Bandon, Oregon, United States: New Zealander Jayden Ford has sprung to the fore at the 74th US Junior Amateur Championship at Bandon Dunes Golf Resort.
Ford, who is half Samoan and briefly played rugby before turning to competitive golf, backed up his 68 at Bandon Dunes on Monday with a three-under 68 on Bandon Trails, a Bill Coore/Ben Crenshaw design that measured 6,723 yards.
With a 36-hole total of 136, he finished the stroke play segment in joint second place with 17-year-old American Grant Lester, the first-round co-leader. They ended two shots behind American Keaton Vo, whose 134 aggregate earned him medallist honours.
Ford’s first visit to the United States in four years brought him to the North & South Amateur at Pinehurst No 2, where he lost to eventual runner-up Tommy Morrison in the first round, as well as the Southern Amateur and Monroe Invitational.
“I thought it would be good to get over here through the summer. It is winter back home [in New Zealand] so there is not much going on. [I wanted to] come here and get some exposure and get more experience playing international golf,” said Ford.
No fewer than 10 players from the Asia-Pacific have made it through to match play. Joining Ford in the Round of 64 are China’s Wu Dianchou (137); Australian Harvey Young, co-first round leader, Indian Shubham Jaglan, China’s Ding Wenyi and Korean Choi You-seong (all 139); China’s Li Zhengqian (140); Australian Jeffrey Guan (142) and Pakistan’s Omar Khalid Hussain and Thai Pongsapak Laopakdee (both 143).
Hussain is the first golfer from Pakistan to make a cut in any USGA championship. The 18-year-old, who competed in this year’s British Amateur, posted an even-par total of 143. Two years ago, he became the youngest winner of the Pakistan Amateur at 16.
Failing to make it through were Chinese Taipei’s Stanley Lin and Chen Chi-chun (both 145); Australian Kai Komulainen (146); Arjun Gupta of the United Arab Emirates, New Zealand’s Joshua Bai and Australian Jye Halls (all 148); Australian Josiah Gilbert (149); China’s Justin Bai Xiangyun and Zhou Ziqin (both 151); Thai Supakorn Amornchaichan and Pakistan’s Syed Yashal Shah (both 152); Singaporean Atiksh Gupta (154); Indian Jayaditya Saluja (155) and China’s Jason Tang (158).
Medallist Vo admitted he didn’t have a target score when he teed off for his second round. But when the 18-year-old Texan rolled in a three-foot birdie putt on the par-five ninth hole at Bandon Dunes, his score added up to a course-record-matching seven-under 65.
The start of the second round was delayed 2½ hours due to fog that caused several holes to be visually unplayable.
Once play commenced, Vo, an incoming University of Texas freshman, took full advantage of the pleasant conditions – winds in the low teens and bright sunshine – to dominate the course’s par-threes and par-fives, playing them in a combined seven-under, including an eagle on the par-five 18th, his ninth of the day on the 6,912-yard David McLay Kidd layout.
Two bogeys spoiled Vo’s chance to surpass the 65 registered by James Piot, the 2021 US Amateur champion, during the 2020 US Amateur.
“It was a great round,” said Vo, who helped Anderson High to the Texas Class 5A title this year, the first state championship of any sport for an Austin district school in 19 years. “It wasn’t perfect golf. My goal was just to try and get a good seed coming into match play. But I hit the ball much better than I did yesterday. I missed in the right spots and converted my putts, so it was a really fun round.”
Lester, competing in his first USGA championship, followed a first-round 66 at Bandon Trails with a 70 at Bandon Dunes, which included six birdies against four bogeys.
Four players finished at six-under 137, including China’s Wu and the American trio of Jack Cantlay, younger brother of 2020-21 PGA Tour Player of the Year Patrick Cantlay, University of Washington incoming freshman Joshua Koo and Nicholas Gross.
Defending champion Nick Dunlap made the match play phase after posting a 71 at Bandon Dunes for a 36-hole total of 141.
The cut for match play came at one-over-par 144. Eleven players will play off for the last five spots in the match play draw on Wednesday morning.
