U.S. AMATEUR CHAMPIONSHIP

August 15, 2026

Jack Whaley

Merion Golf Club

Quick Quotes

Q. How are you feeling right now?

JACK WHALEY: Honestly, my entire body is shaking. Just got adrenaline pumping through me. That was one of the longest par putt I've ever had in my entire life, and there was a lot at stake, as well. I'm proud of myself for being able to get across that barrier and get it done. I feel amazing.

Q. You had 3-up leads twice and he came back on you.

JACK WHALEY: Yeah. Carter kept pushing. He's a great player, and it was a lot harder match than I thought it would be. I got out of the gate pretty strong again and hit the green in two on 2. He was kind of in a sticky situation. But that kind of set a tone for the day a little bit.

Then he just crawled me back, I put myself a little bit out of it on a couple of the holes coming in, and I managed to clinch it on the last.

Q. What is it about the 18th hole that -- I think it's been played 18 times in matches this week, and bogeys and double bogeys are winning the hole.

JACK WHALEY: I mean, obviously that tee shot is pretty hard anyway. But I think the biggest issue is it's 300 yards to the top of the hill, and if you hit driver, a lot of guys can hit it over 300, and it gets over the hill and runs down into the rough. It makes that 190-, 200-yard shot out of the rough a lot harder.

I think me and Carter both decided to go 3-wood on the last, and he kind of pulled his a little bit, and I just left mine out there because I saw his and didn't want to do the same thing. We were both in a pretty tough spot.

It was just hit with a 7-iron out of that deep rough. Put myself in a position where I could actually give it a go at the flag.

Q. You mentioned everything that was on the line today. It's been said by people who have won this that today is harder than tomorrow. How would you describe the pressure you felt as the round built and ebbed and flowed with everything that comes with it?

JACK WHALEY: Yeah, I think definitely going into this, I was a little bit more on the nervous side than I was the last couple of days. But from after the second hole, I kind of settled down a little bit and really started playing golf again and thinking more about what I'm going to do with the golf ball instead of just standing there hoping I can hit the ball.

But then coming down the stretch when I was 3-up and then 2-up and then 1-up and then all square, I was like, all right, now we need to do something special. Again, it goes back to what you work hard for when you're practicing. You kind of rely on that.

I'm not going to sit here and say bogeying the last is a great score, but when you play match play, you're playing just to beat your opponent. I was just trying to get myself in a position where I could give myself a good wedge shot and then try and two-putt or give it the best putt I could.

Q. How much did the prospect of the Masters, the U.S. Open, and then for you, a potential Walker Cup spot play into your mind as your lead started to shrink?

JACK WHALEY: To be completely honest, I wasn't even thinking about Walker Cup today. I didn't really think about the U.S. Open or the Masters at all either, to be honest, until it came down to that last putt. I said to my dad on the last, we've come this far. We'd be very happy just to walk away now. But let's just see what happens. If this goes in, it goes in. If not, we're going down the first. I think standing over that putt on the last, knowing what was at stake, but just thinking, well, I could have a potential another hole if I need to, so it honestly didn't really matter as much because I could prove myself on the next hole. So yeah, I was glad to get it finished before going down the extra hole.

Q. Did you feel more pressure today than you thought you would when you walked off the course yesterday when we asked you?

JACK WHALEY: Yeah, 100 percent. You do think about U.S. Opens and majors and potentially winning a U.S. Amateur, but I underestimated how much I'd think about it today. I think that definitely showed in my game. It kind of got a little bit sloppy during the middle, and then you kind of just try and relax yourself, but it's just so difficult when you've got so much on the line.

Q. Have you ever been to Pebble Beach or played it or seen it?

JACK WHALEY: No. I actually didn't know it was there next year until I watched it yesterday. I watched on Golf Channel, it said what was at stake, and it was obviously the Masters at Augusta and then Pebble Beach, and I was like, shit, it could be a pretty good one (laughter).

Q. If you win, you get in The Open Championship at St Andrews.

JACK WHALEY: Exactly. I was just looking at them all, St Andrews, you've got unbelievable Home of Golf, played there loads of times. I think it would be an unbelievable Open to play. So I want to try and get into that.

Q. Just to confirm, you just didn't know where they were at, you knew that the runner-up got in --

JACK WHALEY: Yeah, I kind of knew from Jackson Herrington last year and knowing that he played in it through the U.S. Amateur. And obviously you've got thousands of people texting you on the phone, if you win a quarterfinal, saying if you win this next match you're going to a major. I think they'll all be following me. I know that one of the pools back home was going absolutely crazy. That should be good to get some text messages and phone calls in a minute.

Q. Can you walk us through the shots you hit on 18 and the clubs and yardages?

JACK WHALEY: Yeah, I mean, obviously on 18, I didn't want to hit the driver. I tried to be out of the rough, so I chose a 3-wood. I knew I only needed to hit it 250 to 280 just to give myself a 5-iron, 6-iron in and give myself a shot at the green. But I kind of pushed it a little bit. I've been hitting a little draw all week and it didn't draw on me. It ballooned up a little bit and ended up in the rough. I had a bit of a downgrain lie, but in front of my ball there was a big tuft of grass. If that grass wasn't there, it would have been fine, but because I needed the loft to get over it, I couldn't hit anything more than a 7-iron. So it was just hit a 7-iron, and I'm sure you guys will be able to see that I nearly fell over after swinging it because I hit it that hard just to get it out.

