Gray Albright and Miles Russell will go into the final round of the Jones Cup Invitational Sunday as tournament co-leaders. 

Both players are 4-under-par through two rounds on the always-challenging Ocean Forest Golf Club course on Sea Island which provided another stern test Saturday for one of the strongest fields in that will be assembled at any point in 2025 in the amateur golf ranks.  

Albright, who shared the lead after the opening 18 holes as well, carded an even-par 72 on Saturday with a birdie on the 18th hole to go with his 4-under score in Friday’s first round. Russell posted a bogey-free 68 in round two after shooting level-par in round one. 

“Today was more of a grind, obviously, with the weather and stuff,” said Albright. “You can’t fight it, and I think I did a good job staying patient out there and letting what was gonna happen just happen. Obviously, it was a nice finish.”

Albright is now a graduate student at Florida State University, while Russell is a 16-year-old standout from Jacksonville Beach, Fla., who is  still eligible to play junior golf. 

Russell is currently ranked No. 136, and Albright is ranked No. 141 in the Golfweek/AmateurGolf.com World Rankings.

He has already played on the PGA Tour, however, doing so this past summer. The No. 1 junior in the world, Russell was the youngest player to win the American Junior Golf Association’s Rolex Junior Player of the Year award in 2023. He also was the youngest to win the PGA Junior Championship and the Junior Players Championship.

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“I played pretty solid, just kind of stuck to my game plan the whole day,” Russell said about his second round on Saturday when he made four birdies. “It was a pretty steady round. I kind of kept it in front of me which was pretty good.”

The lead twosome only has a one-stroke cushion going into Sunday’s closing round over three players. One of those is fellow first-round co-leader and Duke golfer Luke Samples who settled for a 1-over 73 on Saturday after opening with a 68 to grab a share of the overnight lead. 

Another trio of players are at 1-under after 36 holes and will start the final 18 three shots back of the leaders. One of the players in that grouping is Henry Guan, an Oklahoma State commit who shot a 65 on Saturday to set a new single-round scoring record at the Jones Cup on the Ocean Forest course that was refreshed by designer Beau Welling and debuted at the tournament last January. 

Last year, former Tennessee golfer Caleb Surratt shot 67 in the final round for the previous low score on new-look course. He wound up settling for his second-straight runner-up finish at the Jones Cup before going pro. 

Guan’s round on Saturday included nine birdies and two bogeys. His score was only one shot off the all-time tournament low by Alex Fitzpatrick who posted a 64 in the first round of the 2021 tournament. 

Saturday’s round was greeted by temperatures in the 40s and damp conditions after overnight rains in coastal Georgia.

The course setup and weather combined to make scoring difficult for the 84-man field which features 43 of the top 100 players in the amateur world rankings. Only eight players are under par after two rounds while four others are standing at even-par going into the closing round. 

“I definitely think it was tougher than yesterday,” Albright said of the playing conditions. “The wind was stronger today for sure, and it felt a little colder because there wasn’t any sun until it came out on our 18th hole. It was just a big tougher, I think, out there today.”

Albright, making his first start in the Jones Cup, got off to a fast start on Friday with birdies on his first two holes and three on his opening nine. Saturday was different, however.

He started with four straight pars, but had back-to-back bogeys in the middle of his outward nine before making another on the par-5 10th hole. Albright got back to even for the day, though, with three birdies in his final eight holes including one at the last. He hit a 5-iron from 205 yards within five feet and made the putt on the par-4 finishing hole that boarders the Atlantic Ocean. 

Russell made his way to the top of the leaderboard by filling his card with pars while sprinkling in four birdies. He made a birdie in the middle of his front nine before posting three more on his closing nine. 

He made his first appearance in the Jones Cup last year when the greens were still ultra-firm after Ocean Forest had only opened a few months earlier after the renovation work.

“I maybe hit one wayward shot today, but I was able to get up and down,” Russell said. 

“The weather was similar last year, but I like the course much better this year. It’s nice and green, and I can stop the ball on the greens this year. It’s a different golf course this year, really.”

Also a stroke back of the co-leaders is Albright’s teammate at Florida State, Jack Bigham. In one of the last groups to finish, Bigham posted a bogey-free 68 score on Saturday which included a birdie at the par-3 ninth which was his final hole. He made three birdies on his opening nine. 

