By Kent Gray
Rayhan Thomas will face talented American William Mouw in the opening round of matchplay at the U.S. Junior Amateur Championship on Wednesday after quite literally reversing his recent strokeplay woes at historic Baltusrol Golf Club yesterday.

The 18-year-old Dubai star kept alive his hopes of bettering his semifinal run at the USGA’s U-19 championship last year by reaching the last 64  – and knockout phase – in a share of 40th place overnight following rounds of 75-70.

At 22nd in the latest WAGR, the Indian No.1 and MENA Tour trailblazer is 44 places higher than Mouw and thus a clear favourite for their 9am local time (5pm UAE time) showdown today.

But the American will be no cinch; Mouw has previously been ranked as high as 35th and won the 2017 Western Junior Championship, a prestigious U.S. event where he recently finished 13th in his title defence.

Thomas will be pleased to have made it through to the knockout stages after strokeplay slips in his two most recent events.

However, unlike the St. Andrews Links Trophy and British Amateur Championship in Scotland when he suffered back nine meltdowns in the second round to miss the cut, he overcame a slow first round start on Baltusrol’s Upper course Monday (a five-over 75) to fire a tidy even par 70 on the famed club’s lower course Wednesday. Thomas even overcame a nightmare double-bogey start and a third dropped shot two holes later, compiling a homeward nine of 33 including an eagle two and two birdies to safely advance.

The matchplay phase is all scheduled to be played on the upper course at Baltusrol which has hosted the U.S. Open seven times and the PGA Championship twice.

Tiger Woods won the U.S. Junior Am title three years straight from 1991 while Jordan Spieth, the champion in 2009 and 2011, was denied a similar hat-trick when fellow American Jim Liu succeeded Woods as the event’s youngest winner in 2010.