Golf star Miles Russell paired with major winners for U.S. Open

The countdown is on for golfing phenom Miles Russell.The 17-year-old Jax Beach resident was grouped with three-time major championship winner Padraig Harrington and 2022 Players Championship and Open Championship major winner Cameron Smith for the first two rounds of this week’s U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills Golf Club. Russell will tee off on the 1st hole at 7:19 a.m. on Thursday and then at 1:14 p.m. on the 10th hole on Friday. Russell, a Florida State University commit, has been a golf prodigy for years. He survived in grueling sectional qualifying last week at BallenIsles Country Club in Palm Beach Gardens, making it in through a playoff. Sectionals for the U.S. Open, regarded as Golf’s Longest Day, saw Russell earn one of the 43 spots for the major championship. More than 10,000 entered local qualifiers for the U.S. Open, and the final 713 advanced to the final qualifying stage. Ponte Vedra Beach residents Billy Horschel and Ludvig Åberg and St. Simons Island resident J.T. Poston a