England Golf Men's Squad star Jack Whaley has become the third Englishman to win the U.S. Amateur Championship after beating American Jay Leng Jr. 4&3 at Merion.
The Rotherham golfer, who attends Florida State University, overcame two rounds of stroke play, including a play-off, and six match-play clashes to lift the prestigious prize.
The Rotherham golfer, who attends Florida State University, overcame two rounds of stroke play, including a play-off, and six match-play clashes to lift the prestigious prize.
Whaley is the first English amateur to triumph in the tournament since Matt Fitzpatrick in 2013, with Harold Hilton also securing the title in 1911.
By winning the title, Whaley, No. 90 in the World Amateur Golf Ranking®/WAGR®, earns exemptions into the 2027 U.S. Open at Pebble Beach (Calif.) Golf Links and The Open Championship on the Old Course at St. Andrews as well as a likely invitation to the Masters Tournament next April. He also automatically earns one of the 10 spots on the Great Britain & Ireland Walker Cup Team that will take on the USA Sept. 5-6 at Lahinch, in the Republic of Ireland. That team will be announced on Monday by The R&A.
He’s also the first play since Tyler Strafaci in 2020 to trail after the morning 18 and win the title.
Whaley, who spent the first two years at NAIA Dalton (Ga.) State College before transferring last spring, became the first Florida State golfer to hoist the Havemeyer Trophy.
He said: “I don't think it's sunk in yet,” said Whaley of joining the likes of Tiger Woods, Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer and Bob Jones as a U.S. Amateur champion.
“But it's definitely a huge honour to be able to be part of the names of all the famous people and unbelievable golfers that have come through this golf course and won. Yeah, I don't really have words for it right now.”
World No. 23 Leng Jr. also was among the final six players named to the USA Team on Sunday afternoon. A winner of the Western Amateur two weeks ago, Leng Jr. was bidding to join Tiger Woods and Lawson Little as U.S. Amateur champions from Stanford.
Whaley, meanwhile, followed the same script as the last player to win this championship at Merion, who also happened to be a European. Edoardo Molinari, of Italy, survived a 19-for-17 playoff after holing out a bunker shot on the par-3 9th at Merion on his final hole of stroke play, then used that momentum to win six matches, including the final over Dillon Dougherty by the same 4&3 margin.
Early Wednesday morning, Whaley was part of a 16-for-11 playoff for the final match-play spots and nearly aced the par-3 13th hole to secure his place in the draw. He survived his opening-round match in 22 holes over 2026 U.S. Open qualifier Jackson Ormond and rolled from there, ending the championship match on the 15th green with a 10-foot birdie.
For the first time all week, a bit of fall enveloped Merion. Temperatures dropped into the 70s and the competitors encountered the stiffest wind. Rain also fell shortly after the start of the afternoon round, adding a further challenge to not only the players but the two caddies.
Whaley, being from England, was much more used to playing in such adverse conditions than the Southern Californian Leng Jr., who found himself switching out gloves every other hole just to keep the club from slipping out of his hands. He also had to put on raingear for the first time.
After hitting his tee shot out of bounds on the 22nd hole, Whaley pulled out his black rain gloves very similar to the ones countryman Aaron Rai used to win this year’s PGA Championship down the road at Aronimink Golf Club. That provided a better grip and Whaley, who trailed 2-down after the morning 18, began to slowly pull away from Leng, who lost his first head-to-head match since the quarter-final round of the NCAA Championships to Auburn’s Josiah Gilbert.
Whaley claimed four consecutive holes from the par-5 20th to take a 2-up lead. Leng got one back on the 24th, thanks to Whaley’s wayward tee shot. But when Whaley drained a 25-foot birdie on the 26th hole and a 15-footer at No. 28, his lead ballooned back to 3-up.
Knocking his approach shot on No. 29, the hole where Bob Jones closed out his 1930 U.S. Amateur win to complete the Grand Slam, into the penalty area wound up costing Whaley a hole, but he immediately recovered with a winning two-putt par on the 30th hole to regain his 3-up advantage. The match would end three holes later.
Whaley drew first blood to start the match, holing a chip shot left of the green for a birdie on the opening hole and registering a winning par at the 3rd. In fact, he twice owned 2-up leads on the front nine, only to see Leng Jr. rally to tie the encounter with pars on 9 and 10.
The turning point of the morning session? Leng Jr. converting a 30-foot left-to-right sliding birdie putt on 12 to tie the match and then following with a 15-footer on the short par-3 13th to take a 1-up lead. He would go 2-up at 16 when Whaley three-putted from 45 feet, missing a 6-foot comebacker from above the hole.
