Hamilton Coleman and Nguyen Anh Minh cruised into the U.S. Junior Amateur final Friday, setting up Saturday’s 36-hole championship match at Trinity Forest in Dallas.
Neither semifinal provided much drama as both matches ended well before reaching the 16th hole.
Coleman, a 17-year-old Georgia commit from Augusta, dispatched Vanderbilt commit Luke Colton 5 and 4. The Augusta native showed exceptional touch on Trinity’s massive greens, making just one bogey while Colton struggled with five. Coleman grabbed a 1-up lead with a par at the second hole and never relinquished control. A pivotal moment came at the par-3 eighth, where Coleman expertly navigated a 70-footer through multiple breaks to within a couple feet, winning the hole after Colton failed to get up and down.
“It’s definitely hard because you feel like you can get away with things but you have to keep reminding yourself to keep the pedal down,” Coleman said. “My caddie has been telling me the whole time, ‘Quality golf shots.’ It’s hard to lose when you’re hitting quality shots at your targets.”
Colton, ranked second among juniors and 26th among amateurs worldwide, had been on fire before meeting Coleman. He was coming off a 4-and-3 win over top-ranked junior Miles Russell in the morning quarterfinal and had played his first 81 holes at Trinity in a combined 14 under with 26 birdies. But against Coleman, he managed just one birdie and injured his left wrist playing from a bush on the second hole, requiring medical attention.
Coleman is trying to become Georgia’s first U.S. Junior champion since Andy Shim in 2012, who famously rallied from 5 down through 18 holes to beat Jim Liu. The last Georgia recruit to capture this title was Brian Harman in 2003.
In the other semifinal, Minh, an incoming Oregon State freshman from Vietnam ranked 52nd in the World Amateur Golf Ranking, dominated China’s Qiyou Wu. Minh won five of the first six holes to build a commanding 5-up lead and surrendered just one hole throughout the match.
“I’ll definitely have to keep myself in the present and hopefully just make putts,” Minh said about what it’ll take to win Saturday’s final, where he could become the first champion from Vietnam.
The stakes couldn’t be higher for both players. Beyond the prestigious title, the winner earns a spot in next year’s U.S. Open.
“It’s definitely cool to have a chance to play in the U.S. Open,” Coleman said. “I’ve watched this tournament a lot on TV throughout the years, and I didn’t really know how far I’d get into this, but now I have a shot to live out my dreams.”
Saturday’s championship match begins at 8:45 a.m. ET.
