Welcome to the first TCF newsletter, an accompaniment to the pod to bring you up to date with all that’s been happening in the world of golf and to make up for the many times we stray off topic in our random conversations.
It’s a typically busy week for golf news, highlighted by Doncaster’s Jack Whaley emulating the feats of Richie Ramsay (2006) and Matt Fitzpatrick (2013) by becoming a British winner of the US Amateur at Merion on Sunday.
Huge crowds watched as the 22 year old beat San Diego’s Jay Leng 4&3, a victory that catapults Whaley into the GB&I Walker Cup team, which will be revealed this week. It also garners tee times at next year’s Masters, Open and US Open. These are always special rewards, but especially so in 2027 when the Open is at St Andrews and the US Open will be played at Pebble Beach.
Whaley only made the knock out stages by surviving a 16 man playoff for 11 spots after the strokeplay competition. The Yorkshireman nearly holed his tee shot at the famous short 13th to ensure he progressed.
The champion suffered plenty of adversity en route to victory. There was a wasp sting in the early stages of the afternoon round of the 36 hole final. “I was just walking down the fourth after my second shot, and I felt something on my leg, and then it just stuck in me,” Whaley said.
“I was like, ‘What’s going on?’ Looked down and there was a wasp on my ankle, and I flicked it off and then I had to pull the stinger out, and it was throbbing for a good two holes and then someone brought something out to me and it’s kind of calmed down now.”
Whaley, who learned the game at the Pete Cowen Golf Academy in Rotherham, then needed to take a leaf out of Aaron Rai’s book in rainy conditions. He sliced his tee shot out of bounds on the sixth. “I was like, I can’t use these anymore, can’t use a regular glove, so I got the two gloves out and I started swinging it a little bit smoother and tried to time it up a little bit better, and it seemed to work, so I kept going.”
Rai, who famously wears two gloves whatever the weather, won this year’s US PGA at Aronimink which is just down the road from Merion close to Philadelphia. “I don’t think it’s sunk in yet,” Whaley said while digesting the fact that he had followed the likes of Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus, Tiger Woods, Bryson DeChambeau and Viktor Hovland in winning this exclusive title.
“But it’s definitely a huge honour to be part of the names of all the famous people and unbelievable golfers that have come through and won. I don’t really have words for it right now.” Former Ryder Cup player Edoardo Molinari was the winner the last time the championship was played at magnificent Merion. It is also the course where Justin Rose claimed the US Open in 2013, the Englishman’s lone major title.
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