Jack Whaley Wins US Amateur at Merion, Earning Masters and Open Places
Jack Whaley, a 22-year-old from Doncaster, beat Jay Leng Jr 4&3 in the final of the US Amateur Championship at Merion Golf Club in Pennsylvania — becoming the first Englishman to lift the title since Matt Fitzpatrick in 2013.
Whaley, who plays college golf at Florida State University, trailed by two holes after the morning 18 of the 36-hole final. Leng, a 20-year-old Stanford junior from San Diego, was ranked 23rd in the world amateur rankings — 67 places higher than his opponent. The afternoon told a different story.
Whaley won four consecutive holes early in the second round, including back-to-back birdies at the second and third. A misread putt from Leng at the 12th handed Whaley a three-hole cushion. The Englishman closed it out three holes later, holing a left-to-right birdie putt at the 15th to win 4&3 — meaning he finished four holes ahead with three left to play.
The reward is significant. Victory in the US Amateur earns Whaley invitations to the 2027 Masters at Augusta National, the US Open, and The Open at St Andrews. Three of the biggest stages in golf, all waiting.
Whaley's path to the final was anything but smooth. In Saturday's semifinal, he twice lost a three-hole lead before holing a decisive putt to advance. He had to scrap for everything.
The championship was played at Merion, a course measuring 6,939 yards to a par of 70 — short by modern standards but notoriously punishing, with tight fairways and thick rough that reward precision over power. The venue has hosted USGA championships since 1895, when the very first US Amateur and the first US Open were played on consecutive days.
Fitzpatrick, the last English winner in 2013, went on to claim the US Open nine years later — fittingly at The Country Club in Brookline, the same course where he won his Amateur title. The list of past US Amateur champions reads like a hall of fame: Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus, Tiger Woods, Bryson DeChambeau, Viktor Hovland.
For Whaley, those names are now his company. The kid from Doncaster who arrived at Merion ranked outside the world's top 90 leaves as a major champion in waiting, with tee times booked at Augusta, the US Open, and the home of golf itself.
