Charlie Woods’ bid for match play at the 2026 U.S. Junior Amateur has ended. Woods was eliminated Wednesday morning after bogeying the first hole of a 14-for-2 playoff for the final two spots in match play at Saucon Valley Country Club in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.
Woods was part of the 7:24 a.m. threesome, the third of four groups sent off in the playoff. Two competitors in earlier groups had already made birdie at the par-5 first hole. Woods went for the green in two from 270 yards out but pulled his shot into the left rough, about 25 yards short of the green. His pitch settled on the front fringe, and he could not convert the 35-foot chip for birdie, ending his tournament.
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Only three of the 14 players in the playoff made birdie at the first hole. Eli Wessel, an incoming Cincinnati freshman from Indianapolis, and Hudson Kutchma of Westfield, Indiana, advanced by parring the par-3 fifth hole, eliminating China’s Zilin Gao, a UCF signee, in the process.
Despite the early exit, Woods put together his best U.S. Junior showing to date. The 17-year-old Florida State commit, ranked 174th in the AJGA, opened the championship with a bogey-triple before playing his final 33 holes of stroke play at 1 over par. His rounds of 76-70 were a significant improvement over his previous two appearances, an 82-80 in 2024 and an 80-74 last year.
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Wessel’s reward for surviving the playoff is a Round of 64 match against top-ranked junior and second-seeded Miles Russell, with match play already underway on the Old Course at Saucon Valley.
