PREVIEW and TV SCHEDULE: U.S. Junior Amateur at Bandon Dunes

24 Jul 2022
by Jim Young of AmateurGolf.com
see also: U.S. Junior Amateur, a USGA Championship, Trinity Forest Golf Club
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Courtesy of Bandon Dunes Resort

The top 264 young amateurs in the world will converge at the Bandon Dunes Golf Resort in southern Oregon for the 74th U.S. Junior Amateur Championship, which gets underway on Monday.

After 36-holes of stroke play on Bandon Trails, the top 64 finishers will advance to the match play portion of the tournament which starts on Wednesday at the Bandon Dunes layout. The tournament will culminate with the 36-hole championship match on Saturday.

GOLF Channel will televise the semifinal matches on Saturday from 6-8:00 p.m. EDT along with the afternoon 18 of Sunday's championship match beginning at 6:00 p.m. EDT.

The Field
There are 37 states represented in the 2022 U.S. Junior Amateur, as well as the District of Columbia, along with 25 countries.

There are four players in the field who are ranked in the top 50 of the World Amateur Golf Rankings, including Wenyi Ding (20th) of China, incoming Texas freshman Christiaan Maas (25th) of South Africa, Tennessee signee Caleb Surratt (29th) and Jose Ballester (49th).

Surratt comes to Bandon on a roll, with seven straight top-10s in amateur events, including a win at the Terra Cotta Invitational in May. He also leads the Elite Amateur Series points race after posting four top-five finishes in the six events this summer.

Luke Clanton, who is headed to Florida State in the fall, rides a wave of momentum to the Oregon coast his win at the North & South Amateur earlier this month.

Also in the field is Jack Cantlay, 18, the younger brother of seven-time PGA Tour winner Patrick Cantlay. The younger Cantley will attend Long Beach State University this fall following a standout career at Servite High School.

The oldest player in the field is 18-year-old Duke commit William Love (8-1-2003), who recently won the Georgia Amateur, while the youngest is 12-year-old Pierson Huyck, who got into the field as the first alternate out of this summer’s lone Hawaii qualifier. Huyck, who celebrated his 12th birthday on July 8, will become the youngest player to compete in a U.S. Junior when he tees off on Monday.

Defending champion, Nick Dunlap, gives the trophy one last farewell before the 74th U.S. Junior Amateur Championship starts tomorrow! Good luck to all the players! #USJuniorAm @USGA pic.twitter.com/03LGpeIqLF
— Bandon Dunes (@BandonDunesGolf) July 24, 2022

Former Champions
Former champions of the U.S. Junior Amateur include Gay Brewer (1949); Mason Rudolph (1950); Johnny Miller (1964); Gary Koch (1970); Willie Wood (1977); Charlie Rymer (1985); David Duval (1989); Tiger Woods (1991-93); Hunter Mahan (1999); Brian Harman (2003); Kevin Tway (2005); Jordan Spieth (2009, 2011); Scottie Scheffler (2013); Will Zalatoris (2014) and Min Woo Lee (2016).

A Look Back at Last Year
Nick Dunlap claimed the biggest prize in junior golf when he won the 73rd U.S. Junior Amateur Championship at The Country Club of North Carolina, defeating Cohen Trolio, 3 and 2, in the 36-hole championship match. It was one of three national junior golf victories for the Alabama commit who was named the 2021 American Junior Golf Association’s Rolex Junior Male Player of the Year.

Schedule of Play
Monday, July 25 (18 holes, stroke play; Bandon Trails)
Tuesday, July 26 (18 holes, stroke play; Bandon Trails)
Wednesday, July 27 (Round of 64, match play; Bandon Dunes)
Thursday, July 28 (Round of 32/Round of 16 matches; Bandon Dunes)
Friday, July 29 (Quarterfinal/Semifinal matches; Bandon Dunes)
Saturday, July 30 (36-hole championship match; Bandon Dunes)

Bandon Dunes Resort
Bandon Dunes Resort, with five layouts ranked by Golfweek’s Best among the top 20 modern courses in the U.S., has hosted seven previous USGA championships: the 2006 Curtis Cup, the 2007 U.S. Mid-Amateur, the 2011 U.S. Amateur Public Links and Women’s Amateur Public Links, the 2015 U.S. Women’s Amateur Four-Ball, the 2019 U.S. Amateur Four-Ball and the aforementioned 2020 U.S. Amateur.

The resort is also slated to host eight more USGA events after this U.S. Junior Amateur, with events ranging from the Women’s Amateur in 2025 to both the U.S. Junior Amateur and U.S. Girl’s Junior in 2045.

The USGA and Golfweek contributed to this report

ABOUT THE U.S. Junior Amateur

While it is not the oldest competition, the U.S. Junior Amateur is considered the premier junior competition, having been around since 1948. The event is open to male golfers who have not reached their 19th birthday prior to the close of competition and whose USGA Handicap Index does not exceed 2.4. The U.S. Junior is one of 15 national championship conducted annually by the USGA.