Gross shows he has plenty of game in run to second round of match play in U.S. Junior Amateur at Bandon Dunes

    It was four summers ago when Nick Gross was dominating the Philadelphia Section PGA Junior Tour’s coed 12-and-under division, winning 20 times against his fellow nine-holers in the wraparound 2017-’18 campaign.

   The Downingtown West junior, the reigning PIAA Class AAA champion, has done nothing since then but get better and better.

   Last week at the spectacular Bandon Dunes Resort on the Oregon coastline, Gross, playing in the 74^th U.S. Junior Amateur Championship,  proved that he is among the very best junior golfers in the world right now. Which says a little something about the importance of developmental golf circuits like the Philly Junior Tour and says a lot about the drive and work ethic that Gross possesses.

   With the three-hour time differential between here and the West Coast and all the golf going on in these parts, it really wasn’t possible to do full-blown posts on Gross’ progress last week, so I settled for sending out updates on Twitter.

   It wouldn’t be completely accurate to say that Gross’ showing in his first United States Golf Association (USGA) event was his debut on the national stage.

   In the coronavirus year of 2020, when Gross and his dad Shawn criss-crossed the country playing in every event he could, Gross teed it up in the inaugural Notah Begay III Junior Golf National Championship at Koasati Pines at the Coushatta Resort in Kinder, La.

   With the two biggest national junior events, the U.S. Junior Amateur and the Boys Junior PGA Championship, cancelled due to the pandemic, Begay’s event filled the void a little that fall.

   Gross, playing in the Boys 13-and-under division, won by an eye-popping 13 shots. Got a little air time in December when The Golf Channel aired highlights from Begay’s new tournament.

   But this was different, this was the U.S. Junior Amateur and Gross was competing against a lot of the older kids. You forget sometimes that Gross turns, or has turned, 16 at some point this year. He was still only 14 when he survived the 36-hole cut in last summer’s Pennsylvania Amateur at Merion Golf Club’s historic East Course.

   While much was made, and deservedly so, about the scintillating 28 that Jack Cantlay of Los Alamitos, Calif., younger brother of PGA Tour star Patrick Cantlay, fired on the front nine at Bandon Dunes (the back nine of his round), when the numbers were counted at the end of qualifying for match play the following day, there was Nicholas Gross of Downingtown, Pa. right there with Cantlay in a tie for fourth place at 6-under 139.

   Medalist honors went to Keaton Vo of Austin, Texas as he matched the course record at the par-72 Bandon Dunes layout with a 7-under 65 that gave him a 9-under 134 total. Vo will join the powerful Texas program later this month.

   Gross’ opening round of qualifying at the par-71 Bandon Trails layout was pure Nick Gross, birdies at the first, seventh, 10^th and 12^th holes and a closing bogey at 18 for a tidy 3-under 68.

   There was a fog delay at the start of Tuesday’s second round as Gross was scheduled to start off the 10^th tee at the Dunes. He made an early bogey at the 12^th hole, but turned the round around with an eagle at the par-5 18^th hole. Birdies at the sixth and ninth holes on the outgoing nine enabled him to get to the house with a 3-under 69 at the Dunes.

   Gross, who is playing out of Kennett Square Golf & Country Club, opened match play with an impressive 5 and 3 victory over Weston Jones of Sudbury, Mass.

   Jones already has a year of college golf under his belt. All the kid did as a freshman was to make the starting lineup for Rutgers in all 10 tournaments the Scarlet Knights played in, finishing in a tie for 56^th place in the Big Ten Championship in the spring at The Pete Dye Course at the French Lick Resort in Indiana.

   Jones won the first hole at the Dunes, but after that, it was all Gross.

   Gross won two par-3s on the outgoing nine at the second and sixth holes with pars, then proceeded to claim three straight wins at eight, nine and 10, all with birdies, to surge to a commanding 4-up advantage.

   Jones battled back by taking the 11^th hole, but Gross won the 12^th hole, another par-3, with a par, and closed out the match by making a birdie at the par-3 15^th. That was Gross’ third straight birdie as he and Jones halved the 13^th and 14^th holes with birdies.

