ARDMORE, Pa. — Josh Ryan, a Liberty senior who grew up roughly 30 minutes from Merion Golf Club, shot a second-round 65 on Tuesday to earn stroke-play medalist honors at the 126th U.S. Amateur Championship, finishing 36 holes at 8-under 132 and taking the No. 1 seed into match play in his home state.
Ryan's two-day total was two shots clear of Tyler Watts, and his closing round came on the harder of the championship's two venues. Behind them, the cut to the low 64 for match play delivered the day's biggest surprise: World No. 1 Preston Stout will not play the weekend at Merion.
Preston Stout, the World No. 1, misses match play
Stout arrived at Merion as the top-ranked amateur in the world and one of the clearest favorites for the Havemeyer Trophy. He leaves after 36 holes.
The Oklahoma State standout opened with a 5-over 75 at Merion on Monday, a round that immediately put him on the wrong side of the projected cut. He answered Tuesday at Philadelphia Country Club with a 71 — one of the steadier rounds among the players trying to play their way back in — but the math was unforgiving. His 146 total left him outside a cut line that settled around 2 over, and his championship ended without a match.
The result is a genuine jolt to the bracket. Stout won the reigning NCAA individual title, claimed four victories during the 2025–26 college season, and earned stroke-play medalist honors at this championship a year ago at The Olympic Club — the same honor Ryan took on Tuesday. He has already been named to the 2026 USA Walker Cup Team that faces Great Britain and Ireland next month at Lahinch, and he will head there with this week behind him.
It is also a reminder of how little margin a 36-hole qualifier leaves. With 312 players competing for 64 spots across two demanding courses, a single high round can end a week before match play begins. Stout's caddie this week was Oklahoma State head coach Alan Bratton, who has carried the bag for two U.S. Amateur champions, Peter Uihlein in 2010 and Viktor Hovland in 2018.
How Josh Ryan earned U.S. Amateur medalist honors
Ryan opened with a 3-under 67 at Philadelphia Country Club on Monday, then went to Merion East on Tuesday and posted a 65, the low round of the second round. The 36-hole total of 132 gave him the medal and the top seed in Wednesday's Round of 64.
The Norristown, Pa., native arrived at Merion in form. Two weeks earlier he had won the 113th Pennsylvania Golf Association Amateur Championship at Oakmont Country Club, closing with a 69 to become the only player in the field to finish under par. It was his third PAGA title, and it came on a course widely considered among the most punishing in American golf. He qualified for the U.S. Amateur through final qualifying at nearby Llanerch Country Club before the Oakmont win added a second route in.
Watts, the world No. 3, also closed with a 65 to finish at 6 under and claim the No. 2 seed.
Who else missed the cut at the 2026 U.S. Amateur
Stout was not alone among the championship's headline names.
Ethan Fang, who won the 2025 Amateur Championship, finished at 5 over. Noah Maclauchlan, who captured the U.S. Junior Amateur at Saucon Valley in July, ended at 6 over. Stuart Grehan, who won this year's Amateur Championship at Royal Liverpool and is a likely 2026 Great Britain and Ireland Walker Cup selection, missed after an opening 77 at Merion. Like Stout, Fang has already been named to this year's USA Walker Cup Team.
The top of the leaderboard after stroke play
Behind Ryan and Watts, first-round co-leaders Finn Koelle of Germany and Drake Harvey finished at 4 under. Jackson Ormond, Miles Russell, Jack Turner and Carter Loflin shared fifth at 3 under.
Russell, the World No. 4 and a 2026 Walker Cup selection, was among the few pre-tournament favorites to navigate both courses cleanly. Harvey owned the low round of the championship, a 6-under 64 in the opening round. William Lisle, the 17-year-old from Hong Kong who shared the first-round lead after a 65 at Philadelphia C.C., followed with a 76 at Merion to fall back to 1 over.
Weather again shaped the day
For the second consecutive day, a Championship Weather Watch hung over the grounds with dangerous weather in the forecast. Monday's opening round had been suspended for 54 minutes by a thunderstorm before darkness halted play at 8:02 p.m., leaving 39 players to complete their first rounds at 7 a.m. Tuesday alongside the start of Round 2.
The two venues again played nearly identically. In the opening round, the stroke average was 73.28 at Merion and 73.26 at Philadelphia Country Club — a rare balance for a championship split across courses of markedly different length.
What's next: match play at Merion
Match play begins Wednesday at Merion Golf Club with the Round of 64, where all 64 qualifiers reset to zero in single-elimination play. The Round of 32 and Round of 16 follow Thursday — 36 holes in a single day — with the quarterfinals Friday, semifinals Saturday and the 36-hole championship match Sunday for the Havemeyer Trophy.
Peacock streams the Round of 64 from 3–6 p.m. ET on Wednesday. Weekend coverage moves to NBC from 4–6 p.m. ET on Saturday and Sunday.
With Stout, Fang and Maclauchlan gone, the bracket lost several of its marquee names before a single match was played — and history suggests the medal Ryan earned guarantees little of what follows. Defending champion Mason Howell won the 2025 U.S. Amateur at The Olympic Club as the No. 63 seed, only the third player to win from that low a seed since the USGA began seeding by stroke-play score in 1985.
Follow every match on our live scoring, and see the full bracket, daily recaps and updates on our 126th U.S. Amateur coverage hub. Read our Round 1 recap for how the championship began.