Hamilton Coleman was up big, and then he wasn’t.
But Coleman never lost hope, or his lead, before birdieing the 35th hole to secure a 2-and-1 victory over Minh Nguyen in Saturday’s final of the 77th U.S. Junior Amateur.
Coleman, a 17-year-old from Augusta, Georgia, converted a birdie from 18 feet and led 5 up after 12 holes of the scheduled 36-hole championship match at Trinity Forest in Dallas. He went into the lunch break 3 up, too, before the 18-year-old Minh, of Vietnam, clawed back to just 1 down with six holes to play.
“Getting off to that hot start, I knew that I couldn’t just ease my way into winning, and I knew I had to keep hitting quality shots,” Coleman said. “I was playing well, and he just kept making putts and hitting shots close. It got a little tight there, but I never lost faith. And I told my caddie, I was nervous, but I was never scared. I’m proud of the way I handled that.”
Minh, who will attend Oregon State starting this fall, began his afternoon comeback at the par-4 first, where he curled in a 5-footer for birdie to move to 2 down. Coleman then won Nos. 22 and 23, the latter after nearly holing out his third shot on the par-5 fifth, to stretch his advantage back to 4 up. But Minh birdied four of the next seven holes, including the lengthy par-3 11th where he landed his tee ball on the front of the green and watched it roll some 50 feet to close range, to get it to 1 down.
Minh nearly tied the match on the 34th hole, the par-5 16th, but his 12-footer for birdie missed. He couldn’t get a similarly distanced putt to drop at the par-3 17th, which set the table for Coleman to hole his match-winner from 10 feet.
“You try not to tell yourself what it’s for, to qualify for the U.S. Open and be the U.S. Junior champion,” Coleman said. “Just stuck to my line and made a free, aggressive stroke at it, and it happened to go in.”
Like Coleman said, he’s into the field for next summer’s U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills. He’s also the first U.S. Junior champion from Georgia since Andy Shim in 2012. A Georgia commit for 2026, Coleman is the first future Bulldog to win this championship since Brian Harman in 2003.
