U.S. AMATEUR CHAMPIONSHIP

August 13, 2026

Jay Leng

Merion Golf Club

Quick Quotes

Q. Maybe your most stressful golf of the summer. It took you 18 holes, but it's over. Talk to me about it.

JAY LENG JR: Yeah, I knew it was going to be a battle out there from the beginning. I've played with Tyler enough to know how good he is and what he's capable of, so I tried to get off to a hot start. Didn't really do that, was 2-down through 4 and then pretty much played flawless golf for 10, 11 holes, and I guess I had enough of a cushion to slip up a little bit then and take a 1-up victory.

Q. Can you just walk me through what happened on 17?

JAY LENG JR: Yeah, so he hit it front left of the green. It was kind of in a bad spot. I had a little bit of weird numbers, 187, down 5. I was between 8 and 7 and chose a 7 because I didn't want to take a whack at an 8, and I kind of whiffed it left right near him, and he left his putt like 10 feet short, and I was like, okay, let me just get it inside of him, and then it'll roll down to gimme.

I thought I hit a decent putt actually, and it wasn't even close. It came all the way back down to my feet, plus another five yards. Kind of reset, then hit another good putt and somehow tied the hole.

Q. You're now in the last eight. You can feel that Walker Cup spot. It's getting close. You can almost touch it. Is that going through your mind even more? How do you not get too nervous tomorrow?

JAY LENG JR: Not much has changed. There's a lot to play for in the U.S. Am in general. There's no need to add any extra pressure. I'm just try and hit fairways and greens tomorrow and see what I can do.

Q. I know Tyler was in a rough position on the 5th hole kind of being a little bit long and left, but you hit a really good lag putt that seemingly broke almost straight left. Was that kind of the turning point in your match, or would you say it was more the long birdie putt you had on 7 because that looked like a difficult read that somehow fell down.

JAY LENG JR: I would actually say the turning point was hole 7 but not the putt. I would say that bunker shot was a lot harder than it looked on TV or whatever. It was like sitting down, had 140, and I had to hook a 50-degree, and somehow clipped it solid. Me winning that hole was pretty surprising. So that was a turning point.

Then the birdie on 9, 10, 12, 13, yeah. All those.

Q. Is it safe to stay standing over that ball in the bunker -- what did you think you were going to make on that hole?

JAY LENG JR: I thought I could get a par, but I didn't think I could hit the green. I was just trying to go right a little bit, not hit the lip. I knew he was in a bad spot, so he was probably not going to make birdie, so I tried just making par. It just worked out, I guess.

Q. It seems like you're playing pretty free out there. Is this kind of the most easy -- I know golf isn't easy, but is it maybe mentally the most freeing golf you've played the last two, three weeks?

JAY LENG JR: I wouldn't say freeing. I've always played pretty free. You can tell by my swing that I don't really have any swing thoughts. But I would say I've been playing with a lot of confidence, that's for sure.

Q. You stood at the top of the pile at the Western Am, which is arguably as tough to win as the U.S. Amateur with all the double-round days. You've passed the double round days and now you're back into one round a day. Does that give you maybe a leg up on the field a little bit because you survived it at the Western Am and now you're at that stage here at the U.S. Amateur?

JAY LENG JR: I wouldn't say that. I mean, I'd say it gives me a little bit of confidence and a little bit of something to look at or something to think about whenever I'm having a tough time on the course. I can always think about how well I played back at the Western or whatnot. It's just a good boost. I wouldn't say it's an advantage.

Q. Your mindset from when you started the season and your mindset now with the success you've had, you're now somebody who people are looking at, not somebody who's not always on somebody's radar; is that accurate, do you think?

JAY LENG JR: I think so, yeah. I mean, I've always thought that my game was good enough to compete with anyone. I guess it just proves to me that I don't need to change anything, that I can just do my own thing and swing how I like to do and just keep doing that. I guess people will see how it works.

Q. You beat Miles at the Western, obviously took down Tyler today. Do you feel like you get up for matches against the top players in the world?

JAY LENG JR: Maybe a little bit. I mean, I guess I don't -- I have as much focus as possible because I know I need to focus on every shot. Funny enough, I've played both of them in the same day at the U.S. Junior two years ago, beat Miles and then lost to Tyler, so I'm used to playing against them. Yeah, it's not easy.