ARDMORE, Pa. — The first quarterfinals match at the U.S. Amateur on Friday at Merion teed off at 1:15 p.m. ET, the last at 2 p.m. All four were wrapped up by Happy Hour (5 p.m.), with only the first match between Carter Loflin and Brandon Knight even reaching the 16th hole.
The quick work by the four who advanced sets up an unlikely final four of three Americans and a Brit, all of whom may not have the name recognition of, say, Miles Russell or Preston Stout, but each have something to prove. Saturday will be one of the biggest days of all of their lives, with a spot in the Masters, among other perks, on the line. The two who advance to the final, 36-hole match on Sunday will both be headed to Augusta National next April. No pressure, or anything.
Here’s everything you need to know about each semifinalist before an exciting weekend at Merion gets underway.
Carter Loflin
Look up the term “Southern Gentleman” in the dictionary, and you’re likely to find a picture of Loflin in his high crown visor and flip flops (true story, he wore them to his post-round presser, golf tan and all):
Loflin, a Duluth, Ga., native who just finished up his fourth year at Georgia, earned the eighth seed in match play thanks to strong rounds of 70 and 67 in the stroke-play portion of the event. He has since taken down Grayson Wood (1 up), Wolfgang Glawe (3 and 1), William Jennings (19 holes) and, on Friday, Brandon Knight, 3 and 2. Knight led 2 up after four holes and looked poised to take a 3 up lead after Loflin badly pulled his drive in the left rough, had to hack out to the fairway and then chunked his third just short of the green. Knight, on in two, then watched as Loflin chipped in for par and flipped the momentum. Knight three-putted, his lead shrunk to 1 up, and Loflin took charge from there. He did not lose another hole the rest of the way, with clutch birdies on 10 and 13 allowing him to eventually seal the deal on the 16th.
Afterward, Loflin said the amount of people on the grounds at Merion threw him for a loop early in the match. But once he chipped in and got a huge roar for himself, everything changed.
“I was totally shell shocked by the amount of people that were out there, to be brutally honest,” he said. “I’ve played in front of people before but not like that. Honestly, it took me a minute to get used the gallery and everything.
“I looked at Brandon (Knight) on the first tee and I was like, ‘Dude, I’ve never seen people four deep like this before.’ So that was really cool, but it was a little bit nerve-racking trying to get into a rhythm.”
It also helps to have a great caddie on the bag on a day like Friday, too. That’s what Loflin has in Jack Hopkins, who is the only Merion caddie left in the tournament. Loflin met Hopkins during a practice round in July and after the round he immediately went to the Merion caddiemaster and asked if he could use Hopkins for the tournament. This is not Hopkins’ first rodeo at this place, or in a USGA event.
“There’s been too many situations where he’s helped out to — it’s like small stuff, but those small things add up,” Loflin said. “A tenth of a shot here, a tenth of a shot there, a quarter shot there. That really makes a difference.”
Loflin will go off in the first match on Saturday at 2 p.m. ET against England’s Jack Whaley. Speaking of …
Jack Whaley 
Isaiah Vazquez
The lone non-American left, Whaley hails from Doncaster, England. He learned the game at a place called the Pete Cowen Golf Academy in Rotherham (yes, that Pete Cowen). His dad Andy, who is looping for him this week, took him to the Academy at the age of “3 or 4,” and Whaley remembers being fascinated by the two-tiered driving range.
He took group lessons with a coach named Nick Huby, who still coaches Whaley today. He sees Huby once a month and has chatted with him on the phone regularly throughout his three college seasons, the first two of which were spent at NAIA Dalton State before he transferred to Florida State for his junior season. In 2025, Whaley shot a 61 in the first round of the NAIA National Championship and eventually won the individual title by three shots.
Whaley is easliy the underdog story of the final four, having advanced to match play via the 16-for-11 playoff earlier this week. He made a 2 on the opening hole, the par-3 13th, and survived, having since taken down fifth-seeded Jackson Ormond (22 holes), Bowen Mauss (2 and 1), Christian Cavaliere (4 and 3) and Adam Bresnu (5 and 4). As of now, he’s on the outside looking in of the Great Britain and Ireland Walker Cup team, which might not be the case after Saturday. His golfing idol is Rory McIlroy, though there were plenty others to look up to at Rotherham Golf Club when he was growing up.