   When you get to the second round of match play in a U.S. Junior Amateur, the final 32, you’re swimming in the deep end of the  pool.

   Playing basically the best junior player in Australia in Jeffrey Guan, Gross had a 2-up lead with eight holes to play, but Guan rallied to oust Gross with a hard-fought 1-up victory.

   Guan had opened the match by winning the first two holes to take a 2-up advantage. But Gross rattled off wins at the third, fourth, fifth and seventh holes and suddenly it was him who had the 2-up edge.

   Guan won the ninth hole, but Gross restored his 2-up lead by winning the 10^th hole. A spot in Thursday afternoon’s round of 16 seemed within his grasp.

   But Guan fought back, taking the 13^th and 14^th holes to even the match and then winning at 16 to take a 1-up edge. Halves at the 17^th and 18^th holes enabled Guan to preserve that edge and advance.

   I don’t think Gross has a ton of match-play experience, so at least he left Bandon Dunes with some of the inevitable scar tissue you get from competing in high-stakes matches.

   Gross was not the only Pennsylvanian in the match-play bracket at Bandon Dunes as Pittsburgh Central Catholic senior Rocco Salvitti, who has finished in the top 10 in the PIAA Class AAA Championship in each of his first three scholastic seasons, also made it.

   Salvitti opened qualifying for match play with a 2-under 70 at Bandon Dunes and added a 2-over 73 at Bandon Trails as he finished in a tie for 48^th place with an even-par 143 total.

   Salvitti fell, 5 and 4, in the opening round of match play to China’s Wenyi Ding and all he did was go on to become the first Chinese male to win a USGA championship by capturing the crown.

   Pretty sure it was the first USGA championship appearance for Aronimink Golf Club’s Nick Ciocca, who led Devon Prep to the PIAA Class AA team crown as a sophomore last fall. Ciocca added a 2-over 74 at Bandon Dunes to the opening round of 5-over 76 he posted at Bandon Trails for a 7-over 150 total.

   Also at 150 was Jack Ross of Medford Lakes, N.J., who was the co-medalist in a Golf Association of Philadelphia-administered qualifier at Carlisle Country Club. After struggling to an 8-over 79 at Bandon Trails, Ross carded a solid 1-under 71 in the second round at the Dunes.

   There was a playoff to get into the match-play bracket at 1-over 144, so yeah, these kids can really play.

   Lake-Lehman junior Cael Ropietski, a PIAA Class AA qualifier last fall, opened with a solid 1-over 73 at Bandon Dunes, but struggled to an 84 at Bandon Trails for a 157 total. Ropietski was the medalist in a GAP-administered qualifier on his home course at Huntsville Golf Club.

   Wilson senior Evan Jozwiak opened with an 83 at the Dunes and added an 82 at Bandon Trails for a 165 total. Jozwiak, a PIAA Class AAA qualifier last fall, got the call to take the trip to Bandon Dunes as an alternate out of the qualifier at Carlisle.

   Gross, Ciocca and Salvitti will be among the Pennsylvanians in the field for the Boys Junior PGA Championship, which tees off Tuesday at Cog Hill Golf & Country Club in Palos Park, Ill.

   Ding, who plans to join the Arizona State program next summer, played 12-under golf (with some match-play concessions) for 34 holes in downing Caleb Surratt of Indian Trail, N.C., 3 and 2, in the scheduled 36-hole final Saturday.

   Surratt, who will join the program at Tennessee later this month, has been the best junior amateur player on the planet this year and one of the best amateur players, period.

   Ding had to go extra holes to finally pull out a victory over Eric Lee of Fullerton, Calif. in 20 holes in Friday afternoon’s semifinals while Surratt punched his ticket to the final by taking out the defending champion, Nicholas Dunlap of Tuscaloosa, Ala., with a 4 and 3 decision.

   Caught a little of those two matches in a Golf Channel broadcast that was basically in prime time with the U.S. Junior Amateur on the West Coast.