Dallas, Texas, United States: China’s Wu Qiyou and Vietnam’s Nguyen Anh Minh kept the Asia-Pacific challenge alive going into the quarter-finals of the 77th US Junior Amateur at Trinity Forest Golf Club.
Wu progressed to the last eight with two contrasting wins over American opponents on Thursday. In the Round of 32, the slender 16-year-old cruised to a 3&2 victory over Logan Reilly. He then had to dig deep in his next match to edge Ronin Banerjee on the third extra hole.
A quarterfinalist last year, Anh Minh is hoping to become the first Vietnamese-born player to win a USGA title. On Thursday, the 18-year-old grinded out a pair of 2&1 victories to keep his quest alive – first ousting his 2025 Junior Presidents Cup International team-mate Gu Liangliang of China in the Round of 32, and subsequently American Ayden Fynaut in the final 16.
Should Wu and Anh Minh win their quarter-final matches against England’s Ben Bolton and American Nicholas Gross respectively, they will face each other in an all-Asian semi-final clash.
“To be the first from like a small country to actually win a USGA event would be amazing. I mean, it would be a dream come true. You know, kids talk about that and USGA is, as you know, a really big deal. They always have the best tournaments,” said Anh Minh, who begins his freshman year with Oregon State later this year.
China’s Jiang Minbao and Thailand’s Ajalawich Anantasethakul crashed out to local opposition in the Round of 32, while another Chinese player, Hou Zenghao, was eliminated by Bolton in the Round of 16.
All eight quarter-finalists are exempt into the 2026 US Junior Amateur at Saucon Valley Country Club, provided they are still age eligible.