“I was kind of a little bit shocked that I managed to lose that many holes coming in. I got off to a good start, and I was up, and then I was just like, what just happened?” said Whaley. “Jay just made a 20-foot putt, a 30-foot putt and then another 20-foot putt, and I'm like, well, that was out of nowhere and I'm kind of scraping my pars and he's just making birdies out of nowhere. He played unbelievable this morning coming down the stretch.
“During the break, it was kind of just reset, recoup and get ready for the afternoon. I knew 2-down wasn't too much for me to handle. Going into it, it was just be confident and let things happen.”
Leng Jr., however, was unable to keep his momentum going following the 90-minute lunch break. “I didn't really do anything different,” said Leng Jr. “He just got off to a really hot start. He birdied 2, birdied 3. I just couldn't really do anything about it. I tried to reset, and then he just made a few more birdies, and that's that.”
Outside of a wayward tee shot on the 24th hole and a porous approach at No. 30, Whaley played steady, solid golf over the last 15 holes. That final 10-footer at the 33rd hole sent off a wild celebration that included an emotional hug with his father/caddie Andy Whaley, his mom (Kerry), girlfriend (Sara Burger) and coaches at both Florida State and Dalton State College, where he won the 2025 NAIA Championship and was named the Jack Nicklaus Award recipient for that level.
“It's just off the charts. I'm not very emotional as a rule, but this is very emotional,” said Andy Whaley. “Never in our wildest dreams did we think that this was possible. Jack has just achieved the impossible, frankly. That's what this is about. I just can't be proud enough of the guy.”
Whaley becomes the second Englishman to win a major championship at Merion, joining 2013 U.S. Open champion Justin Rose. The Yorkshireman will be hoping this success is the first step towards emulating the achievements of the former England Squad alumnus.
What the Champion Receives:
- The inaugural Tiger Woods Medal Custody of the Havemeyer Trophy for the ensuing year
- Exemption into the 127th U.S. Open Championship at Pebble Beach (Calif.) Golf Links
- Exemptions into the next 10 U.S. Amateur Championships
- Exemption into The Open Championship next July at the Old Course at St. Andrews (must be an amateur)
- Likely invitation to the 2027 Masters Tournament (must be an amateur)
- Named engraved on the 2026 USGA Champions’ plaque that resides in the Hall of Champions inside the USGA Museum & Library, in Liberty Corner, N.J.
By winning the title, Whaley, No. 90 in the World Amateur Golf Ranking®/WAGR®, earns exemptions into the 2027 U.S. Open at Pebble Beach (Calif.) Golf Links and The Open Championship on the Old Course at St. Andrews as well as a likely invitation to the Masters Tournament next April. He also automatically earns one of the 10 spots on the Great Britain & Ireland Walker Cup Team that will take on the USA Sept. 5-6 at Lahinch, in the Republic of Ireland. That team will be announced on Monday by The R&A.
He’s also the first play since Tyler Strafaci in 2020 to trail after the morning 18 and win the title.
Whaley, who spent the first two years at NAIA Dalton (Ga.) State College before transferring last spring, became the first Florida State golfer to hoist the Havemeyer Trophy.
He said: “I don't think it's sunk in yet,” said Whaley of joining the likes of Tiger Woods, Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer and Bob Jones as a U.S. Amateur champion.
“But it's definitely a huge honour to be able to be part of the names of all the famous people and unbelievable golfers that have come through this golf course and won. Yeah, I don't really have words for it right now.”
World No. 23 Leng Jr. also was among the final six players named to the USA Team on Sunday afternoon. A winner of the Western Amateur two weeks ago, Leng Jr. was bidding to join Tiger Woods and Lawson Little as U.S. Amateur champions from Stanford.
Whaley, meanwhile, followed the same script as the last player to win this championship at Merion, who also happened to be a European. Edoardo Molinari, of Italy, survived a 19-for-17 playoff after holing out a bunker shot on the par-3 9th at Merion on his final hole of stroke play, then used that momentum to win six matches, including the final over Dillon Dougherty by the same 4&3 margin.
Early Wednesday morning, Whaley was part of a 16-for-11 playoff for the final match-play spots and nearly aced the par-3 13th hole to secure his place in the draw. He survived his opening-round match in 22 holes over 2026 U.S. Open qualifier Jackson Ormond and rolled from there, ending the championship match on the 15th green with a 10-foot birdie.
For the first time all week, a bit of fall enveloped Merion. Temperatures dropped into the 70s and the competitors encountered the stiffest wind. Rain also fell shortly after the start of the afternoon round, adding a further challenge to not only the players but the two caddies.
