3 Things to Know: 78th U.S. Junior Amateur Championship

When it comes to the great Northeast golf venues, Saucon Valley Country Club, in Bethlehem, Pa., often gets lost in the shuffle. To the south, in Greater Philadelphia, are Merion, Pine Valley and Aronimink. An hour or two to the east, sit Baltusrol and Winged Foot, and further out on Long Island one will find Shinnecock Hills, National Golf Links of America and Bethpage State Park’s Black Course.

But make no mistake, the Lehigh Valley private facility hosting the 78th U.S. Junior Amateur Championship can more than stand up to the best. How many venues – discounting resorts like Pinehurst and Bandon Dunes – offer 54 holes of championship-level golf. All three layouts at Saucon Valley – the Old, Grace and Weyhill – are strong enough to host its own USGA competition.

For this year’s U.S. Junior Amateur Championship, the Old Course, which has been the main site for all eight previous USGA events at Saucon Valley, is the main venue with the Grace serving as the stroke-play co-host for the 264 players vying to be the next champion.

Four of the five Pennsylvanians in the field will hit opening tee shots on Monday morning, led by Nazareth’s Dane Mohap (first tee of Old Course). The others are Declan Connor (Swathmore, 10th tee of Old), Nico Ward (Coraopolis, first tee Grace) and Chase Yensler (Douglassville, 10th tee Grace). Logan McGinn, of South Williamsport, was added to the field on Saturday as an alternate.

Incoming University of Georgia freshman Hamilton Coleman is hoping to become just the third multi-winner of this championship, joining Tiger Woods (1991-93) and Jordan Spieth (2009, 2011). Only Woods has managed to successfully defend, and just seven competitors have played in multiple finals.

Notable past champions include Woods, Spieth, Scottie Scheffler, Johnny Miller, David Duval, Will Zalatoris, Min Woo Lee, Brian Harman and Gary Koch. But the runners-up list isn’t too shabby either, names such as Justin Thomas, Al Geiberger, Scott Simpson, Andy North, Trevor Immelman, Aaron Baddeley, Camilo Villegas, Akshay Bhatia and the late Philadelphia legend Jay Sigel, who would go on to win five USGA titles and represent the USA in a record nine Walker Cups.

So as the players put in their final preparations, here are 3 things to know:

Amazing Grace

Mike Wood, Saucon Valley’s director of golf, told reporters at the media day that he wouldn’t be surprised if the scoring averages on the Old and Grace courses would be comparable.

While this is the first time the Grace Course will be utilized for a USGA event, the course has hosted college events. Named after Eugene Grace, one of the club’s patriarchs, the William and David Gordon design opened for play in 1957, six years after Saucon Valley played host to its first USGA championship, the 51st U.S. Amateur.

The Grace Course will measure 6,954 yards and play to a par of 70, one less than the 7,082-yard Old Course.

Saucon Valley’s newest venue, the Weyhill Course, served as the stroke-play co-host for the 2014 U.S. Mid-Amateur, which also featured a 264-player field.

Of the three Saucon Valley layouts, the Old Course receives most of the publicity, and for a good reason. All eight previous USGA championships have been contested on the Herbert Strong design that has been renovated over the years by several architects.

That doesn’t mean the Grace Course won’t measure up. When the USGA calculated the Course and Slope ratings for both venues, the numbers were virtually the same: 74.9 to 74.0 for the Course Rating, 141 to 140 for the Slope Rating.

After two days of stroke play, we’ll see how the numbers truly calculate.

Miles Apart

Miles Russell, the uber-talented 17-year-old from Jacksonville Beach, Fla., has been at the center of the junior golf world for so long it might seem he’s ready for Social Security. In 2024, the lefty made history by becoming the youngest competitor to make a cut in a Korn Ferry Tour event when he tied for 20th in the LECOM Classic. That same year, he advanced to the quarterfinals of the U.S. Junior Amateur and won the Rolex Tournament of Champions. He also Monday qualified for the Puerto Rico Open, a PGA Tour event, and received sponsor exemptions into the Rocket Mortgage Classic and Butterfield Bermuda Championship.

A year earlier, he surpassed Tiger Woods as the youngest to win the American Junior Golf Association’s Boys Player of the Year award, a feat he repeated in 2025. He also won that year’s Junior PGA Championship.

Now a rising high school senior who has verbally committed to play for Florida State in 2027, Russell has continued to make headlines in 2026, qualifying and making the cut in last month’s U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills, and then last week being a USGA International Team Selection Committee pick to the 2026 USA Walker Cup Team, where he’ll join fellow junior/incoming University of Tennessee freshman Tyler Watts.

But Watts withdrew from the U.S. Junior Amateur last week, leaving Russell, at No. 7 in the latest World Amateur Golf Ranking®/WAGR®, the highest-ranked player in the field.

Winning the U.S. Junior might be the last missing puzzle piece for Russell’s junior portfolio. He’s already claimed back-to-back Junior Invitational at Sage Valley titles (2025-26) as well as the Junior Players Championship (2023). He’s also represented his country in two Junior Ryder Cups and a Junior Presidents Cup.

Woods’ Junior Legacy

Tiger Woods, who turned 50 last December, is far removed from his halcyon days as a junior golfer when he captured an unprecedented three consecutive U.S. Junior Amateur titles and then followed up by claiming three straight U.S. Amateurs. It’s a feat unlikely to be duplicated, especially with how competitive junior/amateur golf has become.

Not only is Tiger’s name etched on the trophy three times, but as of this year, the large silver cup will actually carry his name.

Earlier this year at the USGA’s Annual Meeting in New York City, it was announced that going forward U.S. Junior Amateur champions will now possess the Tiger Woods Trophy for the ensuing year. His name also is going on the gold medal given to the U.S. Amateur champion.

What’s interesting is that Woods’ 17-year-old son, Charlie, a future teammate of Russell at Florida State in 2027, could become the first recipient of the Tiger Woods Trophy. For a third consecutive year, Charlie qualified; this time in a playoff after making birdies on his final three holes. Woods missed the cut in his two previous starts at Oakland Hills C.C. and Trinity Forest Golf Club.

Of course, Woods will have plenty of company in the chase for his “dad’s trophy.”

Besides the aforementioned Russell, three other players in the field competed at Shinnecock Hills: 18-year-olds Hamilton Coleman (defending champ) and University of Florida incoming freshman Jackson Ormond as well as 17-year-old Guiseppe Puebla, also a Florida verbal commitment in the Class of 2027 and a U.S. National Junior Team member. France’s Oscar Couilleau checks in at No. 33 in the WAGR, and Louis Klein, of Czechia, is No. 65.

Other U.S. National Junior Team members in the field are 2025 U.S. Amateur Four-Ball champion/Vanderbilt incoming freshman Tyler Mawhinney, University of Tennessee verbal commit(2027) Ronin Banerjee, , 2025 U.S. Junior Amateur quarterfinalist/Vanderbilt verbal commit(2027) Sohan Patel, University of Florida verbal commit (2027) Jessy Huebner and University of Alabama incoming freshman Phillip Dunham.

David Shefter is a senior staff writer at the USGA. Email him at dshefter@usga.org.