkamp, 18, of Palm Desert, Calif., 1 up.
When the putt found the hole, the 17-year-old emphatically pumped his fist into the air, drawing a loud applause from spectators surrounding the green. It was the kind of emotion Patel saves for a big moment.
Ringkamp, a member of the U.S. National Development Program’s Team Southern California, still had one last opportunity to force extra holes, but his 15-footer from below the hole just missed off to the left.
Before chatting with a USGA media official, Patel and his father, Pre, enjoyed a long embrace after a dramatic day. Patel never led in the match until the final birdie.
It was a little reminiscent of last year’s first-round match when medalist Mason Howell lost to No. 64 seed and U.S. National Junior Team member Henry Guan. Howell would win the U.S. Amateur a month later.
“I haven't been down in any U.S. Junior match other than like Hole 15 or 16 against Hammy [2025 champion Hamilton Coleman] in the quarterfinals,” said Patel, competing in his fourth USGA championship and second Junior Am. “I was always either tied or up in matches. But I learned today that I could come back from 3 or 4 down if I needed to, and that's just so kind of cool.”
When Patel saw the draw Tuesday night, the American Heritage School's rising senior knew he was in for a tussle. Ringkamp is No. 210 in the World Amateur Golf Ranking®/WAGR® with a win earlier this year at the Team TaylorMade Invitational and the 2025 Rolex Tournament of Champions. He also tied for sixth at the most recent Junior Invitational at Sage Valley, a prestigious competition held each April. But rounds of 74-71 in stroke play barely qualified him for match play.
He outpaced Patel in the early going, playing his first nine in the equivalent of 3 under par – with the usual concessions for match play – to take a 2-up advantage into the back nine. Patel would eventually tie the match with a conceded eagle 2 on the 280-yard 13th hole. The pair traded winning pars until southpaw’s winning moment on 18.
“Luke's probably was one of the favorites to win the thing,” said Patel, the No. 764 player in WAGR. “So it doesn't really matter the seed. I knew he was going to come out with his game today, and he did. We just battled back and forth. There were a lot of holes won with birdies, a lot of holes won with pars. It was just an absolute grind out there.”
The other two co-medalists, 17-year-olds Brayden Jones, of Seal Beach, Calif., and Miles Russell, of Jacksonville Beach, Fla., had relatively drama-free opening matches.
Jones, a 2027 Arizona State University verbal commit who got the No. 1 seed from the USGA scoring system, rolled to a 4-and-3 victory over Hudson Kutchma, while the left-handed Russell, the No. 7 player in WAGR who is committed to Florida State for 2027, eliminated playoff survivor Eli Wessel, 6 and 5.
For Jones, a member of Team Southern California, being the top seed may be a new experience, but he had no reservations about being the hunted over being the hunter this week. His lone blip was a double-bogey 6 on the par-5 fifth hole. Following the misstep, Jones pulled away with birdies on Nos. 8 and 10, and closed out the match on the par-5 15th hole with a par.
“My opponent was a little erratic off the tee, so I knew I just had to get in the fairway and be aggressive when I could,” said Jones, who next faces a familiar foe in Ronin Banjeree in the Round of 32 on Thursday morning as both compete in the same high school league in Orange County. “Stay in the fairway or hit it to the middle of the green when he was out of position.”
Russell, coming off making the cut in last month’s U.S. Open and being named to the 2026 USA Walker Cup Team, is clearly the most accomplished player in the field. He’s won a pair of American Junior Golf Association Player of the Year awards (2023, 2025) and is the youngest to ever make a cut in a Korn Ferry Tour event.
But he’s yet to advance beyond the quarterfinals in any USGA championship, including the last two Junior Ams and the 2025 U.S. Amateur.
He only played even-par golf over the 13 holes of his Round-of-64 match, yet was good enough to earn a Round-of-32 encounter against talented Southern Californian Evan Liu, the runner-up at the 2025 California Amateur.
