Of 312 players who teed it up at the 2026 U.S. Amateur Championship this past weekend, England’s Jack Whaley was the last one standing. Defeating Stanford’s Jay Leng, Jr. in the 36-hole final on Sunday at Merion Golf Club, Whaley became the third Englishman and first since Matt Fitzpatrick in 2013 to raise the Havemeyer Trophy.
But before he reached the final, and before he overcame a 2 down deficit after the morning 18 to win 4 and 3, Whaley had to overcome another gauntlet. The 16-for-11 playoff that filled the match-play bracket and cemented the top 64 players from the stroke-play portion of the championship.
“Oh [the nerves] were high. Really high,” Whaley said. “And as soon as we arrived, there was no spectators on site. So I’m going to the range, which is the other side of what almost felt like town. It was miles away. So you don’t really get to see what people were arriving and what was happening back at Merion. So by the time we got to the putting green and was sat just watching everyone walking in and filling up around the 13th green, you’re like, ‘Oh God, this is a lot of people,’ you know?
“So it definitely was the first time I’ve really been in front of a huge crowd, and then to be able to pull off that shot, it was pretty just out of this world. You know, it was one of the big moments in my career.”
Whaley was featured in the final foursome of the 16-man playoff. He saw not one, not two, but seven players in front of him make birdie on the devilish par-3 13th that has ruined and made championships in the past.
For Whaley, the hole and subsequent birdie may have made his week as he was able to overcome the nerves and the competitors to eke his way into the match play bracket where the rest, of course, is history.
“I mean it sounds pretty easy, but when you actually stood there and think, ‘I’m the last group and there’s already been seven birdies, I need to do something here,'” Whaley said. “So luckily I was in the last group and I already knew what everyone had already done. It kind of made it a little bit easier [to know] what I needed to do.
“But at the end of the day, you’re still going to stand there and make a birdie and get through it. So the sigh of relief after we made that birdie and got through to the match play was massive. We had a quite a long time in between playing the round of 64 to go and just chill out and recoup and get some food, which was nice. I think it would have been a lot more stressful if I had to go straight back into the first tee playing again. So it was nice to play at 2 p.m. and be able to be settle down and get all the nerves out of the way.”
Whaley told CBS Sports that he started to think that it may be his week not when he emerged from the playoff that morning, but when he claimed victory in his first match that stretched to 22 holes that afternoon. The win opened his eyes, bolstered his confidence and served as a lynchpin for his memorable run, all of which started that very morning by simply giving himself a chance in the match play bracket.
“[My favorite memory with my dad] was probably the playoff hole,” Whaley said. “That was probably one of the best moments because we just made a cut. You know we just made the cut in the biggest amateur event in the world. And that was probably one of the most the biggest moments for us. And then probably second is the last part in the championship match.”