LAHINCH, Ireland – Earlier this summer, Padraig Harrington was grouped with 17-year-old phenom Miles Russell for the first two rounds of the U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills.
“He looked like he could hit it down a rope,” Harrington said of Russell, the top-ranked junior in the country for much of the past few years. “I think he wants narrower fairways, if you ask me.”
Russell will certainly get tight corridors this week at Lahinch Golf Club, where he’ll compete in his first Walker Cup.
A native of Jacksonville Beach, Florida, and already verbally committed to Florida State University, Russell is one of two teenagers on U.S. captain Nathan Smith’s 10-man squad who have yet to hit a college-golf shot; Tyler Watts, who will begin his freshman year at Tennessee later this month, is the other.
The last time that happened for the Americans: 2011 at Royal Aberdeen, where Jordan Spieth and Patrick Rodgers played in their first Walker Cups – and for Spieth, his only one. Spieth and Rodgers entered that week ranked Nos. 2 and 3, respectively, in the World Amateur Golf Ranking, yet they were both sat for the opening foursomes session by then-captain Jim Holtgrieve. The two were paired then paired for Sunday morning foursomes and put the only red on the board – albeit a half-point – for an American team that would go on to lose, 14-12.
Spieth went 2-0-1 while Rodgers dropped both of his singles matches to finish the week 0-2-1.
ABERDEEN, SCOTLAND - SEPTEMBER 11: Jordan Spieth of the USA with playing partner Patrick Rodgers on the 11th tee during the day two morning foursomes matches held on the Balgownie Links at Royal Aberdeen Golf Club on on September 11, 2011 in Aberdeen, Scotland. (Photo by David Cannon/R&A/R&A via Getty Images)
R&A via Getty Images
Expect this year’s U.S. captain Nathan Smith, who led last year’s team to victory at Cypress Point and was a teammate of Spieth and Rodgers in 2011, to rely more on his two wunderkinds, who have practiced together considerably through the first few days in Ireland.
“They’re so good at such a young age,” Smith said of Russell and Watts. “It kind of blows your mind. But I think from kind of a maturity standpoint, from a golf IQ standpoint, it’s really fun to watch them. It’s an honor to be their captain, and just make sure they get here on time and they’re ready to go with anything they need.”
Russell has widely been considered the best high-schooler since Spieth. He’s nearly completed what would be the career grand slam of junior golf, capturing two Junior Invitationals at Sage Valley, two AJGA Junior Players, a Junior PGA, and finishing runner-up at this summer’s U.S. Junior Amateur.
But Watts is actually ranked higher than the fifth-ranked Russell in WAGR, sitting second. Watts, also a U.S. Junior runner-up (2024), has already made two cuts on the PGA Tour and won a pair of elite amateur events, last year’s Sunnehanna Amateur and this year’s Northeast Amateur.
Coincidentally, they are both lefties, though Watts is arguably known more for his ballstriking, while Russell shines with his wedges and around the greens.
Mid-amateur Stewart Hagestad, competing in his sixth straight Walker Cup this week, was a contemporary of both Spieth and Rodgers. The 35-year-old, noting he was more than double Russell’s age as he shared an interview podium with the kid, sees similarities in the two sets of Walker Cup phenoms.
“They all seemed to have this really amazing ability to be very comfortable with who they are and the idea that they’ve worked their tails off to put themselves in the position that they’re in,” Hagestad said. “I look at Miles and Tyler … it’s just really, really interesting, as one who’s older, to kind of see the – not arrogant or blind confidence that they have, but this belief of just like, this is really cool; like what else would I be doing? This is what I’ve strived for up to this point in my life.
“And it’s a really, really sincere, genuine sense of self-belief that is really kind of infectious. … It’s just totally inspiring to be around.”
Russell was nearly on Smith’s squad last year, getting the call after bowing out of the U.S. Amateur in the quarterfinals that he was the first alternate.
“That definitely gave me a little bit more motivation,” Russell said, “to keep trying to do my thing and keep playing good golf and hopefully be able to make it this year.”
That’s when Smith chimed in: “I just want to say I made that call because I knew he’d be here this year.”