THE AMATEUR CHAMPIONSHIP

June 16, 2026

Joseph Lenane

Quick Quotes

Q. Joseph, 66 around Hoylake. Obviously needed to do something pretty special, and that was pretty special.

JOSEPH LENANE: Thank you.

Q. Pretty happy obviously. Just take us through the day.

JOSEPH LENANE: Obviously not a great round yesterday. I knew I was still in it but it would take something pretty good to give myself a chance. Got off to a bad start, made an ugly double on the 2nd hole. I was like you can either give up now, or you can just pick away at the round. You're probably going to make a couple birdies on the front, and then you've just got to play good on the back.

Got one to fall on the 5th hole and went back and made birdies on 8 and 9. Then I was like, all right, we've got a chance now. Then got into a really hot stretch, made four birdies in a row.

Then bogeyed 15, the par-3. I hit a bad wedge, and I put myself in a really bad spot. I made a pretty incredible bogey from there. So that kind of, even though it was a bogey, it felt like a birdie. So it felt like I made five in a row. Followed that up with two more birdies.

Just kind of kept trusting myself. Just kept putting myself in good positions. I wasn't really forcing birdies out there. I was just trying to play smart golf and let the putter get hot.

Q. And it did. Was there any particular putt of great length or just hitting it in close?

JOSEPH LENANE: I would say kind of when the momentum started, the change was on that 5th hole. I had 23, 25 feet, and hit a really good putt. Went dead centre.

Q. And that was it?

JOSEPH LENANE: That kind of boosted the confidence. Then I made a 15-footer for par on the next hole. So momentum, I felt like it was on my side, and it kind of kept rolling to the back nine. Made some really nice putts.

I figured -- I was thinking the cut was going to be around par, 1-under, and I made a really nice 17-footer on 17 to get to 6-under on the day. I felt like if I made birdie there, I was going to be in a pretty good spot.

It looks like right now it's probably going to be a pretty big playoff for the last couple of spots, but hopefully it holds up and I can play tomorrow.

Q. As you said, the double bogeys, as you said, it's toss in the towel or going for it. Does it feel a kind of freedom when you make that decision of, well, we might as well have a go, there's nothing to lose now?

JOSEPH LENANE: Yes and no. Whenever you go backwards, obviously it's not good, but then you just know you kind of -- you know you almost have to play perfect golf, but for me it was just like just go out there. You've just got to give it a good effort. You can't give up. You didn't come 3,000, 4,000 miles just to go give up on the 20th hole.

Yeah, you just have to dig deep and try to find something. If the putter gets hot, it gets hot. If it doesn't, it doesn't. All you can do is try. If you can say you gave it everything, you can't be too upset with the result.

Q. Where does that rank in terms of career rounds for you in the circumstances? Obviously you've had lower.

JOSEPH LENANE: Yeah, I've had lower, but I would say mentally it was one of the better rounds I've had. Just the way I went about it and what I was telling myself throughout the round, I think, was definitely some of the best self-talk I've had in a long time. I haven't been playing great the last couple months. So I was very pleased with how I played today.

Q. Is this your first time playing in The Amateur Championship?

JOSEPH LENANE: Yes.

Q. This is your debut. Links golf, is this a relatively new experience?

JOSEPH LENANE: It's my fifth round of links golf.

Q. You've learned quickly on one of the toughest tests here.

JOSEPH LENANE: That first practice round, I mean, I might have shot 90, like it was so hard. I was like I hope it's not this hard all the time because I was -- I had no clue what I was doing. Luckily, kind of figured it out over the days and got a red number out there. So that's good.