Author: Lauren Jones

Jack Whaley stood on the iconic 13th hole of Merion Golf Club Wednesday morning fighting for a spot to compete in match play at the 126th U.S. Amateur. In a 16-for-11 playoff, he birdied the hole to earn the 60-out-of-64 seed.

On a rainy Sunday afternoon, Whaley, a 22-year-old rising senior at Florida State, secured a 4-and-3 victory over rising Stanford senior Jay Leng Jr. on the 33rd hole of the 36-hole championship match. Whaley became the first Englishman to win the U.S. Amateur since Matthew Fitzpatrick in 2013, and the second Englishman to win a USGA title at Merion, joining Justin Rose, who won the U.S. Open there in 2013.

“I think Justin Rose is definitely one person that I look up to in terms of his success and the demeanor he has about himself,” Whaley said. “He’s an incredible person, incredible athlete. To be sat alongside him in that category is very, very honorable. I’m really very honored to be there.”

The final match of the U.S. Amateur is a 36-hole match, with 18 holes in the morning, followed by a short lunch break and 18 holes in the afternoon.

Whaley started strong in the morning match, with a chip-in on the first hole to take a 1-up lead. He birdied the par-3 third hole to take a 2-up lead, but lost the ninth and 10th holes to square the match. Leng made lengthy birdie putts to take the 2-up advantage heading into the lunch break.

“To be honest, I wasn’t — I was kind of a little bit shocked that I managed to lose that many holes coming in,” he said. “I got off to a good start, and I was up, and then I was just like, what just happened, and 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.”

Confidence was the key for Whaley going into the final 18 holes.

“During the break, it was kind of just reset, recoup and get ready for the afternoon,” he said. “I knew 2-down wasn’t too much for me to handle, so I think going into it, it was just be confident and let things happen.”

After a lunch break, the momentum shifted toward Whaley after he won four holes in a row to take the 2-up advantage. Whaley won the 28th hole for a 3-up lead, but Leng won the famous 11th hole, the site of Bobby Jones’ 1930 Grand Slam-clinching match, with a bogey to cut the deficit to 2-up.

On the 33rd hole, Whaley made a 10-foot putt to secure the win.

Whaley picked up the game at 4 years old, but it was not an easy journey for him. He missed many cuts, struggled early, and almost quit the game. But his dad, Andy, has been by his side the entire time — even on the bag at Merion.

“I think from the hours that my dad has taken me to practice and all the different golf lessons he’s taken me to, it feels like it was all worth it,” he said. “Now he can actually see me happy, and I can see him happy coming off the golf course, which is really good. I’m very proud of myself for this week.”

This was his dad’s first time caddying in a major tournament.

“We just liked to be a part of it, me ball spotting, watching through binoculars,” Andy Whaley said. “But this week it just clicked. I can’t explain it. I don’t know why. We just thought it would be a bit of fun. We could enjoy ourselves out here. But all I’ve really done is validate his decisions. I’ve not helped him make those decisions. I’ve not really given him much idea of what to do. All I wanted him to do was be free of any doubt when he stepped up to play a shot so that he could just commit and play that shot.”

Whaley played at Dalton (Ga.) State College and won five NAIA tournaments, including the 2025 NAIA Men’s Golf Championships after firing a record 61 to start the tournament. Whaley transferred to Florida State University in 2025 and will be a senior in the fall.

Florida State coach Trey Jones and assistant coach Brandon Smith flew in from Tallahassee to support Whaley.

He became the seventh player in U.S. Amateur history to come from at least 2 down at the lunch break to win the Havemeyer Trophy. His name will forever be engraved on the trophy with golf legends like Arnold Palmer, Tiger Woods, and Phil Mickelson.

With this win, Whaley receives an exemption into the 2027 U.S. Open at Pebble Beach Golf Links and the Open Championship at the Old Course at St. Andrews, as well as a likely invitation to the 2027 Masters Tournament.

Leng also earned a spot in the Masters and the U.S. Open.

The reason Jeff Hartman drove from Reamstown, Pa., to watch the 126th U.S. Amateur Championship was pretty simple.

“Because it’s Merion,” he said.

Spectators from all over the country and of different ages lined the fairways and followed the action on Thursday at Merion Golf Club during the Round of 32 and Round of 16 matches.

The United States Golf Association expects 20,000 attendees will come to Merion throughout the week. For many fans, the main draw is to walk the iconic course and experience a championship tournament with no ropes.

Unlike professional tournaments, the U.S. Amateur gives spectators a rare opportunity to be close to the players. Fans are encouraged to walk the fairways alongside the competitors, which creates a more intimate experience for them. That was part of the main attraction for Hartman.

