ARDMORE, Pa. (AP) — Jack Whaley of England twice lost 3-up leads Saturday in the U.S. Amateur and advanced to the championship match at Merion when he holed a nervy 5-foot bogey putt on the 18th hole to defeat Georgia senior Carter Loflin.
Whaley, a senior at Florida State, next meets Stanford junior Jay Leng Jr., who never trailed in a match that felt like a struggle the entire day until he closed out Auburn sophomore Logan Reilly on the 17th hole.
It felt like a victory already for both finalists. They earned spots in the Masters and the U.S. Open at Pebble Beach next year, provided they are still amateurs.
“I'm still speechless right now,” Leng said. “It will take at least until tonight to sink in.”
Leng has not trailed in his last 42 holes going into the championship match, starting with the sixth hole of his match against third-ranked Tyler Watts in the round of 16.
This was more of the scrappy variety as Leng didn't make a birdie until the par-3 10th hole and made only two for the round. He also took advantage of an awful break for Reilly, who looked to have a chance to square the match on the 12th. Reilly's shot took one hop and struck the pin, rolling off the green, into the fairway and into the rough. He made bogey and fell 2 down.
Leng hit wedge to 5 feet on the 15th for his other birdie to go 2 up, and they matched pars on the par-3 17th for Leng's 2-and-1 victory.
“I didn't have my best stuff today,” Leng said. “Coming down the stretch I kept thinking about how good I've been playing this summer.”
Now he gets one more round against Whaley, who showed plenty of resiliency as Loflin twice rallied from 3-hole deficits.
They were all square playing the notorious 18th, where it is difficult with the slope of the fairway to stay in the short grass, and the green has a false front that runs away at the back.
Both were in the rough. Both came up well short of the green with a front pin.
Loflin was the first to play, and his lob wedge over the false front took a big hop and didn't stop rolling until it was in the shaggy grass over the green. He came up well short on his chip — anything too strong could have rolled back into the fairway on the other side — and missed his bogey putt from about 12 feet.
Whaley's pitch rolled out some 45 feet and barely stayed on the green. He lagged that to about 5 feet and calmly made the bogey putt to advance.
“I felt like I closed my eyes and hoped for the best,” he said of the winning putt. “I'm absolutely over the moon.”
Whaley is No. 90 in the world amateur golf ranking, while Leng is at No. 23. Whaley is trying to become the first English amateur to win since Matt Fitzpatrick at Brookline in 2013.
___