Augusta’s Hamilton Coleman keeps Minh Nguyen for the American Junior Title

Hamilton Coleman was great, and then he wasn’t.

But Coleman never lost the hope, or his lead, before he achieved the 35th Hole Vogent to achieve a 2-and-1 victory over Minh Nguyen in Saturday final of the 77th American Junior Amateur.

Coleman, a 17-year-old from Augusta, Georgia, converted a birdie from 18 feet and led 5 up after 12 holes of the planned 36-hole championship match in Trinity Forest in Dallas. He also went on in the lunch break 3, before the 18-year-old Minh, from Vietnam, clawed back to just 1 with six holes to play.

“When I went to that hot start, I knew I couldn’t just make my way to win, and I knew I had to keep making quality shots,” said Coleman. “I played well, and he just kept making puts and shots in the neighborhood. It was a bit tight there, but I never lost confidence. And I told my Caddy, I was nervous, but I was never afraid. I am proud of the way I dealt with that.”

Minh, who will visit the state of Oregon from this fall, started his afternoon comeback on the par-4 first, where he curled in a 5-footer for Birdie to go down to 2. Coleman then won Nos. 22 and 23, the last after having excluded the last shot on the PAR-5 Fifth, to stretch his benefit back to 4. But minh Birdied four of the next seven holes, including the Lange Par-3 11^one Where he landed his tee ball on the front of the green and saw him roll about 50 feet to close, to get him down to 1.

Minh tied the match almost on the 34th hole, the par-5 16th, but his 12-foot missed Birdie. He could not drop a similar distinct put at the par-3 17th, who set the table for Coleman to holes his 10-feet match winner.

“You don’t try to tell yourself what it is for, to qualify for the US Open and to be the American junior champion,” said Coleman. “I just kept my line and made a free, aggressive blow, and it happened to go inside.”

As Coleman said, he is in the field for the US Open of next summer in Shinnecock Hills. He is also the first American junior champion from Georgia since Andy Shim in 2012. A Georgia commit for 2026, Coleman is the first future Bulldog to win this championship since Brian Harman in 2003.