The 126th US Amateur Championship is under way at Merion.
Preston Stout is the number one ranked amateur entering the week, with Englishman Tyler Weaver in second spot, followed by American duo Tyler Watts and Miles Russell in third and fourth respectively.
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Another Englishman, Luke Poulter, rounds out the top five.
Stout made an awful start at the US Amateur on Monday, shooting a round of five-over par 75, and he is currently two-over par through 10 holes of his second round.
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Meanwhile, Weaver withdrew before the championship began due to a back injury.
Russell and Watts shot rounds of 67 and 69 respectively in their opening rounds, while Poulter carded a one-over par 71.
The only player to win the US Amateur while ranked No.1 entering the week
Since the amateur world rankings began in 2007, just one player has managed to win the US Amateur while ranked as the world number one.
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That’s quite remarkable when you think about it.
Notables including Jackson Koivun in 2025 (Round of 32), Jon Rahm in 2015 (quarter-finals) and Joaquin Niemann in 2017 (Round of 64) did not even come close to winning.
Peter Uihlein entered the 2010 US Amateur at Chambers Bay ranked as the No.1 player.
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And he is the only number one amateur to win the championship, after he beat David Chung 4&2 in the final.
There is obviously a huge amount of pressure on whichever player is ranked as the world number one heading into the US Amateur.
It will be fascinating to see whether Stout is able to mount a back-nine comeback during his second round on Tuesday to at least give himself a chance of making the matchplay cut-off.
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Meanwhile, the likes of Miles Russell and Tyler Watts will be confident of really kicking on after their opening rounds and putting themselves in a strong position heading into the latter stages of the US Amateur.
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