Russell, 17, Makes the Cut in U.S. Open Debut

Miles Russell walked off Shinnecock Hills on Friday evening with the weekend still in front of him. At 17, the youngest player in the field, he sat tied at 3 over, alongside Jordan Spieth and Dustin Johnson, and would play on while Bryson DeChambeau and Jon Rahm went home. Russell, from Jacksonville Beach, Florida, had become the second-youngest man to make a U.S. Open cut since World War II.

The two days that carried him there were measured, not flashy. He opened with a 2-over 72 on Thursday. On Friday he briefly climbed into the top 15 with two birdies in his first six holes, then held on to make the cut, which settled at 4 over, despite three bogeys on the back nine. The margin was one stroke. He kept it.

The pairing framed the story neatly. Russell played with the oldest man in the field, 54-year-old Padraig Harrington, and was in the womb when Harrington won his last two majors in 2008. The veteran watched the teenager's ball flight and was left in something close to admiration.

"He played lovely golf, looked like he could hit it down a rope," Harrington said Thursday. "I think he wants narrower fairways, if you ask me."

The road to Shinnecock

Russell reached the major the hard way. On June 8 he qualified on his 38th hole of the day, through a playoff, with Charlie Woods, Tiger's son and a fellow Florida State commit, on the bag. He survived a bogey on the first playoff hole and took the fourth and final spot from the Florida qualifier. "It's the first time I've had a buddy on the bag," he said of Woods. "I really like it, not talking much golf, just having a good time." For the championship itself, the bag passed to his coach. Russell's caddie this week was Ramon Bescansa, who caddied for Russell Knox the last time Shinnecock hosted, in 2018.

The result belongs to a trajectory already gathering pace. Earlier this year Russell made his first PGA Tour cut, tying for 50th at the Puerto Rico Open in March, and he also made two of three cuts on the Korn Ferry Tour, two years after becoming the youngest player to make a cut on that circuit. The world's leading junior has been closing the distance to the professional game one threshold at a time. Shinnecock was the largest of them.

What lingers is the calm of it. "It's really special to get to play the weekend here," he said. "But making a major, my first one, it's super special, and I'm looking forward to it." He said he would treat his debut as if it were an American Junior Golf Association tournament, and admitted it had not yet hit him that this was what he wanted to do when he was older. For now, the boy who grew up watching golf keeps beating the clock. The rest can wait.