“You can get closer to the players, and it’s kind of neat walking along the fairways behind them,” he said.

Hartman, an avid fan of the sport, attended the 1981 U.S. Open, as well as the 2013 U.S. Open at Merion when Justin Rose won his first major championship. He also made the trip for the 2022 Curtis Cup, also held at Merion.

“It’s a beautiful place, with such deep history,” he said. “It’s almost peaceful.”

Spectators posed for photos on the 18th fairway where the plaque of Ben Hogan’s famous 1-iron shot lies, and they even had a chance to speak with Charles Barkley, who was watching the action on the 13th green.

Lugiano continues surprise run

The Round of 32 and Round of 16 were decided on Thursday.

In the morning matches, Jackson Township, Pa., native Michael Lugiano won 1-up against Nevill Ruiter.

A back-and-forth afternoon match in the Round of 16 had Lugiano heading into the 17th hole tied with rising BYU freshman Drake Harvey.

Lugiano parred the 186-yard par-3 on 17, while Harvey bogeyed. Lugiano secured the 1-up win on 18 to advance to the quarterfinals on Friday at 2 p.m. against Logan Reilly.

“If you’d asked me two weeks ago where I was going to be, I was thinking about withdrawing from this event,” Lugiano said. “That’s how bad of golf I was playing. After the Western, I was sick of playing bad, and I got to work, found a feel, and really worked hard on it for that week coming into this event, [and] decided to eventually play because I got confident with my game again. I can’t believe I’ve made it this far from my perspective two weeks ago.”

Liberty teammates, including medalist Joshua Ryan, who Lugiano is staying with this week, followed his match and greeted him with high-fives and hugs after the win.

“Having all the people out here, it’s great,” Lugiano said. “It’s not nerve-wracking at all. It’s just really nice to have the support.”

Reilly, a rising sophomore at Auburn who was a member of the 2026 NCAA Division I National Championship team, won his Round of 16 match on the 20th hole against Ryder Cowan, a rising senior at Oklahoma University. Cowan shared low amateur honors at the U.S. Open in June with Miles Russell.

The crowds at Merion fueled Reilly to finish strong down the stretch.

“I think it’s so cool to have all those people out there,” Reilly said. “It’s kind of what I grew up dreaming about is playing with big crowds. I love everyone getting loud and kind of rowdy out there. The more people out there and the more cameras, it means something is going well.”

Carter Loflin advanced to the quarterfinals after winning his match on the 19th hole with local caddie Jack Hopkins, who has worked at Merion for 35 years, on the bag. Loflin was 2-up heading into the 17th hole, but William Jennings parred on 17 and 18 to tie the match and take it to extra holes. Loflin birdied the 19th hole to take the win.

“Thirty-six holes on this golf course is just so draining,” he said. “It’s not like a normal test just because there’s so much you have to think about. Eighteen holes is a lot out here. Thirty-six is a different beast, and I kind of experienced that today.”

When local caddie Conor McGinley first heard the U.S. Amateur Championship was coming to Merion Golf Club, he didn’t want anything to do with it.

“I’m just going to go out to the Hamptons and I don’t need to deal with this stuff,” he said.

But then he saw Stuart Grehan, an Irish golfer, win the 131st British Amateur Championship on June 20, and thought, “Hold on a minute.”

McGinley, who has been a caddie for 24 years and is a golf fanatic, knew only four people in the history of golf had ever won the British Amateur and U.S. Amateur in the same year, and one of them was Bobby Jones in 1930 at Merion Golf Club.

McGinley was put in contact with Grehan by a mutual friend on Facebook, got on a phone call with him, and made his case for why he should be Grehan’s caddie.

“I’ve caddied for every level, so I’m more than capable of caddying for you,” he recalled saying to Grehan. “But this is all up to you now. Instead of bringing your father-in-law or your brother or whoever, come and go with a proper local caddie because that is huge, especially at Merion.”

Forty-four local Merion caddies were on the bag for the world’s best amateur this week, with 11 advancing to match play. For many of those caddies, they believe it is a major advantage.

“You can see it right away because you’re walking with guys who aren’t Merion caddies and you can see them taking lines and you can see them missing putts and you can see them even misreading all types of greens,” said LaRue Temple, who has caddied at Merion for 29 years and for athletes ranging from Eli Manning to Rachel Kuehn, a member of Team USA who won the 2022 Curtis Cup at Merion. “You can see them doing things that a local caddie would be like, ‘That is not a good idea.’”

The major edge for golfers using local caddies is their understanding of the grain in the greens and the layout of each hole. The caddies at Merion know where to miss each shot and what targets and line to take off each tee. They have seen almost every hole location during their rounds at Merion, Temple said, so they are able to tell players the right part of the green to aim at.