Illinois golfer Ryan Voois is also at 3-under going into Sunday. Voois made seven birdies in the second round that were offset by a pair of bogeys as he posted a 67 score to move into contention after shooting a 74 in the first round. 

Voois said better ball-striking fueled his round as he continued to putt well. 

“It was a solid round,” he said. “Yesterday, I finished poorly. I’ve rolled it well for two days, and I figured a few things out with my swing after my round yesterday on the range. I worked on pressuring the ground correctly, being athletic and getting in good position at the top of the back swing. At this level, it’s the little stuff, just some small tweaks.”

Sunday’s round will start an hour later than previously scheduled as a frost is anticipated in the morning. The overnight low temperature is expected to be at or near freezing. However, the temperature is expected to be in the mid-40s by mid-morning with sunny skies and is predicted to climb into the 50s by afternoon with continued sunshine.  

This year’s tournament is the 21st edition of the Jones Cup.

Tournament Notebook:

More on the Young Gun: Henry Guan, who fired the tournament record 65 score on Saturday on the new Ocean Forest course, has already signed with the Oklahoma State Cowboys. 

Guan, a Texas native, is one of the country’s top junior golfers and is currently ranked No. 211 in the World Amateur Golf Ranking. He is coming off a runner-up finish just before Christmas at the South Beach International, where he finished two shots behind champion Miles Russell, another young hotshot who holds a share of the lead going into Sunday’s final round in the Jones Cup. 

Russell, who just turned 16 in November, is already ranked No. 49 in the world. 

Guan’s scorecard on Saturday included nine birdies as he made a pair of bogeys on his way to the 7-under scodre which put him into contention for the championship. He goes into the final round Sunday at 1-under-par and is only three shots back of the tournament co-leaders. 

Jones Cup media liasons interviewed Guan following his round on Saturday which came on the heels of a 78 in the first round. 

“Yesterday, I didn’t really have anything. Obviously, this course is super tough,” Guan said. “It’s really not wasting your birdie (chances), making the most of your opportunities, and obviously I did that today.”

Guan made it into this year’s field through a qualifier played at Sea Island’s Retreat Course in December. 

“With so many good players in past years and so many notable names, it’s just an honor and rewarding to break a record for sure,” he added. 

Teammates tango: Several college teams with multiple players in the field have tandems playing well in this year’s tournament. But, the lead duo is Florida State players Gray Albright and Jack Bigham. 

The pair of Seminoles are squarely in contention for the Jones Cup crown, one of the biggest in the amateur game. Albright has a share of the lead at 4-under going into the final 18 holes on Sunday while Bigham is only a shot off the lead pace at 3-under through two days. 

The FSU teammates will play together Sunday in the final pairing along with Russell who is from Jacksonsville Beach, Fla..

“It’ so cool. It’s fun to see that our guys are playing well coming into the (spring) season,” Albright said. “It’ll be fun to battle it out with him tomorrow.”

Last year, Florida State great Luke Clanton made a run at the tournament title. He is now the No. 1-ranked amateur in the world and would have been one of this week’s favorites at Ocean Forest in the first tournament on the schedule. 

But, Clanton is not at Sea Island. Instead, he’s out in Hawaii, playing in the PGA Tour’s Sony Open. 

FSU was the runner-up to Auburn at last year’s NCAA championship.

“We’re definitely looking at that national championship. That’s what all of us have our focus on,” Albright said. 

Bouncing back: Auburn sophomore Jackson Koivun came to the Jones Cup as the top-rated player in the field as he currently ranks No. 2 in the World Amateur Golf Ranking. 

The top player in college golf last season while leading the Tigers to their first national crown, Koivun shot a 76 in the first round which left him eight shots behind the leaders after the first day of play. 

On Saturday, he improved by six shots as he carded a 70 that featured five birdies including three in a row on the first, second and third holes. 

With that, he moved to 2-over for the tournament and is tied for 14th on the leaderboard, giving himself a chance to contend over the final round. 

He will need to go low to win, but Koivun can. His adjusted scoring average last season was 67.3. He finished second last January at Ocean Forest.  


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