BANDON — Wenyi Ding played flawless golf for 28 holes to build a huge lead and then held on as Caleb Surratt made a furious comeback in the final of the 74th U.S. Junior Amateur at Bandon Dunes Golf Resort on Saturday.
Ding led by eight holes with eight to play after a birdie on the 28th hole — the 10th hole the second time around the Bandon Dunes course in the championship match. To that point, he was 14-under for the day, given the normal match-play concessions.
Needing to win every hole to stay alive, Surratt then made a charge. Ding made his first mistake of the final with his drive on the 29th hole, which settled into a clump of beach grass 4 inches off the ground, leading to him to take an unplayable lie. That led to a bogey that opened the door for Surratt, who then won four more holes in a row with birdies, though his two on the par-3 33rd hole was conceded after Ding went long and left and did not stay on the green with his first or second chip shots.
Ding finally won with a par on the 34th hole, the picturesque 16th, to clinch the title and become the first male player from the People’s Republic of China to win a United States Golf Association championship.
“It’s a great experience to be a champion at Bandon Dunes,” Ding said. “This week has been incredible.”
To win the title, Ding first had to make it into match play through two rounds of stroke-play qualifying. Then he had to win six matches in four days, including the 36-hole final.
“Before the championship, I didn’t feel good (about my chances),” he said. “My first object was to make the cut.”
Then he started to feel better as he easily won match after match before he survived a grueling semifinal against Eric Lee of Fullerton, Calif., that lasted 20 holes.
Before the final match, he had trailed just four holes in his first five matches, including a 5 and 4 win over Rocco Salvitti of Pittsburgh; a 5 and 4 victory over Shubham Jaglan of India; a 5 and 3 win over John Broderick of Wellesley, Mass.; and a 1-up win over Luke Potter of Encinitas, Calif., who had reached the semifinals last year.
Subbatt, who is from Indian Trail, N.C., and will be a freshman at the University of Tennessee this fall, had been similarly dominant. He didn’t trail in any of his matches before the final, and even led 2-up in the final after birdies on his first two holes.
Subbatt’s road to the finals included an 8 and 7 win over Ismael Encinas of Mexico; a 3 and 1 win over Oscar Bach of Norway; a 7 and 5 victory over Ethan Fang of Plano, Texas; a 1-up win over Preston Stout of Dallas, Texas; and a 4 and 3 win over defending champion Nick Dunlap of Tuscaloosa, Ala., in the semifinals.
Ding took control of the final match by winning five holes in a nine-hole stretch from the fourth through 12th holes in the morning round, four of those on birdies.
Surratt didn’t feel like he played poorly in the final, when he was 9-under over the 34 holes.
“I tried my hardest,” he said. “I played great golf all day. I guess it just wasn’t meant to be.
“I feel like I played well enough to win. Wenyi is a great player. I just made a couple bad swings.”
Overall, Surratt was pleased with his play for the week.
“I just focused, took it one stroke at a time,” he said. “I felt I got off to a good start every day.”
The action-packed final round thrilled a crowd of more than 200 who followed along Saturday, including community members, volunteers, Bandon Dunes staff and caddies.
The championship match followed an epic day Friday, when all four quarterfinal matches reached at least the 18th hole for the first time in tournament history, with two going extra holes only to be won with long birdie putts.
Dunlap went 19 holes to beat Luke Clanton of Miami Lakes, Fla., in his quarterfinal, winning with a 54-foot birdie on the first extra hole. Lee, meanwhile, nearly gave up a lead of four holes with four to play against Jeffrey Guan of Australia before beating Guan with a 35-foot birdie putt on the second extra hole.
The only Oregonian to make it into match play, Collin Hodgkinson of Beaverton, fell to Dunlap 2 and 1 in the round of 64. The last player from the Northwest was Akshay Anand, who fell 5 and 4 to Clanton in the round of 32.
As champion, Ding also gets a spot in next year’s U.S. Open. Ding and Surratt also are now qualified for the U.S. Amateur later this summer and Ding, who is 17, also is eligible to try to defend his title in the U.S. Junior Amateur next summer at Daniel Island Club in South Carolina.
Another 12 players in the field also have qualified for the U.S. Amateur at The Ridgewood Country Club in Paramus, N.J.
Fred Perpall, the president-elect for USGA, noted that nearly 4,000 golfers started the qualifying process that led to the top 264 being at Bandon Dunes for the championship.
Those 264 showed often fantastic golf leading up to Saturday’s final.
“What a week it’s been — absolutely incredible,” Bandon Dunes General Manager Don Crowe said. “On behalf of Bandon Dunes, Mike Keiser and his family, it has been a great honor to host this championship.”
