Lisle Leads Asia-Pacific Qualifiers at US Junior Amateur

Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, United States: Hong Kong native William Lisle was the leading Asia-Pacific qualifier at the 78th US Junior Amateur at Saucon Valley Country Club.

Winner of the Boys’ category at the Dustin Johnson World Junior at TPC Myrtle Beach in March, 16-year-old IMG Academy standout Lisle posted two rounds of 69 to share fifth place in the stroke play segment with incoming Vanderbilt University freshman Tyler Mawhinney, a US National Team member.

The cut for match play came at five-over 146 with 14 golfers playing off for the final two spots in the 64-player match play draw. Among them are Japan’s Kanichiro Katano, China’s Gao Zilin and American Charlie Woods, the son of 15-time Major champion and three-time US Junior Amateur titlist Tiger Woods.

Eight other players from the Asia-Pacific could sleep easy on Tuesday night after making progress following 36 holes of stroke play.

Korean Yu Min-hyeok was joint 11th on 140 followed by New Zealand’s Ryan Xie (142, tied 19th), Korean Kang Geon and China duo Han Jin and Chang Xihuan (144, tied 39th), and Singapore’s Troy Storm, China’s Hou Zenghao and New Zealand’s Cooper Moore (145, tied 51st).

There was disappointment, though, for Malaysia-based Japanese Daichi Hayashi and China’s Hao Wang and Wu Qiyou, all three missing the cut by one stroke.

Also failing to progress were the Vietnamese trio of Nguyan Tuan Anh and Le Khanh Hung (both 148) and Ho Anh Huy (151), along with Singaporean Brayden Lee (151) and Japanese Riku Takase (156), at 13 the youngest player in the 264-strong starting line-up.

Among those left to ponder what might have been were Chinese Taipei’s Wang Shen and China’s Gu Liangliang.

While Wang followed up an opening 83 with a 67, Gu improved on his first-round 84 by no fewer than 19 strokes, a bogey-free 65 on the Grace Course, the lowest round by any competitor this week. It was, however, not quite good enough to repair the damage from day one.

Miles Russell, the 17-year-old phenomenon, earned medallist honours for the first time in a USGA championship – sharing it with fellow Floridian Sohan Patel and Southern Californian Brayden Jones.

Finishing before an afternoon thunderstorm delayed Tuesday’s second round for 70 minutes, the left-hander, who tied for 39th in last month’s US Open and was recently named to the 2026 US Walker Cup team, carded a five-under-par 66 on the Old Course for a 36-hole total of six-under 135.  

Later in the afternoon, first-round co-leaders Patel, 17, and Jones, 17, each came in at 135, the former shooting a one-under 69 on the Grace Course, the stroke-play, co-host venue, and the latter posting a two-under 69 on the Old Course. 

Vaclav Svub, 18, of Czechia, who will join Jones at Arizona State in the fall of 2027, finished two strokes back of the trio after shooting a 67 on the Old Course.

The 14-for-two play-off to determine the final match play spots will commence at 7 am (local time) on Wednesday on the Grace Course, starting at the par-five first hole and then continuing on the fifth and 18th, if necessary. They will repeat that same loop if more holes are required.

Matches in the Round of 64 will begin at 8 am on the Old Course. Match play continues through Thursday and Friday with the 36-hole championship match scheduled for Saturday. Golfchannel.com will stream the semi-finals on Friday and the championship match on Saturday.