Jack Whaley's grind-it-out demeanor helped him to the U.S. Amateur title.
Dustin Satloff/USGA
ARDMORE, Pa. — Merion, the club and the course, is about as English as anything American could be, and Sunday here — for the finale of the 126th U.S. Amateur — was dank and wet and of-so-English. An Englishman was playing a kid from California. The Englishman won. Not a shocker.
There was something truly great about this Am, the whole seven days of it: six days of hot, dry golf leading to this rainy, cool Sunday; 312 players whittled down to two; and a final featuring two totally dissimilar golfers. Jack Whaley, deeply tanned and powerfully built, grew up in Doncaster, England, plays at Florida State and has a ready-for-the-Tour swing and a grind-it-out demeanor. Jay Leng Jr. grew up in San Diego, plays at Stanford, could not weigh 130 pounds, has a stance wider than Moe Norman’s and a backswing shorter than Jon Rahm’s, and follows no known playbook but his own. It was a delight watching these two go at it in this 36-hole final. Whaley won the match with a birdie on 15, the final nail in his 4-and-3 victory.
Arnold Palmer, who won this event in 1954, offered this as a swing tip for life: “Swing your swing.” A cousin to you do you. Leng, winner of the Western Amateur earlier this summer who will represent the U.S. at next month’s Walker Cup at Lahinch in Ireland, did not know Palmer’s three-word phrase but understood its message. “I’ve always done things my own way and it seems to be working so I don’t see any reason to change now,” Leng said Sunday night, about to board a van for a ride back to the clubhouse as Whaley’s new trophy was being brought to the 15th green.
By 14, Leng was playing without a hat, his black hair so wet he looked like he had just stepped out of a shower, his shirt close to soaked. Asked if he had learned anything over the course of the day about playing in the rain, he said, “Maybe carry more towels?” He was wet and worn out and tired. A U.S. Amateur can take a lot out of a guy, and so can golf in a steady rain.
Andy North won his two U.S. Opens playing in cold and wet conditions. He is now a member of the USGA executive committee — nice get, USGA! — and was at the award presentation. “Not a shock to see a player from England play so well in these conditions — you would think he has a lot of experience at it,” North said Sunday night. “Playing in the rain really requires you to stay as dry as you possibly can while keeping your mind totally focused on the shots you have to make, never giving in to the rain for a second.” Andy North was a master of keeping two towels in the spokes of his umbrella while playing in the rain, one for the grips, the other for his hands.
Whaley handled playing in the rain incredibly well, even if he was getting annoyed at his father/caddie, who, per the winner, was struggling with the umbrellas, plural, all through the round.
“I’ve always been told by my coach, Nick [Huby of England], ‘You’re better than everyone in the rain,’ and it was down to the fact that I wanted to be out there,” Whaley said. “I’ve played so many tournaments where it’s been raining. I felt like 50 percent of the field has already given up because it’s raining — they don’t want to be there. So I’ve always tried to be positive [in the rain].” In other words, precisely what North was saying.
Leng struggled in the rain on Sunday. Dustin Satloff/USGA
Through the round, Whaley had one umbrella and his father had another. He did something he normally does not do — he wore two black rain gloves, just as another Englishman, Aaron Rai, the winner of the PGA Championship in May at Aronimink, though Rai does it in rain and shine.
Whaley has never met Rai “but honestly I felt like him out there.”
Caddies really earn their keep, caddying in the rain. Sounds like the winner might be ready to stiff his man, who was also his father, Andy.
“My dad was kind of stressing me out on the golf course today,” Whaley said with humor and candor. (Don’t take this bit the wrong way: Whaley also made it abundantly clear that he owes his golfing life to his father.) “He left my putter on the green. He was trying to carry [two] umbrellas. And I was like, ‘Just calm down — we don’t need all this.’ We got into a good routine by the end of it, and I think he learned a lot of things. I definitely learned a lot of things this week.”
Jack Whaley will represent Great Britain and Ireland at the Walker Cup. We’ll see if his father gets the nod as his caddie. Jack Whaley will represent FSU (and himself) at next year’s Masters. We’ll see if Andy Whaley gets the nod there, too. He’ll likely play there with Rory McIlroy. There’s an Augusta tradition by which the defending champion is grouped with the U.S. Amateur winner. Andy Ogletree, the 2019 U.S. Amateur champion, essentially kept his amateur status through November 2020 and the pandemic-delayed Masters so that he could play those first two rounds of the Masters with Woods.
Whaley has never met Tiger but on Sunday night he was wearing Tiger’s name, image and likeness around his neck. The U.S. Amateur winner receives something called the Tiger Woods Medal, honoring the player who won three U.S. Amateurs. Woods went to Stanford, Leng’s school. Woods’s son, Charlie, has committed to Florida State. Whaley has met the son.
“I’m sure Charlie was cheering me on, and his dad was cheering Jay on,” Whaley said.
OK, what other name-dropping can we do in this short write-up? We’ve got Merion, Andy North, Tiger Woods, Charlie Woods, Moe Norman, Jon Rahm. Oh — how about Bob Jones?
Bob Jones won the 1930 U.S. Amateur at Merion, completing the Grand Slam. His status was so great at that point that, despite the financial strain of the Great Depression, he was able to start construction on the Augusta National golf course in 1931 and start the Masters Tournament in 1934. Now Whaley will follow this path, Merion to Augusta. In 2005, Edoardo Molinari of Italy won the U.S. Amateur at Merion. In April 2006, he played in the Masters with his brother, Francesco, as his caddie. They played with Woods on Thursday and Friday. In June 2013, Justin Rose of England won the U.S. Open here at Merion. At the 2014 Masters, Rose played the first two rounds with Ernie Els and Phil Mickelson.
Jack Whaley got into the match-play portion of this Am by way of a 16-man playoff for 11 spots. In other words, he eked his way in. Five days later, he was carrying around the Havemeyer Trophy with Mickelson’s name on it, with Woods’s name on it, with Jones’s name on it.
“I never thought my name would be among such an impressive people,” he said, glancing at the trophy. He’s an unassuming young man, loaded with game and grit. He could make the cut at Augusta. He could do more than that. Regardless, this he has forever.
Michael Bamberger writes for GOLF Magazine and GOLF.com. Before that, he spent nearly 23 years as senior writer for Sports Illustrated. After college, he worked as a newspaper reporter, first for the (Martha’s) Vineyard Gazette, later for The Philadelphia Inquirer. He has written a variety of books about golf and other subjects, the most recent of which is The Second Life of Tiger Woods. His magazine work has been featured in multiple editions of The Best American Sports Writing. He holds a U.S. patent on The E-Club, a utility golf club. In 2016, he was given the Donald Ross Award by the American Society of Golf Course Architects, the organization’s highest honor.
