Wells Padgett ousted from Junior Amateur match play
The 18th hole at Flint Hills National played 491 yards Wednesday during the first round of match play in the 70th U.S. Junior Amateur.
Only it didn’t for 15-year-old Ryan Smith.
Smith, a sophomore-to-be at Santa Fe Christian High in Solana Beach, Calif., never got off the tee in his match against Wichita’s Wells Padgett. Smith hooked three consecutive drives into the lake that runs along the fairway, conceded the hole and saw the last of a three-hole lead evaporate under a scorching sun.
“I felt like the earth kind of sank on that one,” said Smith, who took the long walk with his caddie and instructor Pat McGuire to the 19th hole. “Life happens. That’s just the way it is.”
But if a wayward driver kept Smith on edge throughout the day, a balky putter had a similar effect on Padgett. Unable to capitalize on the greens for much of the match, Padgett’s hopes of winning a U.S. Golf Association title in his hometown were stymied on the 22nd hole when he slid a 7-foot par attempt past the right side, giving Smith a spot in Thursday’s second round.
“I had really good chances at winning, but it’s my bad and I’ll learn from it,” said Padgett, a recent Maize South graduate who is headed to Auburn. “I was hitting my lines. They were just misreads.”
The 18-year-old Padgett fell to 0-3 in U.S. Junior matches in his final championship appearance. But he wasn’t alone in his heartbreak. Australia’s Min Woo Lee, the 2016 champion, and course-record setter Brandon Mancheno also were eliminated.
Incoming Oklahoma State freshman Austin Eckroat, the stroke-play medalist and No. 1 seed, defeated Idaho’s Skyler Eubank 5 and 3 to advance to Thursday, when second- and third-round matches will reduce the field to eight. The third round will be televised on Fox Sports 1.
Smith, who made his USGA debut as the youngest competitor at the U.S. Amateur Four-Ball two months ago in Pinehurst, N.C., displayed a game beyond his years at times against Padgett. It started on the par-5 first, when he drove into the left rough, but recovered with a pinpoint third shot and won the hole with a birdie.
From that point, he offset his driving issues with clutch putting, salvaging halves with repeat precision from 8-10 feet.
“My short game and putting has been good,” said Smith, who will play fellow Californian Aaron Chen in his next match. “I’ve just always practiced it for situations like this.
“For this championship specifically, you just have to chip and putt your butt off, and I did that.”
But Padgett, who never led in the match, gave his supporters hope when defeat seemed imminent. Dormie with three holes to play, he launched a perfectly placed second shot from the right rough at the par-4 16th to within two feet and knocked in the birdie.
“That was about a 1-in-50 shot,” Padgett said of the 60-degree wedge he lofted over trees and a bunker guarding the hole. “I had 105 yards, I was downwind with a terrible lie. No joke, I landed it in a six-inch circle of where I had to land it and it rolled tight up to the pin.”
Padgett won the 17th with a par after Smith’s 12-footer curled around the cup. Then came the 18th, when Smith’s driving issues peaked after Padgett blasted his tee shot down the fairway.
Padgett had birdie attempts to win on the first and third extra holes, but couldn’t get putts to fall. After dodging elimination at the 20th hole when he saved par after hooking his tee shot, Padgett’s championship ended at the par-3 fourth. Smith hit his tee shot on the green, and Padgett couldn’t get up and down from a greenside bunker.
“I fought really hard and I’m proud of myself for doing that,” Padgett said. “I was really looking forward to winning. I didn’t have my stuff today but I was able to take it to 22 holes, and that’s pretty good when you don’t have your stuff.”
Eckroat became the 15th consecutive U.S. Junior medalist to win a first-round match. He never trailed against Eubank, who survived a 10-for-1 playoff Tuesday evening to claim the final match-play spot.
Eckroat, who plays out of Oak Tree National in Edmond, closed his match in style by hitting an approach from the fairway to within three feet at the par-4 15th for a conceded birdie.
“It’s a little different feeling,” Eckroat said of being the No. 1 seed. “I know I’m expected to win. It’s kind of the opposite, too. I know I’m playing really good.”
Lee, who was bidding to become the first two-time U.S. Junior winner since Jordan Spieth and the first back-to-back winner since Tiger Woods, lost to Georgia Tech-bound Noah Norton 2 and 1. Lee built a 2-up lead after four holes, but dropped the next four and never caught up again with Norton, a Chico, Calif., native.
“Match play takes a lot out of you, no matter who you play, and especially if you play such a good player,” Norton said. “I know Min’s bummed to go home.
“I was kind of bummed when we had to play each other because it’s a match that you don’t want to have in the first round. But it was a lot of fun, for sure.”
U.S. Junior Amateur
Match play
Wednesday’s first round
At Flint Hills National GC
Upper bracket
No. 1 Austin Eckroat, Edmond, Okla., def. No. 64 Skyler Eubank, Meridian, Idaho, 5 and 3; No. 33 Yuki Moriyama, Japan, def. No. 32 Andrew Kozan, West Palm Beach, Fla., 2 and 1; No. 49 Ryan Gerard, Raleigh, N.C., def. Teddy Tetak, Slovakia, 3 and 2; No. 17 Won Jun Lee, Republic of Korea, def. No. 48 Davis Bryant, Aurora, Colo., 21 holes; No. 8 Matthew Wolff, Agoura Hills, Calif., def. Remington Hirano, Honolulu, 3 and 1; No. 40 Christian Salzer, Sumter, S.C., def. No. 25 Andrew O’Leary, Norfolk, Mass., 2 up; No. 9 Logan McAllister, Oklahoma City, def. Kaiwen Liu, China, 2 and 1; No. 41 Parker Coody, Plano, Texas, def. No. 24 Akshay Bhatia, Wake Forest, N.C., 3 and 1.
No. 61 Angelo Giantsopoulos, Canada, def. No. 4 John Pak, Scotch Plains, N.J., 3 and 1; No. 36 Garrick Higgo, South Africa, def. No. 29 Wil Gibson, Jonesboro, Ark., 5 and 3; No. 13 Cole Hammer, Houston, def. No. 52 George McNeely, Carmel, Calif., 4 and 3; No. 20 Frankie Capan, North Oaks, Minn., def. No. 45 Turk Pettit, Auburn, Ala., 1 up; No. 5 Joshua Armstrong, Australia, def. No. 60 Colin Bowles, Albany, Ga., 19 holes; No. 37 Trent Phillips, Spartanburg, S.C., def. No. 28 Cameron Sisk, El Cajon, Calif., 1 up; No. 12 Aman Gupta, Charlotte, N.C., def. No. 53 James Song, Canada, 2 and 1; No. 44 Jackson Solem, Longmont, Colo., def. No. 21 Jackson Suber, Tampa, Fla., 5 and 3.
Lower bracket
No. 63 Alvin Kwak, Mukilteo, Wash., def. No. 2 Brandon Mancheno, Jacksonville, Fla., 1 up; No. 34 Kaito Onishi, Japan, def. No. 31 Eddy Lai, San Jose, Calif., 1 up; No. 50 Ryan Smith Carlsbad, Calif., def. No. 15 Wells Padgett, Wichita, 22 holes; No. 18 Aaron Chen, Fremont, Calif., def. No. 47 Cameron John, Australia, 19 holes; No. 58 Noah Norton, Chico, Calif., def. No. 7 Min Woo Lee, Australia, 2 and 1; No. 26 James Beber-Frankel, Miami, def. No. 39 Noah Woolsey, Pleasanton, Calif., 1 up; No. 10 Mac Meissner, San Antonio, def. No. 55 David Morgan, Naples, Fla., 3 and 1; No. 23 Rayhan Thomas, India, def. No. 42 Cecil Wegener, Ridgeland, Miss., 3 and 2.
No. 3 Cole Ponich, Salt Lake City, def. No. 62 Alex Jamieson, Duxbury, Mass., 1 up; No. 35 Sean Maruyama, Japan, def. No. 30 Cooper Parks, Campbellsville, Ky., 2 and 1; No. 14 Joe Highsmith, Lakewood, Wash., def. No. 51 Garrett Barber, West Palm Beach, Fla., 1 up; No. 19 Noah Goodwin, Corinth, Texas, def. No. 46 Dylan Fritz, Las Vegas, 3 and 2; No. 59 Ryan Hall, Knoxville, Tenn., def. No. 6 Eugene Hong, Orlando, 2 and 1; No. 27 Ricky Castillo, Yorba Linda, Calif., def. No. 38 Brandon Gillis, Nashua, N.H., 19 holes; No. 11 Davis Shore, Knoxville, Tenn., def. No. 54 Jonathan Wijono, Indonesia, 5 and 4; No. 43 Peter Fountain, Raleigh, N.C., def. No. 22 Joseph Pagdin, England, 1 up.
Thursday’s second round
Upper bracket
7 a.m.—No. 1 Austin Eckroat vs. No. 33 Yuki Moriyama; 7:10—No. 49 Ryan Gerard vs. No. 17 Won Jun Lee; 7:20—No. 8 Matthew Wolff vs. No. 40 Christian Salzer; 7:30—No. 9 Logan McAllister vs. No. 41 Parker Coody.
7:40—No. 61 Angelo Giantsopoulos vs. No. 36 Garrick Higgo; 7:50—No. 13 Cole Hammer vs. No. 20 Frankie Capan; 8—No. 5 Joshua Armstrong vs. No. 37 Trent Phillips; 8:10—No. 12 Aman Gupta vs. No. 44 Jackson Solem.
Lower bracket
8:20—No. 63 Alvin Kwak vs. No. 34 Kaito Onishi; 8:30—No. 50 Ryan Smith vs. No. 18 Aaron Chen; 8:40—No. 58 Noah Norton vs. No. 26 Jake Beber-Frankel; 8:50—No. 10 Mac Meissner vs. No. 23 Rayhan Thomas.
9—No. 3 Cole Ponich vs. No. 35 Sean Maruyama; 9:10—No. 14 Joe Highsmith vs. No. 19 Noah Goodwin; 9:20—No. 59 Ryan Hall vs. No. 27 Ricky Castillo; 9:30—No. 11 Davis Shore vs. No. 43 Peter Fountain.
U.S. JUNIOR AMATEUR
- When: Through Saturday
- Where: Flint Hills National Golf Club, Andover
- Admission: Free
- TV: 2:30-4:30 p.m., Fox Sports 1
This story was originally published July 19, 2017 at 7:45 PM with the headline "Wells Padgett ousted from Junior Amateur match play."