Many of the local caddies grew up in the area or have been working at Merion for almost 30 years.

Sean McConnell, who started caddying at Merion in 2021, graduated from Haverford High School in 1992 and watched the 1989 U.S. Amateur when Chris Patton won at Merion.

“I grew up around here and was like, ‘Maybe I’ll get to play Merion one day,’ and now I walk it every day,” he said. “I don’t take it for granted.”

His son, Austin McConnell, got him the job. Austin, who is a sophomore at Penn State and an Evans Scholar, started caddying at Merion in April 2021 and knew his dad had some knowledge of the sport since he played at Methodist University and graduated in 1997.

Both Sean and Austin caddied in the championship, with Austin advancing to match play, caddying for 17-year-old Dawson Lew from Canada.

When most golfers come to Merion, they aren’t aware that the greens have grain that impacts the way the ball breaks and rolls, caddie Kevin Shindler said.

“It definitely helps with the reading of the greens,” he said. “A lot of people don’t realize that this course has a lot of grain. They associate that with just Bermuda grass down in Florida. It’s not as strong as it is down there, but it’s very real and people don’t always realize that. Having a caddie who has been here a while knows you can’t really see the grain, but just [knowing] what it’s doing on each hole is helpful.”

Shindler caddied for Tianyi Xiong, who advanced to the Round of 64, but lost his match on Wednesday.

For McGinley, being a caddie in major amateur championships is more than being a “bag carrier.” It’s also about building a relationship with the golfers to help them succeed in match play.

“You’re saving at least a couple strokes by having a local caddie that actually knows the course, but it’s not just knowing the course, it’s knowing how to manage people and deal with their emotions,” he said.

Many of the Merion caddies whose golfers didn’t advance to match play were out supporting the ones who did on Wednesday.

“I don’t care who it is, I just want to see one of our guys in the final match and maybe prove that point of having a local caddie is beneficial,” McGinley said. “But at the end of the day this is golf, and golf doesn’t care.”

When Joshua Ryan woke up in his Norristown home on Tuesday morning, he was very calm, his mom Michelle said.

On Monday, Ryan shot 3-under 67 at Philadelphia Country Club during the first round of the 126th U.S. Amateur at Merion Golf Club, just seven miles away from his home course 1912 Club.

“There’s no experience like staying in my own bed, eating my mom’s food,” he said about competing close to home. “She made chicken parm last night, so couldn’t complain. And just excited to be in my style of golf.”

Sleeping in his own bed and eating his mom’s home cooked meal seemed to fuel Ryan to shoot a 5-under 65 at Merion Golf Club Tuesday, earning medalist honors and the No. 1 seed heading into match play on Wednesday.

Ryan had only played Merion four times prior to the tournament. He competed in the 2021 Pennsylvania Amateur, but otherwise didn’t have much experience with the course. However, the bent grass and thick rough were conditions he’s used to.

Ryan, who recently won the Pennsylvania State Amateur at Oakmont Country Club in Pittsburgh, started playing golf when he was younger because his older brother, Caleb, played. He consistently attended his brothers’ tournaments and kept begging his mom and dad to let him play. Eventually, they signed him up and his love for the game took off from there.

Ryan was homeschooled and graduated from Commonwealth Charter Academy, a cyber charter school based in Harrisburg, before playing golf at Liberty University in Lynchburg, Va. When he received the offer to play golf from head coach Jeff Thomas, he accepted because of the school’s strong emphasis on Christianity, his mom said.

This is Ryan’s second USGA event and competing so close to home has made it even more meaningful.

“It’s awesome. There’s a lot of people who’ve never seen me play who were able to get out to watch this week,” he said. “It was super special.”

Michelle said Josh thrives under the pressure of competing in front of a crowd. Luckily for him, the crowd showed out on Tuesday.

Members from the 1912 Club, his home course, took a bus and traveled to Merion to watch him. Former Liberty teammates were there, along with friends from his church.

“The first hole, I chunked a 3-wood and it went like 280 [yards]. The hands were shaking. We were pretty excited,” he said. “I wasn’t super nervous, just more excitement. Everyone kind of started buzzing right away.

“That was fun.”

Ryan graduated from Liberty in May, and is looking to become a professional golfer after the amateur at Merion.

On Friday, Ryan will turn 23. If he can continue the momentum he built during the first two days, it could make for a memorable birthday, he said.

“I mean, anytime you can tee it up at Merion, it’s going to be a good day. So on the birthday, that’d be really cool,” he said.

Ryan will compete in the first round of match play Wednesday, with the top 64 still to be determined after play was suspended due to darkness at 8:09 p.m. on Tuesday night. Play will resume at 7 a.m. on Wednesday.