After watching his shot into 18 -- the wedge shot into 18 and seeing how firm it was, even though he landed it a little bit too far, I was like, I've just got to land this front edge and it should stay up, and that's probably one of the hardest greens I've ever played in my life, and I hit a 58-degree.

Q. Does that make you appreciate Hogan's 1-iron to 40 feet?

JACK WHALEY: 100 percent. It was a pretty impressive shot. I hit one in the practice round from that spot, and yeah, that's pretty --

Q. First Florida State guy to make the final in 18 years.

JACK WHALEY: Oh, really? I didn't know that. I'm sure Coach Jones will be pretty happy with me. I'm pretty sure he's flying in tomorrow as well, so hopefully I can show him some good golf and set the tone for a good year at Florida State.

Q. How do you describe this entire week for you from the 16-to-11 playoff and then you don't lose for 25 holes and then you get in a dogfight today?

JACK WHALEY: Yeah, I mean, pretty incredible week, to say I was in a playoff. Didn't know if I was even going to get through into the match play. So being able to get through the playoff and get the matches won that I had to, I was very, very over the moon with what I've achieved this week.

Like I say, when I go back to that last putt on the last hole when I said to my dad, it's like, we've got this far, we'd be very, very happy to walk away now, but let's just try and get that one bit further. Honestly, it's probably one of the best weeks of my life.

Q. How often has your dad caddied for you, and when you think back to going to the driving range with him as a four-year old, what kind of emotions are there doing it with him?

JACK WHALEY: It's awesome because my dad has seen a lot of close calls and failures through missing cuts from the age of 12 to 17. Honestly, it really did break my heart from the five years I was playing. It almost felt like why am I doing this, and my dad is funding my golf. It felt like every time I failed to make a cut, I was failing him. But every single time, he's like, keep going, you've got this. He's been behind me my entire life. He's honestly the biggest supporter.

I think being able to share it with him this week is an absolutely insane experience for us both. I think you can see my dad had a bit of tears in his eyes when I was on the last hole giving him a hug. I honestly had tears coming out of my eyes.

Q. What was the worst moment you felt missing a particular tournament where you felt like --

JACK WHALEY: I think one of the worst -- I don't know an exact moment, but pretty much, like I said in another interview, it's like, I didn't make a single cut, and walking off every time after 36 holes knowing that I'm not playing the next day and seeing the look on my dad's face -- I know he won't tell me he was a bit upset about it, but I was always trying to play well for him. He's my hero. I want him to see me play well and watch me succeed.

I don't really have a bad moment because he's always been so supportive with me. But we'll definitely remember this one.

Q. Do you have traditions that you do together, like you go get ice cream after as a kid or anything like that?

JACK WHALEY: I mean, probably the earliest memory that I ever had was Doncaster driving range where every time we used to go to the driving range he used to buy me a lollipop on the way out. I know when we was a bit younger, as well, when I was probably 10 to 13 years old, I was like, can I get this club, can I get this club, and he was like -- and I didn't know at the time, but it's like, it was a lot of money for him. It was like, don't tell your mom, don't tell your mom, because I just bought this wedge.

At 12 years old, I don't understand, but now when I look back at it, I really do appreciate the things he sacrificed for me. It was awesome.

Q. Did you feel like the underdog today with Carter having a local caddie? The crowd seemed to really be behind him.

JACK WHALEY: Yeah, 100 percent. I do think partly because I was 3-up, it was kind of, let's bring Carter up. That's completely understandable and I get that. But there's the odd couple with me, I've got a couple of teammates with me and I've got our FSU manager here and Steve, one of my old Dalton teammates here, my girlfriend, and they're cheering me on and my mom and all that. Then you hear "go Dawgs" as loud as you can, and it's like, well, you're also trying to think, is he saying "go 'Noles" or "go Dawgs", I can't tell because there's that many people talking. Yeah, definitely felt like an underdog, but I kind of thrive off of that. I like being the underdog. I like being able to show what I can do. It's good.

Q. Your teammate Drew I met out there. Did you know he was going to be here?

JACK WHALEY: Yeah, he was texting me all day yesterday. He's like, you've got to go out there and win tomorrow. I think I'm going to come out here. Then he said that he was going to get a flight. So he got in at probably 12:00 p.m. today, this afternoon. So did Steve as well, one of my oldest teammates. Can't thank them enough for coming out here. Like I said, going back to the other question, they were kind of against me, the rest of the crowd. It's probably due to the fact that I'm English and he's American. I would do the same thing if it was the British Am. It was nice to have some other people other than just the family shouting for me.

Q. Could you possibly share what your dad said to you while you guys were hugging it out on the last hole?

JACK WHALEY: He said, "absolutely outstanding. I'm so effing proud of you." Then honestly just was a hug from that point and a little bit of tears. I'm sure there will be a lot of conversations to be had after this. But yeah, it was awesome.