“Yeah, [the Old Course] played tough today,” said Russell, a member of the victorious 2025 U.S. Junior Ryder Cup Team who has claimed the past two Junior Invitationals at Sage Valley. “It was windy, and depending on where you were, the greens were a little softer than I was expecting and maybe a smidge slower, but that was probably due to the wind. My irons were pretty solid, and I started hitting my driver a little better there on the back side. I burned a lot of edges, but it was a good day.”
A year ago, U.S. National Junior Team member Ronin Banjeree did something that hadn’t occurred in a U.S. Junior Amateur in 48 years: win a match by a 9-and-8 margin. The Southern Californian knew that likely wasn’t going to repeat itself in the Round of 64 when he saw fellow California native and incoming Georgia Tech freshman Max Emberson as his opening opponent.
The two had a tight match for seven holes before the Irvine resident and 2027 University of Tennessee commit pulled away by winning four consecutive holes from No. 8 to post a 5-and-4 victory.
Banjeree struggled a bit in stroke play, especially in Monday’s opening round on the Grace Course, shooting a 3-over 73, but bounced back on day two with a 1-under 70 on the Old Course.
“Max is a great player…I didn't even think that 9 and 8 was a possibility, and it definitely wasn't,” said Banjeree. “I try to come out with a pretty free mindset. Playing match play kind of frees me up. You're not really thinking about doubles or short siding yourself as much. You're just swinging free, and I think that's when I play my best.”
If No. 8 seed Michael Asselta, 18, of Ramsey, N.J., makes a deep run in this championship, perhaps he’ll get a mention on ESPN Plus or PGA Tour Radio. His father, Ryan, is a longtime broadcaster who also worked at Fox 5 in New York and Comcast New England out of Boston.
The incoming Loyola (Md.) University freshman got off to a good start in match play with a 4-and-2 win over Cole Pregler. He next faces Texan Tripp Depoy, a 2-up winner over Reed Higgins.
His future coach, Chris Baloga, was on Michael’s bag during stroke play, but with his departure on Wednesday, his more-decorated younger brother, Rory, donned a caddie bib.
Rory, one of the top players in the Class of 2028 who didn’t qualify for this year’s championship, already is in next year’s U.S. Junior Amateur at Chambers Bay by virtue of winning last week’s Metropolitan Golf Association Junior. He also claimed the RLX Ralph Lauren Junior Classic, the only match-play event on the American Junior Golf Association circuit, last month at Bethpage State Park’s Black Course.
Michael won this year’s New Jersey Junior to earn a spot at Saucon Valley. Living just 90 minutes away, it was an event he undoubtedly circled. To prepare, he’s played a lot of intense golf alongside his brother Rory.
“I don't know if he's said our [actual] names, but he's definitely like mentioned me and my brother,” said Asselta, whose dad does five PGA Tour events a year from the PGA Tour’s studio in Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla.
“Definitely very cool,” continued Michael on having his younger sibling by his side. “We know each other's games so well. He knows exactly what to tell me on certain shots and stuff. It's very helpful.”
What’s Next
Two match-play rounds are scheduled for Thursday with the Rounds of 32 and 16. The quarterfinals and semis will be contested on Friday, with the 36-hole championship match on Saturday. GolfChannel.com will stream the semifinal matches on Friday from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. EDT. Golf Channel has the afternoon portion of the final on Saturday from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. Admission is free and the public is encouraged to attend.
Notable
- The 14-for-2 playoff for the last spots in the match-play draw lasted two holes and 67 minutes. Indiana residents Eli Wessel and Hudson Kutchma each made 3s on the par-3 fifth hole of the Grace Course to advance. Zilin Gao was the odd man out with a bogey. Charlie Woods, the son of 15-time major champion and three-time U.S. Junior winner Tiger Woods, made a 6 on the par-5 first hole. Also eliminated was world No. 32 amateur Oscar Couilleau, who made a 5. Rich Davis, who holed out for an eagle 2 on the 18th hole of the Grace Course from 110 yards out on Tuesday to get into the playoff, also failed to advance.
- Speaking of Wessel, he was 90 minutes west of Saucon Valley on Tuesday night when he realized he was going to be in the 14-for-2 playoff. He turned around in Harrisburg, the state capital, and was on the first tee of the Grace Course the next morning.
