U.S. AMATEUR CHAMPIONSHIP

August 12, 2026

Jay Leng

Merion Golf Club

Quick Quotes

Q. A 5 & 4 win. Talk to me about it.

JAY LENG JR: Felt really good all day today. I knew the course would be pretty gettable because match play conditions, and kind of just stuck with my game plan, tried to hit as many fairways and greens as possible, and luckily a few of the putts dropped in today.

Q. I don't think anybody is having a hotter summer than you in amateur golf. You win the Western, second in the Northeast, fifth in the Southern. What's been the biggest part of this hot stretch?

JAY LENG JR: Not much, honestly. Just confidence and just believing in myself, believing in my game, and the putter has been pretty hot, I would say.

Q. Because of this hot summer, you kind of have an inside track on one of the last Walker Cup spots. Captain Nate Smith is here this week. Have you talked with him, and has that been on your mind this week?

JAY LENG JR: I have not talked to him yet. I've seen him around but haven't gotten a chance to speak with him.

Yeah, it's been on my mind, but I'm kind of just focused on this week and playing as good as I can this week. I know I can't control whether I get picked or not. As long as I play as good as I can, that'll be that. But I'm excited. If I get picked, I am very excited because I think links golf suits my game very well.

Q. You had your future teammate Daniel watching today. What's it like to have other Cardinals watch you?

JAY LENG JR: Yeah, it's pretty awesome. I'm really pumped that he's joining our team next year. He's been my great friend for 10 plus years. Played a practice round with him. So yeah, it's been great.

Q. How do you keep this up?

JAY LENG JR: Guest some rest today. Luckily today is only 18, but kind of reset and focus on my next few matches. I know the next few matches will be tough, so just get some rest, I guess.

Q. Talk about your match. What was working for you out there?

JAY LENG JR: Yeah, it was a great match. I started off pretty hot with a birdie on 1. Kept the match in my favor pretty much the whole time. Had one slip-up on hole 4, but besides that, played pretty perfect golf.

Just tried to hit as many fairways as possible out here. Hit the fairway, there was some scorable holes. If you don't, you're just kind of pitching out. So did a good job of that.

Q. Talk about the course a little bit. Talk about the balance of being aggressive and playing more conservative on some of the holes out here.

JAY LENG JR: It's an awesome course, one of my favorite courses ever. It's in great condition and the rough is very penalizing. Kind of have to play a little bit conservative off the tee and then you can attack the pins for the most part if you have short iron or wedge in. But on any given hole you can hit a bad shot and make bogey or worse.

Q. Coming off your run at the Western, what's your confidence level at right now? How did you feel coming into this week?

JAY LENG JR: It's pretty high. It's been pretty good for a while now. Now that my putting feels a lot better - I switched to a claw grip like a year ago - it's been much better ever since. So yeah, I'm pretty confident with my whole game.

Q. Did you learn anything from your time there that you maybe were focusing on more going into this week?

JAY LENG JR: At the Western? I learned that a caddie is very helpful. I was pretty tired near the end of that. Kind of got lucky that my last day got delayed a day. I was not feeling great that day. Now that I have Jeff, my caddie, here, I'm feeling a lot better.

Q. Who is Jeff?

JAY LENG JR: Jeff caddied for me at the U.S. Junior two years ago. He's an Oakland Hills guy. Kind of just liked him, so he's here with me this week.

Q. I know you mentioned your putting and changing your grip, and that's obviously a process that's taken a while. Is there anything else in your game that's changed that's allowed you to be on this run that you have been?

JAY LENG JR: Not really. My game has felt pretty good for at least a year now. I haven't really gotten the results I wanted. It's kind of just been one bad round here and there, kind of just not getting the momentum I wanted. It's just coming together now. Nothing really special.

Q. Has it been hard to stay patient during that time when you're playing well but your results aren't coming through?

JAY LENG JR: A little bit, but not -- I know how golf is. I've been playing golf for a long time, and I knew that just trust myself and the results will come.

Q. With what you did at the Western Amateur and then obviously off to a really good start this week, your name has come up as a captain's pick for the Walker Cup. Have you allowed yourself to think about that? Has that been on your radar?

JAY LENG JR: I'd be lying if I said I didn't think about it at all, but I'm really trying to focus as best I can on this week and every match, every hole. Trying to keep my mind off of it, but yeah, obviously I've been thinking about it a little bit.

Q. Do you think tomorrow is going to be a little bit easier if you have to play 36 holes since you have a caddie?

JAY LENG JR: Definitely. I'm looking forward to it, though. No matter how it goes, this is a great course. I'm looking forward to two good matches.