ARDMORE, Pa. — Jack Whaley crouched down and stared over a putt. It was the type of putt he’d wanted to make his entire life, ever since he started swinging a club at a driving range with his dad in Doncaster, England. The record crowds at Merion murmured as Whaley lined up a four-and-a-half putt for bogey. His lead over Carter Loflin had gone from 3 up to all square in three holes, and he was in danger of letting it all slip away. With the Merion clubhouse behind him, Whaley stared at the biggest putt of his young life — one that would send him to Sunday’s U.S Amateur Championship match and punch his ticket to the 2027 Masters and U.S. Open.
“My entire body is shaking,” Whaley said outside the Merion clubhouse as the sun set on Saturday. “Just got adrenaline pumping through me. That was one of the longest par putts I’ve ever had in my entire life, and there was a lot at stake.”
Many U.S. Amateur champions have said that semifinal Saturday, with invitations to the Masters and U.S. Open on the line, is the most stressful day of the grueling, seven-day USGA exam. Last year’s winner Mason Howell said teeing up on Saturday at Olympic Club was the most nervous he has been on a golf course.
When Whaley walked off the course on Friday, having dispatched Adam Bresnu 5&4 in the quarterfinals, he said Saturday would have a bit more pressure but in the end he didn’t think it would matter that much. The golf is the golf. You have to hit the shots regardless of what’s waiting at the end of the road. And yet, Jack Whaley, in the middle of an improbable U.S. Amateur week, arrived at the first tee at Merion on Saturday and felt the weight as the Philadelphia crowds packed the rope line.
“One hundred percent. You do think about U.S. Opens and majors and potentially winning a U.S. Amateur, but I underestimated how much I’d think about it today,” Whaley said. “I think that definitely showed in my game. It kind of got a little bit sloppy during the middle, and then you kind of just try and relax yourself, but it’s just so difficult when you’ve got so much on the line.”
Despite the pressure, Whaley got off to a blistering start against Loflin, taking a 3-up lead through six holes. Once he settled in, he said that he did well to block out the noise and the pressure of what was at stake. But that lead shrank to one at the turn but went back to three by the time Whaley and Loflin left the 12th. Then, Loflin clawed his way back. He won 13, 15 and 17 to tie the match heading to 18. As Whaley’s lead shrunk, the nerves ratcheted up and the shots grew shaky as he tried to steer it into the clubhouse and claim his Sunday tee time and everything that comes with it.
“I was a little bit more on the nervous side than I was the last couple of days,” Whaley said. “But from after the second hole, I kind of settled down a little bit and really started playing golf again and thinking more about what I’m going to do with the golf ball instead of just standing there hoping I can hit the ball. But then, coming down the stretch, when I was 3-up and then 2-up and then 1-up and then all square, I was like, all right, now we need to do something special. Again, it goes back to what you work hard for when you’re practicing. You kind of rely on that.”
Jay Leng Jr. felt it too.
The rising Stanford junior has been on a torrid pace this summer. He won the Western Amateur last week and has rolled over everyone in his path this week, including No. 3 amateur Tyler Watts in the Round of 16. Leng was well aware of what was at stake but thought he’d be able to block it out and let his homemade swing take him to the championship round, Augusta National and Pebble Beach. He won the first hole against Logan Reilly, but it was clear early on that Leng’s game, which has been dialed in all week at Merion, was scratchy throughout. The pressure of the moment built as the round went on with Leng fighting to hold onto a slim lead.
“I didn’t think I was going to feel it that much, and after a few holes, didn’t know what was going on,” Leng said on Saturday after knocking off Reilly 2&1. “I kind of let it slip a little bit, let him win a few holes, kind of gave him a few holes.
“I was a little bit more nervous than I thought, and my game wasn’t very sharp today.”
Leng entered the summer needing to play his best golf to try and muscle his way onto the U.S. Walker Cup has been dealing with pressure all summer. He felt that at the Western Amateur last week, where he beat Miles Russell in the semifinals en route to lifting the trophy. As he scraped his way around Merion on Saturday, his Walker Cup goal, as well as the Masters and U.S. Open, came into focus, forcing him to buckle down and make sure he didn’t let go of the wheel with everything in his grasp.
“Those two things are obviously adding a lot of pressure,” Leng said. “But I’ve had a ton of pressure this whole summer. I’ve had something to prove, whether it be Palmer Cup, Walker Cup, everything. I was probably on the bubble before this week, I think. I’m looking pretty good right now. But it’s nothing too different. Obviously, it’s pretty different competing for the Masters and the U.S. Open, but I just tried to keep it one shot at a time.”
As Leng finished off Reilly to secure his spot in Sunday’s 36-hole title match, Whaley was in the right rough on 18, having just watched Loflin tie their match. He gauged his second shot out of the rough with a 7 iron and left himself a wedge in. Loflin, who wound up in the left rough off the tee, did the same. Loflin shot his wedge over the back of Merion’s treacherous 18th green while Whaley left himself 35 feet for par. Loflin’s chip from the back of the green came up well short, and his bogey attempt slid by the hole while Whaley’s par putt missed, leaving him four-and-a-half feet to achieve a dream.
As Whaley surveyed the putt, everything that came with it came flooding into his mind. With his dad carrying his bag, Jack Whaley readied himself for the most important putt of his life.
“I said to my dad on the last, ‘We’ve come this far. We’d be very happy just to walk away now. But let’s just see what happens,'” Whaley said.
Whaley took a deep breath and took the putter back with white knuckles, pouring the putt into the center of the cup to set up a Sunday duel with Leng. He pierced the humid Pennsylvania air with his first, shook Loflin’s hand and then hugged his dad, who had tears welling in his eyes.
“He said, ‘Absolutely outstanding. I’m so effing proud of you,'” Whaley said after his win of his moment with his father.
On Wednesday, Jack Whaley found himself in a 16-for-11 playoff just to get into the match play portion at Merion. Three days later, he has dispatched everyone in his path, including the Merion favorite in Loflin, and now has a Masters and U.S. Open invite in his back pocket.
“Honestly, it’s probably one of the best weeks of my life,” Whaley said.
And there’s still one more day — and a final life-changing goal — to go.
