The race to the 2019 U.S. Open began last week with the qualifiers for the U.S. Junior Amateur beginning. This summer's big event in junior golf takes place July 16 - 21 at Baltusrol Golf Club in Springfield, NJ.
Last Monday was the start of qualifications and we saw 31 qualifiers from 15 locations. The West Lafayette, IN site provided us with the highest ranked player to qualify so far in Clay Merchent. The 2019 Florida Gator commit is ranked 8th in the nation according to Golfweek and has 3 impressive top 10 finishes this past year in some big-time junior events: the AJGA PING Invitational, the Junior Invitational at Sage Valley and most recently at the AJGA Thunderbird Invitational Junior. The Noblesville, IN native, currently ranks 10th in the Junior Ryder Cup points for Team USA. Clay tied for medalist in his qualifier with Clay Stirsman, a 2020 prospect from Carmel, IN. Also advancing was Oscar Zimmerman, a 2019 prospect from Cincinnati, OH.
Five incoming high school freshman qualified last week. Luke Clanton from Miami Lakes, FL leads the youth charge in the graduating class of 2022. He qualified out the West Palm Beach, FL qualifier, along with 2020 Florida State commit, Brett Roberts. Luke ranks first in his class in the Rolex/AJGA rankings, and 74th overall. He was the youngest to make the cut at last summer's Junior PGA, on his way to a T52 finish.
Ben James from Milford, CT committed to the University of Connecticut years ago, he re-classified from the 2021 class last summer to 2022 and advanced out of Grayslake, IL. He was joined by the sites medalist, Tyler Isenhart of Geneva, IL, a 2019 verbal commitment to Baylor University. Tyler is ranked 24th in his class by Junior Golf Scoreboard and played in last summers U.S. Amateur at Riviera. Conor Glennon from Ireland ranks 723 in the European Golf Rankings and was the 3rd player to advance from the Grayslake site.
Evan Woosley-Reed from Shelbyville, TN is the third 2022 prospect to advance, doing so from Murfreesboro, TN. He won the 12-14 age group at last December's Donald Ross Junior Championship. Woosley-Reed ranks 8th in his class according to Rolex/AJGA. He was runner-up to Shelden Barina in the qualifier, a 2018 signee for Tennessee-Martin and a Murfreesboro resident.
Abhay Gupta is the fourth 2022 qualifier. He advanced out of the Salisbury, NC qualifier along with Yuki Moriyama (2020, Oregon verbal) and Ben Woodruff (2018, UNC-Charlotte). Abhay ranks 10th in his class in the Junior Golf Scoreboard rankings. Yuki is from Japan, but currently is residing in Nevada, by way of San Diego. The future Duck has can be seen warming up with a wooden baseball bat, while someone tosses him golf balls. Definitely one of the more unique warm-up routines in junior golf.
Kyo Morishita is another Japanese golfer and member of the 2022 graduating class that advanced last week. He ranks 14th in his class by Junior Golf Scoreboard. He was medalist out of the Sarasota, FL site, and is joined by Jayson Kelian Iten, a 2019 prospect from Naples, FL, who is ranked 158th in the 2019 class by Golfweek.
The Tucson, AZ site includes a couple of future Pac-12 rivals in Cameron Sisk (2018, Arizona State) and Kento Yamawaki (2019, California). Sisk is the highest-ranked player in WAGR (World Amateur Golf Rankings) to qualify last week, at 440, and advanced to match play at last years U.S. Junior in Kansas. Kento has been playing very well this year, including a T8 at the AJGA's PING Heather Farr Classic. Samuel Salisbury survived a four-for-one playoff for the third spot in Tucson.
In Fort Smith, AR, Wil Gibson (2018, Arkansas) and Josh McNulty (2019, uncommitted) shared medalist honors and have advanced. Ty Griggs (2020, UCLA) and Jack Raho (2018, Seattle University) shared medalist honors in Fresno, CA, to also advance to New Jersey this summer.
Three Virginians advanced out of the Chesterfield, VA site, led by Isaac Simmons (2018, Liberty). Drew Brockwell (2018, Virginia Tech) and Kelly Chinn (2021, uncommitted) were the other two players. Chinn ranks as high as 22nd in his class (Rolex/AJGA).
The Beatrice, NE qualifying site, however, saw two out of state players take the two spots up for grabs. Carson Griggs of Sand Springs, OK, and a 2018 Denver Pioneer signee was medalist and will be joined at Baltusrol with Justin Wingerter from Olathe, KS. Wingerter is a 2020 prospect that ranks 247th in his class (Rolex/AJGA).
Four sites only offered a single ticket to the 2018 U.S. Junior. Aidan Thomas of Bernalillo, N.M. took the spot from the Albuquerque, NM venue. He ranks 505th in the 2019 class according to Junior Golf Scoreboard. Trey Rath from Powell, OH grabbed the West Chester, OH entry. He is a 2018 Xavier signee. In Overland Park, KS, Joe Bultman from Shawnee, KS advanced. Bultman ranks 149th in the Junior Golf Scoreboard class of 2019 rankings. And finally, Angus McHolme from Elizabeth Township, PA was medalist from the Salix, PA site. The 2019 prospect ranks 612th in his class (Junior Golf Scoreboard).