“We’ve had a lot of good golfers come out of Rotherham Golf Club,” Whaley said. “We’ve had Ben Schmidt, Jigger Thomson, who made the hole-in-one in The [2021] Open. Charlie Daughtrey was an incredible golfer when he was younger, and then two of my best friends who play at my golf club are all really good golfers. There’s been a lot of inspiration coming from that golf club as well as the county of Yorkshire.
“It’s always just been trying to be the best and try and look up to them a little bit and try and follow them.”
Isaiah Vazquez
Logan Reilly
No matter what happens over the next two days, it’s hard to imagine anyone in this final four has had a better late spring and summer than Logan Reilly. The rising Auburn sophomore clinched the winning putt for the Tigers’ second NCAA team title in the last three years in early June. Just a few days later, he earned a spot in the U.S. Open at Shinnecock via Final Qualifying. Now, two months later, he is one win away from getting back into the U.S. Open and earning a coveted Masters invitation. The heater of all heaters.
“That would be crazy to be playing in [the Masters] next year,” Reilly said. “I’ve just got to play my game, see what happens. Not really worry too much about that. If it happens, great. If it doesn’t, then I’ll try it again next year. That would be unreal. I bet the Masters would be probably the best week of my life for sure. That would be a dream come true.”
Reilly shot two under in stroke play on Monday and Tuesday to lock up the 11 seed. He took down Emile Lebrun in 19 holes in the Round of 64, Evan Liu, 2 and 1, in the Round of 32 and fellow U.S. Open competitor Ryder Cowen in 20 holes in the Round of 16. Then, in the quarters on Friday, he faced arguably his toughest test yet, Pennsylvania’s own Michael Lugiano, who had plenty of fans on site in his corner. So did Reilly, though, and they made their presence felt at the 10th hole, where Reilly made birdie to take a 3 up lead. He closed out Lugiano, 6 and 5, after going birdie-birdie to finish at 13 and 14. Clutch.
Reilly, a multi-sport athlete at Bishop O’Connel High School in Arlington, Va., had played in raucous environments before. As a freshman playing JV basketball, Reilly dropped 20 points on the road against rival high school Paul The Sixth in front of a full student section (the varsity game was happening afterward). The kid is clearly cool under pressure.
“I loved how many people there were out there [today],” Reilly said. “Just gave me a little extra motivation, honestly. Thank God I got a couple of my friends that came out, so they were trying to get loud.”
Isaiah Vazquez
Jay Leng Jr.
Reilly’s on quite the heater, but so is Leng Jr., a former Junior Ryder Cupper who has been lighting it up in his first two seasons at Stanford. Earlier this month, Leng Jr. won the Western Amateur in Illinois, taking down phenom Miles Russell in the semifinals before defeating Vanderbilt’s Michael Riebe in the final match. That followed up a fifth place finish in the Southern Amateur and a runner-up finish in the Northeast Amateur. The scorching hot run has put him firmly in the Walker Cup conversation for the U.S. side. It’s all happening for the 20-year-old.
“I’d say I did see it coming. I don’t know how early, but I was pretty—I knew my game was there. I just needed to piece it together,” Leng said. “Obviously I didn’t expect to have this good of a summer, but I knew it was kind of eventful.”
Eventful is a good way to describe Leng’s entire week. After shooting two under in stroke play, he defeated former U.S. Mid-Am winner Evan Beck in the Round of 64, disposed of Zackary Swanwick, 6 and 5, in the Round of 32, and then took down the No. 3-ranked amateur in the world, Tyler Watts, in the Round of 16, 1 up. On Friday, he birdied the final four holes to defeat Florida’s Jack Turner, the 19th-ranked amateur in the world. A gauntlet, to say the least.
“I’m pretty much firing at every pin and trying to make as many birdies as possible,” Leng said. “I know if I’m somewhat close, I should have a chance. My putting has been really good this whole week. It’s a good confidence boost.”
On Saturday, Leng gets Reilly in a battle of two of the hottest amateurs on the planet at 2:15 p.m. Ahead of them will be a good ol’ Southern boy in Loflin and the underdog of the group, England’s Whaley. It should be a special semifinal day at Merion.
This article was originally published on golfdigest.com
