Jack Whaley questioned why he was even playing golf. For 5 years, he teed it up again and again in the biggest events and continued to miss cuts and come up short.
He felt he was failing himself. More importantly, he felt as if he was failing his father, Andy, who was funding his golf career and is his biggest supporter.
"But every single time, he's like, 'keep going, you've got this,'" Whaley said. "He's been behind me my entire life. He's honestly the biggest supporter."
That's why the first person Whaley celebrated with Sunday at Merion's East Course was his dad.
Whaley, the 22-year-old rising senior at Florida State, won the 126th U.S. Amateur on Sunday in Ardmore, Pennsylvania. He knocked off Jay Leng Jr., the 20-year-old junior at Stanford
who won the Western Amateur two weeks ago. Whaley became the third Englishman to win the Havemeyer Trophy and the first in 13 years since Matt Fitzpatrick. And most importantly, Whaley did it with Andy on the bag.
"I think it all goes down to my dad," Whaley said of what was going through his mind before his birdie putt to win, 4 and 3, in the 36-hole final. "He's helped me so much this week. Honestly, I can't thank him enough for it. He was just telling me, 'just keep going, just keep playing.' It's just a huge honor to be able to experience this with my dad and hole that 8-footer on the last."
Whaley became the seventh player in U.S. Amateur history to come from at least 2 down at the lunch break to win the Havemeyer. He also earned a spot on the Great Britain & Ireland Walker Cup team with the win.
Cameron Jourdan is an assistant editor of Golfweek, covering college and amateur golf, the PGA Tour and plenty more. Follow Cameron on X/Twitter (@Cam_Jourdan) or Instagram (@GolfweekJourdan).
This article originally appeared on Golfweek: Jack Whaley questioned why he played golf. Now he's the U.S. Amateur champion
