Miles Russell delivers epic performance to earn spot in U.S. Junior final

It was a rare display of emotion for Miles Russell.

Junior golf’s undisputed No. 1 for almost three years, Russell has collected trophy after trophy with a calm, quiet confidence. But on Friday afternoon at Saucon Valley Country Club, the 17-year-old Russell couldn’t help but unleash a fist pump after a go-ahead, chip-in eagle on the 13th hole.

Russell carded two eagles and five birdies in a 2-and-1 victory over incoming Vanderbilt freshman Tyler Mawhinney to advance to Saturday’s 36-hole final of the U.S. Junior Amateur.

Mawhinney is a highly decorated prospect in his own right at No. 102 in the World Amateur Golf Ranking and with a USGA title already to his name (2025 U.S. Amateur Four-Ball). He entered Friday’s bout with Russell, the world’s seventh-ranked amateur, having played the par-3 in 8 under for the week. He was 7 under in 17 holes against Russell and still lost.

The turning point came at the drivable, par-4 13th, where both players went for the green and found the gnarly greenside rough. Mawhinney hit his chip to 5 feet before Russell popped his ball out of the rough and just onto the putting surface, then watched as it motored right into the cup.

Four holes later, Mawhinney wedged his approach to 10 feet before Russell matched. Multiple times in the match, Russell had stuck an approach inside an already-tight Mawhinney, most notably at the par-3 ninth and par-5 15th, where he gave himself tap-in birdies. And on the heels of a lip-out par save at No. 16, Russell calmly converted his 10-foot trickler for birdie to put the pressure on Mawhinney, whose bid to extend the match slid by left.

In 30 holes played on Friday, Russell – who dispatched Washington State rising sophomore Dylan Boenning in the quarters, 6 and 5 – was a eye-popping 14 under.

"Long day, but it was a lot of good golf," Russell said. "You don't get many of those, that good of golf days a year, very few, and you've got to take them when you can get them, and just try to keep that rolling into tomorrow."

Russell will now face Liberty signee Noah Maclauchlan, who knocked off New Zealand’s Cooper Moore, 1 up, after only getting into the 264-player field as an alternate when Rawlin Sutter won the Alabama State Junior to earn exempt status and open up another qualifying spot from Maclauchlan’s site.

Maclauchlan is ranked No. 2,047 in WAGR, 2,040 spots worse than Russell, who can join Jordan Spieth as the highest-ranked amateurs to win the U.S. Junior. Like Russell, Spieth was No. 7 in WAGR, which was founded in 2007, when he captured his second U.S. Junior, in 2011. Spieth went on that summer to represent the U.S. at the Walker Cup, which Russell will also do this September at Lahinch, as he’s already been named to Nathan Smith’s 10-man squad.

It would be an all-time upset by Maclauchlan, though victory by Russell would arguably be even more historic. While there is no official grand slam in junior golf, a byproduct of an evolving tournament landscape in recent decades, it’s fair to consider the modern junior slam to be: the U.S. Junior, Junior Invitational at Sage Valley, AJGA Junior Players and Junior PGA.

Russell has won a pair of Junior Invites (2025, 2026) and Junior Players (2023, 2025), plus the 2023 Junior PGA. No other player has three legs, while just five boast two – Scottie Scheffler, Akshay Bhatia, Caleb Surratt, Robby Shelton and Hamilton Coleman. One could make a case for the AJGA's Rolex Tournament of Champions being a fifth leg; Russell won that, too, in 2024, while only Bhatia would then have three legs.

With a victory on Saturday, Russell would be the first player to complete that modern slam.

That would be worth at least a couple more fist pumps.