What do two college players have in common with a middle-shool player from New York? All three will have an opportunity to be the next U.S. Junior Amateur champion in a few weeks (July 17 - 22) at Flint Hills National Golf Club in Andover, Kansas. North Carolina State freshman Christian Salzer and Georgia Tech freshman Tyler Strafaci qualified last month, as did 2022 prospect Zachary Shallat of Dix Hills, N.Y. Those are 3 of 127 players that qualified in 57 qualifiers across the United States in June. They join 27 additional players that are exempt into the field, including last year's champion and runner-up. Min Woo Lee defeated Noah Goodwin 2 & 1 last summer at the Honors Course in Tennessee. The remaining players in the 156-player field will come from 114 alternates from those 57 qualifiers.
The University of Florida leads the fields as far as signee's and/or commitments are concerned. There are 5 future Gators in the field, including 2018 verbal Eugene Hong, who has made the quarterfinals and semifinals in each of the past two years. UCLA is next with 4 future Bruins. Then you have Alabama, Arizona State, Auburn and SMU, with 3 each.
Schools with multiple players in the field:
| Florida (5) | Chris Nido | Palmetto Bay, Fla. | 2017 |
| Eugene Hong | Orlando, Fla. | 2018 | |
| Wocheng (Aden) Ye | Lake Mary, Fla. | 2018 | |
| Ricky Castillo | Yorba Linda, Calif. | 2019 | |
| Joseph Pagdin | Orlando, Fla. | 2020 | |
| UCLA (4) | Sean Maruyama | Los Angeles, Calif. | 2018 |
| Eddy Lai | San Jose, Calif. | 2017 | |
| Cole Ponich | Salt Lake City, Utah | 2019 | |
| Clay Seeber | Newport Beach, Calif. | 2019 | |
| Alabama (3) | Davis Shore | Knoxville, Tenn. | 2017 |
| Frankie Capan | North Oaks, Minn. | 2018 | |
| Thomas Ponder | Dothan, Ala. | 2019 | |
| Arizona State (3) | Paul Chaplet | INTL | 2017 |
| Cameron Sisk | El Cajon, Calif. | 2018 | |
| Ryggs Johnston | Libby, Mont. | 2019 | |
| Auburn (3) | Andrew Kozan | West Palm Beach, Fla. | 2017 |
| Brandon Mancheno | Jacksonville, Fla. | 2017 | |
| Wells Padgett | Wichita, Kan. | 2017 | |
| SMU (3) | Noah Goodwin | Corinth, Texas | 2018 |
| Mac Meissner | San Antonio, Texas | 2017 | |
| Shuai Ming Wong | Hong Kong China | 2019 | |
| Florida State (2) | John Pak | Scotch Plains, N.J. | 2017 |
| Parker Reddig | Minneapolis, Minn. | 2017 | |
| Georgia (2) | Trent Phillips | Inman, S.C. | 2018 |
| Davis Thompson | Auburn, Ala. | 2017 | |
| Georgia Tech (2) | Noah Norton | Chico, Calif. | 2017 |
| Tyler Strafaci | Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. | 2016 | |
| Mississippi (2) | Cecil Wegener | Ridgeland, Miss. | 2017 |
| Jackson Suber | Tampa, Fla. | 2018 | |
| North Carolina (2) | Ryan Gerard | Raleigh, N.C. | 2017 |
| Peter Fountain | Raleigh, N.C. | 2020 | |
| Notre Dame (2) | Alex Jamieson | Duxbury, Mass. | 2017 |
| Andrew O'Leary | Norfolk, Mass. | 2018 | |
| Oklahoma (2) | Lane Wallace | Yukon, Okla. | 2017 |
| Logan McAllister | Oklahoma City, Okla. | 2018 | |
| Oklahoma State (2) | Austin Eckroat | Edmond, Okla. | 2017 |
| Matthew Wolff | Agoura Hills, Calif. | 2017 | |
| South Carolina (2) | Ryan Hall | Knoxville, Tenn. | 2018 |
| Teddy Tetak | Slovakia | 2018 | |
| Southern California (2) | Kaito Onishi | Irvine, Calif. | 2017 |
| Charles Reiter | Palm Desert, Calif. | 2018 | |
| Texas (2) | Cole Hammer | Houston, Texas | 2018 |
| Parker Coody | Plano, Texas | 2018 | |
| Virginia (2) | WeiWei Gao | INTL | 2017 |
| David Morgan | Naples, Fla. | 2018 |
Since 1948, the USGA has conducted the U.S. Junior Amateur for players 17 and under. A change this year is that 18-year-olds are now eligible for the championship. This opened the door for more college players to try to win a USGA championship - and many tried to qualify. For Salzer and Strafaci, they could make history as the first 18-year-old to win the championship.
Min Woo Lee of Australia will defend his title and try to bring a 3rd USGA championship to the family. Along with his win last year, his sister Minjee Lee won the U.S. Girls' Amateur five years ago. She is now a successful player on the LPGA Tour, with multiple wins.
For the second year in a row, Noah Goodwin will come into the event as the top junior player in the country. The 2018 commit to Southern Methodist University came up just short in winning his first USGA title. However, a future teammate in Dallas, Ben Wong, will enter the event with a USGA title from May's U.S. Amateur Four-Ball at Pinehurst. In fact, both Wong and his playing partner in the Four-Ball, Frankie Capan (a 2018 commitment for Alabama), qualified last month. That brings the number of USGA champions to three in the field, which I believe is a record for a U.S. Junior.
The U.S. Junior will bring more than TV to Kansas (that's right, Thursday, Friday and Saturday's competition will be televised on FS1), as college coaches always make the journey to the annual event, looking for future student-athletes. With over 80 guys in the field not committed, these coaches have a lot to look forward to.
