Stanford’s Leng Jr. advances to U.S. Amateur championship match – Santa Cruz Sentinel

Stanford junior Jay Leng Jr. never trailed in his U.S. Amateur semifinal match that still felt like a struggle the entire day until he finally closed out Auburn sophomore Logan Reilly on the 17th hole Saturday.

Leng advanced to Sunday’s championship match, where he’ll meet Jack Whaley of England at Merion in Ardmore, Pa. to decide the title. Whaley holed a nervy 5-foot bogey putt on the 18th hole to defeat Georgia senior Carter Loflin.

It felt like a victory already for Leng and Whaley on Saturday. The finalists earned spots in the Masters and the U.S. Open at Pebble Beach next year, provided they are still amateurs.

“I’m still speechless right now,” Leng said. “It will take at least until tonight to sink in.”

Leng is the first Stanford golfer to make a U.S. Amateur final since David Chung in 2010. Tiger Woods and Lawson Little are the only Stanford players to have hoisted the Havemeyer Trophy.

Leng has not trailed in his last 42 holes going into the championship match, starting with the sixth hole of his match against third-ranked Tyler Watts in the round of 16.

This was more of the scrappy variety as Leng didn’t make a birdie until the par-3 10th hole and made only two for the round. He also took advantage of an awful break for Reilly, who looked to have a chance to square the match on the 12th. Reilly’s shot took one hop and struck the pin, rolling off the green, into the fairway and into the rough. He made bogey and fell 2 down.

Leng hit wedge to 5 feet on the 15th for his other birdie to go 2 up, and they matched pars on the par-3 17th for Leng’s 2-and-1 victory.

“I didn’t have my best stuff today,” Leng said. “Coming down the stretch I kept thinking about how good I’ve been playing this summer.”

Now he gets one more round against Whaley, who showed plenty of resiliency as Loflin twice rallied from 3-hole deficits.