Whaley, being from England, was much more used to playing in such adverse conditions than the Southern Californian Leng Jr., who found himself switching out gloves every other hole just to keep the club from slipping out of his hands. He also had to put on raingear for the first time.
After hitting his tee shot out of bounds on the 22nd hole, Whaley pulled out his black rain gloves very similar to the ones countryman Aaron Rai used to win this year’s PGA Championship down the road at Aronimink Golf Club. That provided a better grip and Whaley, who trailed 2-down after the morning 18, began to slowly pull away from Leng, who lost his first head-to-head match since the quarter-final round of the NCAA Championships to Auburn’s Josiah Gilbert.
Whaley claimed four consecutive holes from the par-5 20th to take a 2-up lead. Leng got one back on the 24th, thanks to Whaley’s wayward tee shot. But when Whaley drained a 25-foot birdie on the 26th hole and a 15-footer at No. 28, his lead ballooned back to 3-up.
Knocking his approach shot on No. 29, the hole where Bob Jones closed out his 1930 U.S. Amateur win to complete the Grand Slam, into the penalty area wound up costing Whaley a hole, but he immediately recovered with a winning two-putt par on the 30th hole to regain his 3-up advantage. The match would end three holes later.
Whaley drew first blood to start the match, holing a chip shot left of the green for a birdie on the opening hole and registering a winning par at the 3rd. In fact, he twice owned 2-up leads on the front nine, only to see Leng Jr. rally to tie the encounter with pars on 9 and 10.
The turning point of the morning session? Leng Jr. converting a 30-foot left-to-right sliding birdie putt on 12 to tie the match and then following with a 15-footer on the short par-3 13th to take a 1-up lead. He would go 2-up at 16 when Whaley three-putted from 45 feet, missing a 6-foot comebacker from above the hole.
“I was kind of a little bit shocked that I managed to lose that many holes coming in. I got off to a good start, and I was up, and then I was just like, what just happened?” said Whaley. “Jay just made a 20-foot putt, a 30-foot putt and then another 20-foot putt, and I'm like, well, that was out of nowhere and I'm kind of scraping my pars and he's just making birdies out of nowhere. He played unbelievable this morning coming down the stretch.
“During the break, it was kind of just reset, recoup and get ready for the afternoon. I knew 2-down wasn't too much for me to handle. Going into it, it was just be confident and let things happen.”
Leng Jr., however, was unable to keep his momentum going following the 90-minute lunch break. “I didn't really do anything different,” said Leng Jr. “He just got off to a really hot start. He birdied 2, birdied 3. I just couldn't really do anything about it. I tried to reset, and then he just made a few more birdies, and that's that.”
Outside of a wayward tee shot on the 24th hole and a porous approach at No. 30, Whaley played steady, solid golf over the last 15 holes. That final 10-footer at the 33rd hole sent off a wild celebration that included an emotional hug with his father/caddie Andy Whaley, his mom (Kerry), girlfriend (Sara Burger) and coaches at both Florida State and Dalton State College, where he won the 2025 NAIA Championship and was named the Jack Nicklaus Award recipient for that level.
“It's just off the charts. I'm not very emotional as a rule, but this is very emotional,” said Andy Whaley. “Never in our wildest dreams did we think that this was possible. Jack has just achieved the impossible, frankly. That's what this is about. I just can't be proud enough of the guy.”
Whaley becomes the second Englishman to win a major championship at Merion, joining 2013 U.S. Open champion Justin Rose. The Yorkshireman will be hoping this success is the first step towards emulating the achievements of the former England Squad alumnus.
What the Champion Receives:
- The inaugural Tiger Woods Medal Custody of the Havemeyer Trophy for the ensuing year
- Exemption into the 127th U.S. Open Championship at Pebble Beach (Calif.) Golf Links
- Exemptions into the next 10 U.S. Amateur Championships
- Exemption into The Open Championship next July at the Old Course at St. Andrews (must be an amateur)
- Likely invitation to the 2027 Masters Tournament (must be an amateur)
- Named engraved on the 2026 USGA Champions’ plaque that resides in the Hall of Champions inside the USGA Museum & Library, in Liberty Corner, N.J.
ENDS
Contact details:
Tom Vale, Press & Media Manager
Tel: 07912 240850
Email: tom.vale@englandgolf.org
www.englandgolf.org
Contact details:
Tom Vale, Press & Media Manager
Tel: 07912 240850
Email: tom.vale@englandgolf.org
www.englandgolf.org