The best amateur golfers in the country are coming to the Philadelphia area this week for the 126th U.S. Amateur Championship from Monday to Sunday.

The tournament will be held at the historic Merion Golf Club in Ardmore for the first time since 2005. Philadelphia Country Club in Gladwyne will serve as the co-host for the first two days of stroke play.

Here’s what to know before the competition begins.

What is the U.S. Amateur?

The U.S. Amateur is the oldest tournament held by the United States Golf Association, starting in 1895. It is one of the most prestigious events in amateur golf and has produced a long list of golf’s best, including Tiger Woods, Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer, and Bobby Jones, who won the amateur at Merion in 1930 and won the Grand Slam.

The tournament is open to amateur golfers with a Handicap Index of 0.4 or better. There are 312 players competing for the Havemeyer Trophy this year, with the field determined through a two-stage qualifying process with 5,111 entries.

Who’s in the field?

Forty-seven of the top 50 in the Men’s World Amateur Golf Ranking are in the field this week. No. 1 Preston Stout, the current Division I NCAA individual champion with Oklahoma State, No. 3 Tyler Watts, and No. 4 Miles Russell, who finished runner-up at the U.S. Junior Amateur at Saucon Valley Country Club, will play together at 1:30 p.m. on Monday at Merion and 7:33 a.m. on Tuesday at Philadelphia Country Club.

Mason Howell, the reigning U.S. Amateur champion, will look to defend his title. Howell was 18 years old when he won at The Olympic Club in San Francisco. He defeated University of Tennessee’s Jackson Herrington in the 36-hole final to become the third-youngest champion in tournament history.

Forty-five states and 36 countries are represented in the field. There are 12 past USGA champions and 13 runners-up.

Mike McCoy, 63, is the only player in the field to have competed in the 2005 U.S. Amateur at Merion.

How many locals are in the field?

Ten players from Pennsylvania will compete in the championship, with many from the Philly area. Drue Nicholas, 23, of Egg Harbor Township is the only Merion member competing in the field this week.

Nicholas, who graduated from Drexel, recently won his second straight Philadelphia Open, becoming the second player in history to sweep the Philadelphia Open and the Philadelphia Amateur in the same year.

Nicholas Gross, 19, of Downingtown; Hunter Stetson, 20, of Newtown Square; Charlie Barrickman, 18, of West Chester; Michael Lugiano, 20, of Jackson Township; Patrick Isztwan, 23, of Huntingdon Valley, and Joshua Ryan, 22, of Norristown are all competing.

How does the tournament work?

The U.S. Amateur is decided through both stroke and match play.

The first two days, Monday and Tuesday, are stroke play. Every player will play 18 holes each day, with one round at Merion’s East Course and one at Philadelphia Country Club.

After 36 holes, only the 64 lowest scores will advance to match play.

The Round of 64 begins Wednesday, the Round of 32 and 16 on Thursday, followed by the quarterfinals Friday, the semifinals Saturday, and the championship match Sunday.

The final match is 36 holes and the eventual champion will have to win six consecutive match-play rounds to claim the title.

How can I watch?

The event will air live on Peacock and NBC. Here’s the television schedule:

Wednesday

• Round of 64: Peacock/NBCSN, 3 p.m.-6 p.m.

Thursday

• Round of 16: Peacock/NBCSN, 3 p.m.-6 p.m.

Friday

• Quarterfinals: Peacock/NBCSN, 3 p.m.-6 p.m.

Saturday

• Semifinals: Peacock, 3 p.m.-4 p.m.
• Semifinals: NBC, 4 p.m.-6 p.m.

Sunday

• Championship Match (Afternoon 18), Peacock, 3 p.m.-4 p.m.
• Championship Match (Afternoon 18): NBC, 4 p.m.-6 p.m.

Tickets to attend the tournament are available on the USGA’s website.

What does the champion receive?

The championship comes with significant benefits.

Along with a gold medal and the Havemeyer Trophy, the winner will receive exemptions into the next 10 U.S. Amateurs, the 2027 U.S. Open at Pebble Beach and the 2027 Open Championship at St. Andrews in Scotland, as long as one remains an amateur. The winner is also likely to receive an invitation to the 2027 Masters.

What’s the history behind Merion?

Merion’s East Course opened in 1912 and was designed by Hugh Wilson. It has hosted some of the most important tournaments in golf history, including 20 USGA championships.

Ben Hogan won the 1950 U.S. Open at Merion and Justin Rose won in 2013.

The U.S. Amateur has been played at Merion five previous times. In 2005, Italy’s Edoardo Molinari defeated Dillon Dougherty in the championship match.

Merion will host the U.S. Open in 2030 and the U.S. Women’s Open in 2034.