Jackson Solem of Longmont ended a drought for Coloradans competing in the U.S. Junior Amateur.
The former 4A state high school champion, playing in his first USGA championship, on Wednesday became the first Coloradan to win a match at the U.S. Junior Am since Wyndham Clark went to the round of 16 in 2009. Clark, the 2017 Pac-12 Conference champion, has competed in three PGA Tour events since turning pro last month.
Solem (pictured), a University of Denver signee, scored a 5 and 3 victory over another Jackson, Jackson Suber of Tampa, Fla., in the round of 64 Wednesday at Flint Hills National Golf Club in Andover, Kan. The other Coloradan who made match play, Davis Bryant of Aurora, went 21 holes Tuesday, but lost to South Korean Won Jun Lee, who’s competing in his fourth U.S. Junior Am.
Solem was 1 down after five holes, but never trailed after winning No. 6 with a par. Starting on No. 9, Solem won five of seven holes to close out the match. Overall on Wednesday, he finished 1 under par for 15 holes, making three birdies and a double bogey.
In Thursday morning’s round of 32, Solem will face 12th-seeded Aman Gupta of Charlotte, N.C., a 2 and 1 winner over Canadian James Song on Wednesday.
Should Solem advance to the round of 16 on Thursday afternoon, FS1 will be televising some of those matches beginning at 1:30 p.m. (MT).
Solem had qualified for the CoBank Colorado Open, which starts on Thursday, but had to withdraw with the conflict.
In Bryant’s case, as the USGA noted in its pre-tournament biographies, the Coloradan has been a scrapper since birth. After all, he was born 14 weeks premature, weighed 26 ounces at birth and didn’t go home from the hospital until he was 105 days old.
On Wednesday in the round of 64, that scrappiness came to the forefront again as Bryant had a tough draw for his opening match at the Junior Am. Competing against Lee, who has made match play in four U.S. Junior Amateurs and has advanced to the semifinals (2015) and quarterfinals (2016), Bryant rallied from being 2 down and took Lee to 21 holes. The Korean birdied that third extra hole for the victory.
Bryant, winner of the first two majors of the Junior Golf Alliance of Colorado season, never led on Wednesday. He was 2 down after Lee birdied two of the first three holes and 2 down again after 13 holes. But the future Colorado State University golfer squared the match with a par on the ninth hole and a par on the 18th hole.
In extra holes in his second U.S. Junior appearance, Bryant went par-bogey-par, while Lee went par-bogey-birdie.
For the match, Bryant was 2 over par, having made one birdie and three bogeys.
Here are the stroke-play scores for all the Coloradans competing this week:
Made Match Play
39. Jackson Solem, Longmont 75-69–144 (advances to round of 32)
47. Davis Bryant, Aurora 71-74–145 (lost in round of 64)
Failed to Advance to Match Play
127. TJ Shehee, Mead 78-80–158
For all the results from the Junior Amateur, CLICK HERE.
