Another Anxious Overnight Wait for Jin

Pennsylvania, United States: For the second day in succession, China’s Jin Bo faced a tense overnight wait before attempting to maintain his progress at the 121st US Amateur Championship.

When play was called off on Wednesday, 19-year-old Jin was one-up through 12 holes of his Round-of-64 clash with American Sam Murphy. Returning to Oakmont Country Club on Thursday morning, Jin held his nerve to complete a one-up victory that booked him a Round-of-32 match against Jacob Bridgeman.

When play was suspended for the day at 6:35 pm, Jin, who is competing in his third US Amateur, and Bridgeman were locked together at all-square through 17 holes. Conditions permitting, they’re scheduled to resume on Friday morning with the winner going on to take his place in last 16.

Coincidentally, Jin and Bridgeman are playing their fifth round together this week, following two practice rounds and two rounds of stroke play, one at Oakmont and one at stroke play co-host the Longue Vue Club, in nearby Verona.

With the elimination of China’s Lin Yuxin, Malaysian Khavish Varadan and Australian Louis Dobbelaar in the Round-of-64, Jim remains as the last Asia-Pacific representative in the field.

Left-handed Lin, a two-time Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship winner, was beaten 3 and 2 by American Ryan Gerard while Malaysian Khavish Varadan suffered a 3 and 1 reversal against American Devon Bling.

Along the way, Bling made two eagles – a 30-foot putt on the par-five 12th and a 15-footer on the par-four 17th to close the match. “It’s Oakmont. Anything can happen out here. You have one lapse in concentration and you’re losing the hole. I know I made eagle on 12, but I knew the job wasn’t finished. It wasn't going to be done until it’s done,” said Bling.

Trailing two-down to American Ross Steelman through 14 holes when play stopped on Wednesday, Dobbelaar was in need of an exceptional flourish when their match resumed. But it was not to be for the 19-year-old Australian who lost, two-down.

Runner-up to Preston Summerhays in the 2019 US Junior Amateur, Jin Bo comes from a talented golfing family. His brother, Cheng, played in three US Amateurs, won the 2015 Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship and competed in the 2016 Masters. His sister, Joyce Jin Jiarui, was co-medallist in the 2019 US Women’s Amateur.

Jin Bo was selected second-team All-America as a freshman at Oklahoma State University in 2020-21. He registered three consecutive runner-up finishes in the Big 12 Conference Championship, NCAA Stillwater Regional and NCAA Championship.

He has top-10 efforts this summer in the Maridoe Amateur (tied 4th), Sunnehanna Amateur (seventh) and Pacific Coast Amateur (eighth).