There’s a pause when you mention the name Miles Russell to golf cognoscenti, the length of the silence usually corresponding to the amount of praise to follow regarding the 16-year-old lefty from Jacksonville Beach, Fla. His list of accomplishments already includes winning the Junior PGA Championship, the Junior Players, the AJGA Tournament of Champions and the Sage Valley Invitational. He’s played in the Junior Ryder Cup and Junior Presidents Cup and is a member of the inaugural USA National Junior team overseen by the USGA. A year ago, he broke Tiger Woods record as the youngest winning of the AJGA’s Rolex Player of the Year honor.
On Monday, Russell, who’ll begin his junior year of high school in the fall, made news about his future, announcing that he had made a verbal commitment to play college golf at Florida State.
The news was notable considering the speculation that Russell might bypass college and turn pro, a route taken recently by another highly decorated junior golfer Blades Brown.
Making it worth Russell’s while to stay is the fact he already has name, image and likeness (NIL) deals with TaylorMade and Nike, with others potentially in the offing. And given the ability for college golf programs to directly compensation student-athletes, there’s the possibility that he could earn some cash while developing his game at the elite amateur level.
Oh, and there’s also the fact that the Seminoles have turned into a national power, reaching the finals of the NCAA Championship in 2024 and producing Luke Clanton, who recently earned a tour card via the PGA Tour Accelerated program by virtue of success at the college level and while competing in pro events on sponsor’s exemptions.
Russell’s short-term future looks bright, too. He’s currently No. 1 in the AJGA Polo Golf Ranking, putting him line for a second AJGA Player of the Year award (just six players have won the award twice, including Woods). He recently finished runner-up at the Northeast Amateur and is a favorite at the upcoming U.S. Junior Amateur. He’s also in the running to become the youngest player to compete in the Walker Cup with the roster for the U.S. team heading to Cypress Point Club to be decided in the next month.
Exactly when Russell might enroll at Florida State is still unclear. Russell is listed as the high school class of 2027 but many top junior golfers have fast-tracked their senior years in high school in order to enroll early at college. If Russell were to do that, he could be playing for the Seminoles in the spring 2026.
There’s also the potential that Russell could still bypass college golf. He’s already played in two PGA Tour events and four Korn Ferry Tour tournaments, becoming the youngest player at age 15 in 2024 to make a KFT cut in that tour’s history.
This article was originally published on golfdigest.com