ARDMORE, Pa. (AP) -- Jack Whaley blinked back tears as he clutched the U.S. Amateur championship trophy and could only think of the countless times his father kept encouraging him, kept playing golf with him, all to urge a promising teenager on the cusp of quitting the game to stick with it for better days ahead. With his dad on the bag, Whaley fulfilled Andy Whaley's unwavering belief and capped the tournament victory of his life at Merion with a father-son embrace that put an exclamation point on a career that at one point seemed destined to dry up on English soil.
"He can actually see me happy, and I can see him happy coming off the golf course," Whaley said. Whaley played with double gloves, needed an umbrella, was stung by a wasp at rainy Merion Golf Club and still pushed through the inconveniences to cap a tremendous tournament and hold off Jay Leng Jr. to win the U.S. The 22-year-old Englishman gets to soak up the spoils that come with winning amateur golf's greatest prize.
With the sky finally clear on the rain-slogged course, Whaley sank his final putt for birdie to win the 36-hole final 4 and 3 and hugged it out with his caddie -- his father. Whaley's mother ran out to join them for a family embrace while Andy gripped the famed wicker basket flagstick. "This week it just clicked," Andy Whaley said.
I don't know why." His son broke down in tears as he held the Havemeyer Trophy and dedicated the win to his father, who never gave up on Jack, even as he kept missing cuts as a teenager. "As we were driving back, I was looking at my dad with some of the names that are on this thing," Whaley said after his win. "I never thought my name would among such impressive people." Whaley made a rapid rise from NAIA star to Florida State to amateur champion.
The college senior now has an exemption into the 2027 U.S. Open and the 2027 Open Championship at St. Andrews, along with the Masters, should he remain an amateur.
He wore his Seminoles cap and team colors for the championship round. Whaley won the seventh U.S. Amateur held at Merion and is the first Englishman winner since Matt Fitzpatrick at Brookline in 2013.
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