Dominant Ding Faces Shubham Showdown

Bandon, Oregon, United States: China’s Ding Wenyi will face-off against Indian Shubham Jaglan in the Round of 32 in the 74th edition of the US Junior Amateur Championship at Bandon Dunes Golf Resort.

In the first round of match play on Wednesday, Ding was in dominant mood as he swatted aside the challenge of American Rocco Salvitti, 5&4.

It was not so easy for Jaglan. Walking off the 14th green, the University of South Florida rising sophomore was two-down to American Edan Cui. But Jaglan turned things around thanks to birdies at each of the last four holes to eke out a one-up victory. “I’m really relieved. I haven't felt that much pressure in a while. So it was good fun,” said Jaglan.

Jeffrey Guan was the only other Asia-Pacific representative to progress to the final 32. The Australian produced a confident performance to defeat German Tiger Christensen, 7&5. Guan now takes on American Nicholas Gross.

Number two seed Jayden Ford, 17, of New Zealand, was eliminated by 15-year-old Oscar Bach of Norway, 3&2. Bach had survived an 11-for-5 play-off earlier in the day just to qualify for match play.

There were also Round of 64 losses for China’s Wu Dianchao and Li Zhengqian, Australian Harvey Young, Korean Choi You-seong, Pakistan’s Omar Khalid Hussain and Thai Pongsapak Laopakdee.

Young went down 3&2 against Mason Snyder, while Choi suffered a similar reversal at the hands of Ethan Fang.

Hussain, the first golfer from Pakistan to make a cut in any USGA championship, saw his hopes ended by Caden Pinckes, 4&3, while there were words of encouragement for 15-year-old Li after he endured an emphatic loss to Florida State incoming freshman Luke Clanton.

Clanton raced out to a four-up lead through five en route to a 7&5 win. “I wouldn’t say [it] is ever easy,” said Clanton, winner of the 2022 North & South Amateur at Pinehurst No 2. “But he’s a good kid. He’s young, 15 years old. When I was 14, I got my bootie slapped, 6&4. I just played really solid golf today. I didn’t really do much wrong, and he had a couple mistakes, and I took advantage of it.”

Wu was eliminated 5&4 by Aidan Cohl while Pongsapak lost by the same score to South African Christiaan Maas, who thrived in the calm conditions. Some fog rolled through but only for a brief moment as the day featured sunshine, light winds and temperatures that were in the upper 50s.

“Today was as easy as it gets,” said Maas. “There was no wind, not at all. A lot of the holes were playing a lot shorter and a lot different than [they were] playing in stroke play. That was fun to see.”