Gross gets himself in position to make match play in U.S. Junior Amateur with 69 at Oakland Hills' South Course

 

   Recent Downingtown West graduate Nick Gross put himself in solid position to earn a spot in the match-play bracket in the U.S. Junior Amateur as he was in a large group of players tied for 15^th place following Monday’s opening round of qualifying at Oakland Hills Country Club in Bloomfield Hills, Mich.

   Gross, who will join the program at Southeastern Conference power Alabama next month, birdied four of the first six holes at Oakland Hills’ South Course around a one-hour plus weather delay before cooling off and settling for a 1-under-par 69.

   Gross finished four shots out of a playoff for the final ticket to the U.S. Open in 36 holes of final qualifying on “Golf’s Longest Day” in June at Canoe Brook Country Club in Summit, N.J.

   That freed him up to take a trip across the pond and give the Royal & Ancient’s Amateur Championship a shot at Ballyliffin in Donegal, Ireland. I suspect at some point in his golf journey, getting acquainted with links golf at age 17 will work in Gross’ favor.

   Gross had a pair of 77s at Ballyliffin’s Old Links and Glashedy Links and failed to make it into the match-play bracket. The experience of playing in The Amateur Championship: Priceless.

   Not sure how much competitive golf Gross has played since that mid-June foray to the Emerald Isle, but he bounced out of the gate nicely at Oakland Hills’ South course with back-to-back birdies at the first and second holes and again at five and six.

   He got on the bogey train a little with bogeys at the seventh, ninth and 10^th holes. He stopped the bleeding with a birdie at the 12^th hole to get back to 2-under for the round. He gave a shot back with a bogey at the 14^th hole before rattling off four straight pars to get it to the house in red figures.

   Tyler Watts, a Class of 2026 entry from Huntsville, Ala., and Mason Howell, also a Class of ’26 entry from Thomasville, Ga., shared the top spot on the leaderboard as each opened with a 5-under 65 at Oakland Hills’ North Course.

   Starting off the 10^th tee at the North Course, Watts made a bogey at the 10^th hole and then was flawless the rest of the way with birdies at 12, 16, 18, one, three and eight to get it in at 5-under.

   Howell also started on the back nine at the North Course and got it going early with birdies at the 10^th, 12^th and 15^th holes. He gave a shot back with a bogey at the 17^th hole, but got it back to 3-under with a birdie at 18. After falling back to 2-under with a bogey at the second hole, Howell closed with a rush, making birdies at three, seven and nine to join Watts at 5-under.

   Mack Edwards, a Class of ’25 competitor from Charlotte, N.C. who will join the program at Atlantic Coast Conference power North Carolina in the summer of 2025, and Blades Brown, another Class of ’26 entry from Nashville, Tenn., were tied for third place as each signed for a 4-under 66, Edwards with the low round at the South Course and Brown at the North.

   Miles Russell, the celebrated 15-year-old from Jacksonville Beach, Fla., opened with a 2-under 68 at the North Course that left him among a group of eight players tied for seventh place. Russell has made the cut in a Korn Ferry Tour event earlier this year and made his PGA Tour debut earlier this month in the Rocket Mortgage Classic at Detroit Golf Club in the same metro Detroit area where Oakland Hills is.

   Last summer Russell announced his presence on the junior scene by winning the Boys Junior PGA Championship at Hot Springs Country Club in Hot Springs, Ark. by seven shots with a remarkable 18-under 266 total.

   Gross came up short of earning a spot in the match-play bracket in the U.S. Junior Amateur a year ago at the Daniel Island Club in Charleston, S.C. He was one of 13 players tied for seventh place following his opening-round 69 Monday at Oakland Hills.

   Recent Episcopal Academy graduate Hunter Stetson did make it to match play at Daniel Island a year ago and made the most of the opportunity, reaching the round of 16 before falling to Zeqian Fang of China, 3 and 1.

   Stetson, a product of the junior program at Aronimink Golf Club, opened his bid at Oakland Hills with a solid 2-over 72 at the South Course that left him in the group tied for 58^th place. Stetson will join the program at ACC power North Carolina State next month.

   The top 64 players following Tuesday’s second round of qualifying will advance to match play, which gets under way with first-round matches Wednesday.