Two-time PGA Tour appearance-maker, Miles Russell put together a near-perfect week to win the Sage Valley Junior Invitational by two strokes from Jackson Byrd on Saturday.
Byrd held the lead throughout most of the prestigious competition following rounds of 71, 69 and 67 and was on track to blow the field away after reaching 13-under after 68 holes.
However, the current American Junior Golf Association No.4 suffered real troubles over the closing stretch with two double-bogeys and a couple of bogeys in between to open the door for Russell.
The Florida amateur made his PGA Tour debut as a 15-year-old at the Rocket Mortgage Classic last year before featuring on the historic US circuit once more in November at the Butterfield Bermuda Championship. While he missed the cut both times, Russell's latest display in junior golf was more successful.
Ticking along nicely on two-under through the first 14 holes on Saturday, the 16-year-old made a birdie four on the par-5 15th to move ahead for the first time. As Byrd's title hopes went up in smoke, Russell navigated through two of the final three holes with pars before blotting his copybook with a bogey at the last.
It mattered not, though, as nine-under proved to be more than enough for a first Gold Jacket. Russell ended the week having shot 69 followed by three consecutive rounds of 70.
New Zeland's Joshua Bai took third on six-under while fellow countryman, Robby Turnbull was a stroke further back. America's Carson Bertagnole rounded out the top-five on three-under-par.
Further down the leaderboard, Charlie Woods endured a tumultuous week before ending in a tie for 25th. Tiger Woods' son responded positively to an opening 78 with a couple of 73s but signed off his week with a three-over 75 to finish alongside compatriots Joshua Kim and Ronin Banarjee.
On for a top-20 result in the 36-player field, Woods dropped five strokes inside his final five holes as a double-bogey on the penultimate hole cancelled out his gain on the 14th.
In the girls' competition, Canada's Aphrodite Deng dominated to win by six shots as only two of the female leaderboard ended under par.
Deng produced her best display during round three, shooting a six-under-par 66 to reach eight-under for the tournament having opened up with scores of 70 and 72.
Although she posted an over-par total for the first time on Sunday, Deng's 73 was still the joint-lowest round and helped her cruise to the finish line ahead of runner-up, Yujie Liu of China. Korea's Soomin Oh and Thailand's Pimpisa Rubrong shared third place at even par for the week.
Meanwhile, 2024 champion Asterisk Talley ended her defence in a tie for seventh on eight-over following rounds of 77, 71, 73 and 75. Kai Trump - granddaughter of the US President, Donald Trump - was last of the 24 competitors on 52-over. Trump was 22 strokes behind the next player on the leaderboard having shot 89 either side of a 79 and an 83.
