Russell becomes the first two-time winner of the AJGA invitational at Players Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass
Miles Russell hit key shots down the stretch to win Junior Players
Miles Russell of Jacksonville Beach won the Junior Championship for the second time on Aug. 31 at the Players Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass.
- Miles Russell won his second Junior Players Championship, the first to win the tournament twice
- Russell held off a late charge by Bailey Sutter, who tied for the lead on the 16th hole.
- Russell secured the victory with a clutch birdie on the iconic 17th hole Island Green.
Miles Russell’s six-shot lead in the final round of the Junior Players Championship had been erased by a hard-charging Bailey Sutter.
Russell then made his eighth par in a row at the par-5 16th hole of the Players Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass by the skin of his teeth, after pulling his second shot into the water.
With no more lead to protect, it was time for hero stuff.
Russell responded, at a hole that either makes or breaks champions at all levels.
The 16-year-old Jacksonville Beach left-hander and the American Junior Golf Association’s No. 1-ranked player took a bold line at the par-3 17th hole, aiming at the right-center of the Island Green and drawing the ball towards the flag, cut on the right.
It landed softly, then rolled gently down the lower tier of the green, stopping 8 feet away. Russell drained the putt minutes after Sutter three-putted No. 18 for bogey and went on to win the 19th Junior Players Championship by two shots at 9-under-par 207.
Sutter (65) finished at 7-under 209, followed by Asher Vargas of Spring, Texas (67) at 4-under and Nicholas Logis of Austin, Texas (74) at 3-under.
Russell (70) was the first resident of the First Coast to win the Junior Players in 2023 and he is now the first to win the tournament twice. He did it wire-to-wire in front of a gallery that swelled to more than 100 people surrounding the 18th green as he dropped a 20-foot par putt when bogey was all he needed to win.
“That’s pretty cool,” Russell said of becoming the first two-time Junior Players winner. “But at the end of the day, it’s all about having fun and enjoying it.”
Bailey Sutter flirted with scoring record
Sutter, a native of Cullman, Ala., and the 35th-ranked player by the AJGA, began the day at even par for the tournament and eight shots behind Russell. He then went on a torrid streak beginning with an 8-foot birdie putt at the par-3 eighth hole and a monster 40-foot birdie roll at the par-5 ninth.
Sutter then birdied Nos. 11, 12 and 13 on two tap-ins and a 15-footer at the latter, and finally overhauled Russell at 8-under with a 6-foot birdie putt at No. 15 and a 4-footer at No. 16. If he played the last two holes 1-under, Sutter would tie the Junior Player 18-hole record of 63 set by Logan McAllister in 2017.
His momentum was checked with a par at the Island Green and his closing bogey.
“I knew I was only one back going into 16,” Sutter said. “I knew I had a chance. [Nos.] 17 and 18 are tough finishing holes.”
Miles Russell struggled to add to his lead
Russell led by six shots through three holes when Nicholas Logis, the closest player to him to begin the day at two shots behind, bogeyed No. 2 and doubled No. 3.
That left the door open for anyone to step up, and it was Sutter.
Russell tried unsuccessfully all day to find the formula that built his 36-hole lead. After a birdie at No. 2 he failed to birdie any of the remaining par-5 holes (Nos. 9, 11 and 16) and also played the short par-4s, Nos. 4, 6 and 12, 1-over with no birdies.
In the first two rounds, Russell birdied every par-5 and played the fourth, sixth and 12th holes 4-under, with no bogeys.
His only birdies through 16 holes in the third round came at Nos. 2 and 8.
Russell could have easily lost the tournament at the 16th hole. After dropping around 60 yards short of the green, he pitched on, with the ball checking up 4 feet away, and made the par putt.
His second shot into No. 16, a 5-iron from the fairway, was the only ball he hit into a hazard all week.
“I just chunked it,” Russell said of the shot he hit in the water. “That’s just golf. You’re going to make bad swings and unfortunately, that’s kind of the worst time possible. But I bounced back.”
No. 17: ‘The one I was looking for’
Russell was the third in his group to hit at No. 17. With a left-to-right wind, a draw from a left-hander was risky.
But it was a beauty from first contact.
“I hit it and said, ‘My God … that’s the one I was looking for,’” Russell said. “It flew a little shorter than I wanted to but it went down.”
Russell said he’s used the same aiming point on the hill behind the 17th green to turn the ball on for his two final-round tee shots in 2023 and 2025.
“Very similar to two years ago,” he said. “There’s an electrical box back on that hill … probably 5-to-10 yards left of the flag, and then [hit] a little 3-yard draw.”
The result was the same both times: a birdie to all but seal the outcome.
A bit more drama at No. 18
Needing a bogey to win, Russell looked like he was going to make that a chore when he pulled his tee shot at the par-4 18th in the right rough.
He was blocked from going directly at the green by a tree, but hit a wedge over the tree to within 70 yards, then knocked his third shot on, making sure to stay below the back hole placement and not rolling the ball into the back bunker.
“I just needed to make three from where I was,” he said. “There was no need and blast it long into that bunker and make a mess.”
When Russell drained the par putt, he smiled and seemed almost embarrassed as the gallery erupted in cheers.
He said he works to not put any pressure on himself to win his hometown’s most prestigious junior tournament and the AJGA’s most star-packed invitational.
“I try not to focus too much on it,” he said. “I’m just here to have fun and maybe make a couple of birdies.”
Russell said having to struggle most of the day without his best stuff can be a valuable lesson.
“Just got to be gritty,” he said. “Stay positive and stick to the game plan.”
What did Charlie Woods shoot?
Woods had an adventuresome 72 that included a hole-in-one at the par-3 third hole, four birdies, four bogeys, eight pars and a double-bogey.
Woods tied for 31st at 7-over 223 in his first Junior Players Championship, on the course where his father, Tiger Woods, won two Players Championships.
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