U.S. Junior Amateur Championship

When Preston Summerhays found himself trailing in the 36-hole final of the 72^nd U.S. Junior Amateur Championship at historic Inverness Club, he didn’t panic. Instead, he drew from his experience the previous day, when he rallied on the back nine to overcome a pair of deficits.

Summerhays was 3 down to No. 19 seed Austin Greaser after 11 holes in the quarterfinal round, and 2 down after seven holes to Thomas Pagdin in the semifinals. He went on to win 5 of the last 7 holes against Greaser, and 6 out of 7 against Pagdin, employing a similar philosophy each time.

“My mindset was just to keep on playing,” said Summerhays, who also edged 2018 runner-up Akshay Bhatia in the Round of 16. “[Pagdin] had a good first seven holes, and I knew that he’s human. He was going to make some mistakes. I just tried to stay patient.”

When he trailed Bo Jin, of the People’s Republic of China, by three holes late in the morning round of the final, Summerhays kept his cool despite the steamy conditions and won the 17^th and 18th holes with birdies to enter the lunch break trailing by just one.

A few hours later, after Summerhays had completed his third straight comeback to claim the Junior Amateur trophy, the club presented him with the flag from the 17^th hole as a fitting memento. His performance on the 489-yard par 4 made the difference in his 2-and-1 victory.

In the morning 18, Summerhays had purposely hit his drive on the dogleg-left hole down the adjacent 16^th fairway, then knocked a wedge to 35 feet and drained the right-to-left curling putt. In the afternoon, Summerhays hit “the shot of his life,” according to his father and coach, Boyd, to set up a match-clinching birdie that also gave him a berth in the 2020 U.S. Open Championship at Winged Foot Golf Club.

“I don’t even know how to explain how it felt,” said Summerhays, 16, a Utah native who now lives in Scottsdale, Arizona. “It’s just one of my goals being accomplished.”

Summerhays seemed to have taken control as the seesaw match turned to the final nine. He birdied the par-4 10^th and 11^th holes to assume a 2-up lead, his largest of the day. His lead was reduced to 1 up when he bunkered his approach on the 13^th hole and took a bogey. But he retained the lead on the 16th hole as Jin three-putted and Summerhays saved his own bogey from 15 feet after stubbing his first chip shot.

Summerhays again opted to play down the adjacent 16^th fairway when they got to No. 17, but he pushed his tee shot and left himself in the rough between the fairways, with a large tree blocking his view.

“It wasn’t a terrible lie, and I had 174 [yards] to the pin,” said Summerhays. “Going downwind, downhill, it really didn’t play 174, it played 145 to the front edge. I was like, I could get a pitching wedge over that tree and land it front edge and roll it back. I hit it great and it ended up going to 8 feet.”

Jin then left his approach on the front of the green, skirted the hole with his long birdie try, then missed the comebacker. With two putts for the win, Summerhays made birdie.

“That’s just a shot of a lifetime at the right time in the biggest tournament,” said Boyd Summerhays, who coaches several PGA Tour players, including world No. 14 Tony Finau, and walked the matches with his son. “He’ll never forget that and it’ll give him confidence when he’s in a tough spot.”