Miles Russell of Jacksonville Beach carved out a piece of First Coast golf history at 9:19 a.m. on June 18 when he pounded his tee shot down the middle of the first fairway of the Shinnecock Hills Golf Club in Southampton, N.Y., to become the youngest area native to compete in a men’s major championship.
Russell, 17, went on to shoot 2-over 72 in the first round of the U.S. Open at Shinnecock to beat the record held by David Duval of Jacksonville, who was 18 years old when he played in the 1990 U.S. Open at Medinah.
Two weeks ago, Sofia Rivera of St. Augustine played in the U.S. Women’s Open, 19 days short of her 17th birthday.
Russell had a solid ball-striking round, especially on the back nine, when he hit eight greens in a row before barely missing the 18th to the left. He also hit nine of his last 10 fairways. Only a difficult putting round kept him from posting an under-par score.
He chipped to within less than 3 feet on his final hole and made a par putt. Russell was tied for 29th at the time he finished just before 3 p.m., five shots behind leader Rory McIlroy. Russell was also the low amateur in the clubhouse among the morning wave.
Russell, who qualified for the Open at a sectional on June 8 at the BallenIsles Country Club in Palm Beach Gardens, played with 2022 Players Championship and British Open winner Cameron Smith; and three-time major champion Padraig Harrington. Russell was the low player in the group as Smith shot 75 and Harrington 77.
“He played lovely,” Harrington said. “Two over par was the worst he could have shot. He hit it dead straight all day. Didn’t really have himself in too much trouble at all. … looked like he could hit it down a rope. I think he wants narrower fairways, if you ask me.”
U.S. Open delayed by fog for two hours
After waiting another two hours after his scheduled 7:19 a.m. tee time, Russell struck his first shot in a major championship with a 277-yard drive into the first fairway. He eventually two-putted from 57 feet for par.
Russell had a good up-and-down par at the par-3 second hole, chipping from behind the green and making a 5-foot putt, then missed his first good birdie opportunity at the par-4 third when he failed to convert a 12-foot putt.
His first bogey came at the par-4 fourth after a drive into the right rough, a second shot that went across the fairway and into left rough. Russell got on in three and missed a 24-foot par putt attempt.
Miles Russell’s first major birdie
Russell made his first birdie at the par-4 sixth hole. He hit the fairway, knocked his second shot from 177 yards out onto the putting surface and drained a putt of 9 feet, 5 inches. It turned out to be his only birdie.
He gave the shot back with a bogey at the par-3 seventh, coming up 36 yards short on his tee shot, pitching on and missing from 10 feet. Russell then made six pars in a row and had birdie putts on five of them, four of them in the 15-foot range.
Russell made a nice par save at No. 9, pitching from heavy rough short of the green to 11 feet and making the putt to turn at 1-over 36. He hit the next four greens and two-putted before a bogey at the long par-4 14th when Russell three-putted from 69 feet.
He continued to give himself chances. Russell had birdie putts of 50, 28 and 10 on his next three holes but missed them all.
Miles Russell’s first-round statistics
Russell hit 14 of 18 fairways and 13 of 18 greens. He needed 33 putts.
He unleashed several massive drives, 357 yards at No. 3, 356 yards at No. 12 and 378 yards at No. 14.
When does Miles Russell start in the second round?
Depending on weather conditions, Russell, Smith and Harrington are scheduled to start at No. 10 on June 19 at 1:14 p.m. As a result, Russell will have a good idea of what the cut will be when he tees off.
The U.S. Open cut is the low 60 players, plus ties.
Here are the last five 36-hole cuts in the U.S. Open: 2025 (Oakmont), 7 over par; 2024 (Pinehurst), 5 over par; 2023 (Los Angeles Country Club), 2 over par; 2022 (The Country Club), 3 over par; 2021 (Torrey Pines), 4 over par.
Here are the cuts in the last three U.S. Opens at Shinnecock: 2018, 8 over par; 2004, 5 over par; 1995, 6 over par.
This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Miles Russell posts 72 at U.S. Open in major championship debut
Reporting by Garry Smits, Jacksonville Florida Times-Union / Florida Times-Union
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Garry Smits, Jacksonville Florida Times-Union | USA TODAY Network
