Edmond trio has mixed results on Day 1 of U.S. Junior Amateur
Sohan Patel has been competing in USGA championships since the 2023 U.S. Amateur when, at the age of 14, he was the youngest player in the field at Cherry Hills Country Club.
From pure experience alone, he knows an early mistake, especially when it comes on your opening hole of stroke play, is just a blip on the radar screen.
The 17-year-old from Weston, Fla., now competing in his fourth USGA event and second consecutive U.S. Junior Amateur, overcame a bogey on the par-5 first hole of Saucon Valley Country Club’s Old Course to post a 5-under-par 66 on a beautiful sunny Monday in the Lehigh Valley to share the first-round lead in the 78th edition of this national championship for golfers under the age of 19.
Brayden Jones, 17, of Seal Beach, Calif., matched the left-handed Patel with a 4-under 66 on the Grace Course, the stroke-play co-host for the championship.
One stroke back were 18-year-olds Spencer Shropshire, of Canada, and University of San Diego rising sophomore Reed Arnaldo, of Encinitas, Calif., both of whom played the par-70 Grace Course.
Each of those two players eagled the par-5 10th hole with chip-ins. Shropshire “chunk-hooked” a 3-wood off the tee into the fairway, hit another 3-wood to within 25 feet of the hole and holed his third for an eagle 3. It was his first hole of the day. Arnaldo, a first-team All-West Coast Conference performer in 2025-26, knocked his 4-iron approach from 230 yards just short of the green and holed his 60-foot chip.
Xihuan Chang, a 2025 U.S. Junior Amateur semifinalist from the People’s Republic of China, was among the group at 68. He played the Grace Course. Paxton Lane, 18, of Benton, Ark., Troy Storm, 17, of Singapore, and Cooper Moore, 18, of New Zealand, each posted 68s on the Old Course.
It was a day of mixed results for the three Edmond residents in the field. Ainslee Stanford III shot 2-over 72 on the Old Course and was tied for 44th. Reed Higgins shot 3-over 74 on the Grace Course and was tied for 71st. Chase Blaser shot 80 on Grace and was tied for 201st. The top 64 players after Tuesday’s second round will advance to match play.
Miles Russell, 17, of Jacksonville Beach, Fla., the highest-ranked competitor in the field (No. 7 in the World Amateur Golf Ranking®/WAGR®) and the first player to ever compete in the U.S. Junior Amateur after being named to the USA Walker Cup Team, posted a 1-under 69 on the Grace Course, finishing with two consecutive bogeys. The 2027 Florida State commit played in front of the one of the largest galleries of the day.