Noah Goodwin gets another shot at U.S. Junior Amateur title

Noah Goodwin said Friday he didn’t allow the disappointment of a loss to Australia’s Min Woo Lee in the 2016 U.S. Junior Amateur final to take root.

The nation’s top-ranked junior golfer limited the what-ifs and second-guessing, and accepted the quality of his play.

If anything is lingering from last July for the 17-year-old Goodwin, it’s his desire to complete the six-day grind in the U.S. Golf Association championship for boys 18 and under. Goodwin arrived at the doorstep on another broiling day at Flint Hills National Golf Club, defeating Alabama-bound Davis Shore and India’s Rayhan Thomas to advance to Saturday’s championship match.

Goodwin, who lives in Corinth, Texas, will play 18-year-old Californian Matthew Wolff in the 36-hole final. Wolff, an Oklahoma State signee, eliminated future college teammate and No. 1 seed Austin Eckroat in the quarterfinals, then ousted South Africa’s Garrick Higgo 3 and 1 in the semifinals.

Goodwin, No. 27 in the world amateur golf ranking, left little to chance against Thomas. His victory included a chip-in birdie at the par-4 ninth that hovered on the edge of the cup for several seconds before falling, and a 40-foot par save at the par-3 14th that led to a halve and closed the match.

Goodwin’s chip-in gave him a 5-up lead at the turn, and he stretched it to 6 up with a birdie from four feet at the par-3 10th.

“Every single round except this one, whatever I shot was about the worst I could have shot,” said Goodwin, who shot 1-under 141 in stroke-play qualifying to earn the No. 19 seed. “Not a lot of good breaks. But (No.) 9 was a great break and I just played some great golf today.”

Goodwin, who has committed to play at SMU, has trailed for one hole in five matches this week. The dominance is reminiscent of his path in last year’s championship before he ran into Lee, whose title defense ended in Wednesday’s round of 64.

“As I’ve said to many people, I got beat,” Goodwin said of the match with Lee. “I didn’t really lose it at all.

“You can go back and say, ‘I could have done this, I could have done that.’ I hit a shot in the water on the 15th hole. I could have changed that. But at the same time, he still started making a lot of putts coming down the stretch and it could have ended up the same way no matter what.”

Goodwin will try to atone against Wolff, whom he has friended through the junior ranks. Wolff, who reached the third round of the 2015 U.S. Junior, extended this year’s march by eliminating Eckroat, his hotel roommate, 1 up in the quarterfinals.

Eckroat’s demise came at the par-5 18th, when he hit his second shot at the 524-yard hole into a front bunker, then flew his third over the green. After hitting a downhill flop shot 30 feet past the hole and missing the birdie attempt, he picked up his ball and congratulated Wolff.

“That was my only mis-hit of the day,” Eckroat said of the 4-iron from 220 yards that cleared the lake guarding the green, but dropped into the deep bunker. “I’m disappointed, but I had a good tournament for sure. I was way under par.”

Eckroat, an Edmond, Okla., native, put on a caddie bib and hauled Wolff’s bag in the 105-degree heat for his semifinal against the Higgo, a UNLV commit.

Their match was all square through 11 holes when Higgo committed a rules violation by accepting a cart ride to the 12th tee from a volunteer after taking a restroom break at the course’s halfway house. USGA rules official Bryan Lewis noted the violation, which gave Wolff a 1-up lead. Higgo didn’t win another hole and conceded the match on No. 17.

Higgo said he knew the rule prohibiting player rides during competition, but didn’t think about it in the heat of the moment.

“I didn’t play well,” Higgo said. “Honestly, Matt deserves it. He played well. That doesn’t change anything. I would have lost in any case.”

Wolff, who finished his round against Eckroat at 6 under after a conceded eagle at No. 18, won with an even-par effort against Higgo.

“To advance this far and playing as well as I am, I’m really excited,” Wolff said. “This is such a prestigious tournament with so many great players, and to just make it to the final let alone quarterfinals or semifinals is unbelievable.”

This story was originally published July 21, 2017 at 7:29 PM with the headline "Noah Goodwin gets another shot at U.S. Junior Amateur title."