Luke Colton, a senior-to-be at Frisco Wakeland High School, secured a 4-and-3 victory over top-ranked junior player Miles Russell Friday.
DALLAS — Friday morning wasn’t the championship match at the U.S. Junior Amateur golf tournament in Dallas. But it was a matchup of the two best players in the field.
And Frisco’s Luke Colton came out on top again.
Colton, a senior-to-be at Frisco Wakeland High School, secured a 4-and-3 victory over top-ranked junior player Miles Russell in the quarterfinals of the U.S. Junior Amateur at Trinity Forest Golf Club in Dallas.
It was Colton’s second victory over Russell in a match play event this summer, the first coming at the North & South Amateur in Pinehurst, N.C. Neither victory could be considered a huge upset, as Colton is the second-ranked junior player in the World Amateur Golf Ranking.
In Friday’s match, Colton birdied No. 2 and No. 3 to take a two-hole lead, then Russell responded with birdies on No. 5 and No. 6 to even the match.
The two exchanged points on No. 7 (Colton) and No. 10 (Russell), before Colton pulled away, winning Nos. 11, 12, 14 and 15 to close out the match.
Colton will now head to the semifinals on Friday afternoon. A 36-hole championship match is scheduled for Saturday.
Both Russell and Colton, who each happen to play left-handed, won two matches Thursday to advance to the quarterfinals. Russell beat Miguel Garcia, of Mexico, in the Round of 32 before eliminating Rockwall’s Lucas Latimer in the Round of 16. Colton took care of fellow Texan Shiv Parmer on Thursday morning before beating Florida’s Chase Bauer in the afternoon.
The marathon week began with two rounds of stroke play on Monday and Tuesday, as Colton and Russell safely qualified in the top 64 for the match play rounds.
On Wednesday, Russell was nearly sent home after trailing Jackson Ormond by two holes with three to play. But Russell’s 35-foot birdie putt on No. 18 extended the match, and he clinched the match on the second extra hole.
Colton also battled Wednesday, beating Jace Benson in a match that went all 18 holes.
Their paths to Friday set up a heavyweight clash.
Russell is ranked 18th and Colton is 26th in the WAGR, which includes all amateur golfers, not just junior players under 19.
How big was Friday morning’s matchup? Golf Channel’s Brentley Romine compared it to Scottie Scheffler vs. Rory McIlroy. At the junior golf level, he’s not wrong.
Here are our interviews with Russell and Colton earlier this week: