Quarterfinal routs send record crowd home early, though plenty of U.S. Amateur storylines remain

“Probably the coolest thing I’ve ever done, to be completely honest with you,” Loflin said. “I can’t even remember the last time I chipped in.”

Loflin hooked another drive at the next hole, the par-4 sixth, and was prepared to lay up again when he realized the lie he had, in the heather left of the dense rough, was good enough to go for the green. He found the dance floor and tied the hole with par to remain 1 down.

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That settled Loflin in as he didn’t lose a hole after that, carding four birdies in the process before closing out Knight, 3 and 2.

For a 4-year-old Jack Whaley, the prospect of whacking golf balls with his dad, Andy, at a double-decker driving range at the Pete Cowen Golf Academy in Rotherham, England, was too much fun to pass up. It was there that Whaley began working with Cowen’s protégé Nick Huby, who at the time was still teaching group lessons to beginners.

Whaley has been coached by Huby ever since, seeing him for monthly lessons and talking to him daily when he’s in school at Florida State, where Whaley is a rising senior.

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“He’s one of the best coaches in the world,” Whaley said. “He’s taught me everything I know … and I’m never going to change from him.”

Whaley’s run at Merion has proved himself one of the best amateurs in the world, which is remarkable considering Whaley began playing tournaments with cuts around 12 years old but never made a cut until he was 17, at the English Amateur. He’s also never represented England in a team event, though he did finally join the national program last year, not long after he transferred from NAIA Dalton State and joined the Seminoles.

“Hopefully a lot more to come from this,” said Whaley, who said Friday things have remained radio silent on the Walker Cup front after previously stating Thursday that he was “here to prove” he belonged on the GB&I squad.

Entering the week ranked 90th in the World Amateur Golf Ranking, Whaley, with Andy on the bag for the first time ever, was among those in a 16-for-11 playoff on Wednesday morning. He got through emphatically, lipping out what would’ve been his third career ace, at the 119-yard, par-3 13th hole.

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Twenty-one years ago, Edoardo Molinari also survived a playoff before capturing the Havemeyer Trophy at Merion. Last year, Mason Howell did the same at Olympic Club.

“That’s a pretty cool one,” said Whaley, who never trailed in his 5-and-4 win over Adam Bresnu, a junior-college product who joined Whaley in winning his respective Nicklaus Award in 2025.

“If I can go to the end, that would be a pretty cool story.”

Jay Leng typically warms up before tournament rounds by hitting a bunch of wedges, some irons and three to four drivers.

But Friday on Merion’s West Course, which is serving as the driving range this week, an exasperated Leng made the range-picker’s job exponentially harder.

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“Something was off,” Leng said. “Every shot I hit was going 40 yards right. … I probably hit like 20 drivers trying to hit one straight and couldn’t really figure it out.”

During the drive back to the East Course, Leng reminded himself that he had nothing to worry about. He’d been playing great all summer, especially at the Western Amateur, which Leng won to set up the possibility of becoming just the 10th player to ever win both the Western and U.S. Amateur in the same year (Tiger Woods and Jack Nicklaus are both on that list).

“I was kind of shaky the first few holes,” said Leng, who still managed to take an early lead with a birdie at the par-4 first hole and never trailed in his match against Florida’s Jack Turner. “But I was making putts from everywhere, so that helped.”

Leng closed out his 6-and-5 victory with four straight birdies. He played his 13 holes in 6 under. He saved his best swing for last, too, nearly holing out for an ace at the par-3 13th.

Maybe he’d hope for a similar range-to-course dynamic on Saturday?

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“No,” Leng responded, “that was too stressful.”

Reilly was well conditioned to handle the swelling galleries on Friday, as the Auburn rising sophomore played high-school basketball for two years at Bishop O’Connell in Arlington, Virginia.

He remembers his freshman year when his junior-varsity squad traveled to powerhouse St. Paul VI, which had a top-five varsity squad in the country.

“The whole student section was already in there,” Reilly said. “We went into overtime with them and won, which was pretty sick.”

Even sicker: Reilly dropped 20 points that night.

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Nearly everything has dropped this week, too.

“I was firing on all cylinders today,” said Reilly, who carded six birdies in 14 holes against Liberty’s Michael Lugiano, who lives about 75 miles away and had plenty of rowdy friends and family rooting him on.

“Gave me a little extra motivation, honestly,” Reilly added. “I just kept my foot on the gas and never looked back.”

Reilly has also impressed with his speedy pace of play, which likely comes from his athletic background. He played high-level flag football as well, quarterbacking his Virginia Xtreme team to two national semifinal appearances and one final, though they came away empty-handed each time.

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Reilly’s Auburn Tigers didn’t have that issue this past spring, collecting their second NCAA crown in three seasons. Reilly is now two wins away from his second national championship in a few months.

Reilly will face Leng at 2:15 p.m. ET on Saturday while Loflin and Whaley will go off first, at 2 p.m.