Quarterfinal primer

By Chris Richards, AJGA Communications

After 48 matches and 794 holes, the two 32-player brackets have been whittled down to eight players each as Thanksgiving begins at the Polo Golf Junior Classic. A few notes about each of the quarterfinal fields:

• In all, there are five matches that feature a pair of Rolex Junior All-Americans:
  1. Scott Scheffler (2nd Team) vs. Rigel Fernandes (Honorable Mention)
  2. Brad Dalke (1st) vs. Matt Gilchrest (HM)
  3. Angel Yin (HM) vs. Casey Danielson (1st)
  4. Ariya Jutanugarn (1st) vs. Simin Feng (2nd)
  5. Alexandra Kaui (HM) vs. Nicole Morales (1st)
• Three of the quarterfinalists in the girls’ bracket have never trailed through the first two rounds of match play: Bethany Wu, Alexandra Kaui and Nicole Morales. Wu has led 28 of the 30 holes she’s played, while Morales has led 30 of the 33 holes she’s played. Kaui posted 1-up victories over two Rolex Junior All-Americans, Annie Park and Alison Lee, and her match has been all square after 14 of the 36 holes she’s played.
• By contrast, all eight quarterfinalists on the boys’ side of the draw faced a deficit at some point during Tuesday’s matches. Adam Wood never led his first-round match until his par on the 20th hole secured a win against Jacob Solomon; he has led after every hole since that point. Scott Jaster is the owner of the biggest comeback among the quarterfinalists, as he erased a 2-down deficit through four holes to beat Robby Shelton, IV, 2 and 1, in the second round.

Follow FJ Live Scoring for hole-by-hole coverage of Thursday’s quarterfinal and semifinal matches at PGA National Resort & Spa.