- The number of playoff participants was one off the championship record that was set in 2005 at Longmeadow (Mass.) Country Club.
- Besides Sohan Patel and Ronin Banjeree, two other U.S. National Junior Team members advanced: 2025 U.S. Amateur Four-Ball champion Tyler Mawhinney and Jessy Huebner. Giuseppe Puebla, who qualified for last month’s U.S. Open, was eliminated by Geon Kang, of the Republic of Korea.
- The youngest to make match play was 14-year-old Hudson Justus, of Gainesville, Ga., while the oldest was Washington State rising sophomore Dylan Boenning, of Scottsdale, Ariz., who turns 19 on Aug. 2. Justus lost all of his 4-up advantage to Ryan Baker before making a winning birdie on No. 17 to post a 1-up victory. Boenning never trailed in eliminating 2026 Florida Amateur champion Hampton Beebe, 1 up.
- Three matches went extra holes, topped by Cooper Moore’s 22-hole victory over Landon Ashcraft. Andrew Sciortino needed 20 holes to eliminate Emilio Velez, while Dawson Lew birdied the 19th hole to beat William Lisle.
- Besides the three extra-hole matches, 10 others went the distance.
- Lefty Noah Maclauchlan, of Moseley, Va., advanced when his opponent, Jonathan Ward, conceded after nine holes due to a hip injury. Maclauchlan was 5 up at the time of the concession. Maclauchlan’s brother, Liam, also competed this week but failed to qualify for match play.
- One could say this mayor won in a landslide... Henry Mayor, of Mission Hills, Kan., registered the largest margin of victory with a 7-and-5 decision over Andrew Tsar.
- Team Colorado member and San Diego State incoming freshman Brayden Forte, of Denver, played his last five holes in 6 under par, including an eagle 2 on the 280-yard, par-4 13th hole in a 6-and-5 victory over Cooper Smith.
- Both Team Pennsylvania members who qualified for match play are among the final 32. Chase Yenser, who lives 50 minutes from Saucon Valley in Douglassville, registered a 2-and-1 victory over University of Tennessee rising sophomore Luke Smith. Nico Ward, who also is a USNDP Grant Athlete from Coraopolis (Greater Pittsburgh), defeated Cody Weaver, 3 and 2.
- On Tuesday, Hamilton Coleman became the first defending champion to miss the match-play cut since Shane McNemany, of Grand Forks, N.D., in 1997 at Aronimink Golf Club, which hosted this year’s PGA Championship. McNemany defeated future PGA Tour winner Charles Howell III in the 1996 final at Forest Highlands, in Flagstaff, Ariz., then shot 81-79 the following year.
Quotable
“I only get really emotional when the moment's really big, and I know how hard I work. I know that the practice that I do is extremely important. So, when I get out here and the results are what I'd love them to be, I know I've hit a lot of putts like that before and made them, so I know I can make them at the biggest times.” – Sohan Patel on his final birdie to advance
“I think I was maybe 3 or 4 up after 11 holes, so I just had to stay in it. Not do anything special. Just try not to make any mistakes because you don't want to let him back in mentally.” – Brayden Jones
“It's a long week, so the more rest you can have and the less golf you can play, the better.” – Miles Russell on finishing early on Tuesday and Wednesday
“I just love playing golf, but obviously these match-play tournaments are really exciting. I used to play tennis, so that one on one mentality is [great]. I kind of forgot what that feels like and playing match-play tournaments, and team tournaments, it's a great feeling. It's pretty fun.” – Ronin Banjeree
“Once it gets down to the Round of 32, these are the best junior golfers in the world. No matter what happens, I have to play my best golf. It doesn't matter who I play. He's definitely a super good player. I mean, co-medalist, that definitely says something about where his game is at. I'm just expecting him to hit a good shot every time he steps up to it, and I just need to match tn hat. It's going to be a lot of fun. I'm just going to have to control the controllables, and that's all we can do.” – Pennsylvanian Chase Yenser on facing co-medalist/No. 3 seed Sohan Patel in the Round of 32
“A lot of water, a bit of food. Just walking down the fairways, having fun, laughing and keeping things casual.” – Cooper Moore on dealing with a 22-hole match
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