Miles Russell is the youngest player in the 2026 U.S. Open field. He is a two-time AJGA Player of the Year, the teenager who broke Tiger Woods’ age record for the award by 10 months, and a 17-year-old who has already made cuts on both the Korn Ferry Tour and the PGA Tour. But at Shinnecock Hills this week, all those accomplishments took a back seat. For Russell, the real story was about who was hitting balls right next to him. So when the question came, his answer was ready.

“I think it’s probably even cooler for my parents. I think my dad was standing behind me. I think it kind of hits them more than it hits me, just because they see their kid hitting balls next to somebody they looked up to when they were little,” he said about being in the presence of Jordan Spieth, in his press conference on Wednesday at Shinnecock. 

Miles Russell‘s answer came in response to a question about what it was like being around golfers he had looked up to as a kid. The question was not directed at the leaderboard or a trophy, but at a few minutes on the practice range that seemed to mean more to the people watching than to the player swinging.

“That’s really cool. I was hitting balls next to Jordan Spieth the other day,” he said. “I looked up to him as a little guy.”

Spieth’s 2015 Masters win is one of Russell’s earliest golf memories, as he was just six years old at the time. He has also pointed out in previous interviews that Spieth’s short game, particularly his wedge play, is the aspect of his game he studies the most.

“Every once in a while, you have to take a second and realize who you are hitting balls next to,” Russell said.

That same range has produced other moments this year for Russell, like Rory McIlroy walking past and Bryson DeChambeau stopping mid-session for a handshake. But for Russell, these are becoming now common, and he responds that he does not try to notice these things much, but noticing happens anyway.

It runs deeper than one range session, too. Russell’s grandfather, whom he calls Bumpa, started bringing him to The Players Championship when he was just a three-year-old, along with his father, Joe. They would post up between holes 16 and 17 year after year, chasing autographs and watching pros attempt the most dangerous wedge shot in golf, the same category of shot Russell now studies in players like Spieth.

While grandpa handled the awe part, Joe Russell was the guy behind the scenes, sorting out all the travel stuff for his son. Since his son was too young to drive, Joe was the one getting him to PGA Tour events, booking rental cars, and grabbing hotel rooms, sometimes scrambling to find a place to stay after a long tournament day.

Joe joked back in 2024, “It’s good he needs me for that. They certainly don’t need me for golf.” And honestly, he was spot on about the golf part.

Still, he was always there for his son, and this week he stood behind his son on a U.S. Open range while that son hit balls next to a player he’d watched on television. None of that happened by accident, and the route into this U.S. Open says as much about where Russell’s golf is heading next.

Miles Russell’s path to the pros runs through both tours at once

Russell qualified through Monday’s 36-hole marathon known as Golf’s Longest Day, carding a 71 in the morning round before adding seven birdies in a second-round 67, with Charlie Woods on the bag throughout qualifier rounds. His scorecard landed him in a 3-for-2 sudden-death playoff, where he survived to claim the fourth and final qualifying spot.

This is not an isolated case for Russell, who made his first PGA Tour cut earlier this year at the Puerto Rico Open. Since then, he has continued to make cuts on the Korn Ferry Tour, building something that looks less like a junior phenom dabbling in pro events and more like an amateur quietly stacking tour-level reps before he is even eligible to turn pro. He is still committed to Florida State’s Class of 2027, and there is no rush or urgency behind his approach.

That is the part easy to miss watching him hit wedges next to Jordan Spieth: he is still an amateur. Still in high school. Still, technically, a kid standing on a range.

He will keep playing it that way for now. Whether the rest of the path moves as fast as the first part did is the only question left worth asking.