Leng holds off Watts in a battle of heavyweights to reach the U.S. Amateur quarterfinals at Merion

 

   HAVERFORD -- As the round of 32 in the 126^th U.S. Amateur at Merion Golf Club’s historic East Course was nearing completion Thursday morning, it was easy to hone in on a match to follow in the afternoon’s round of 16.

   Tyler Watts of Huntsville, Ala. is headed for Tennessee to begin his college career, but he has already established himself as one of the top amateur players in golf as evidenced by his No.-3 spot in the World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR).

   Watts’ lofty perch in the WAGR made him an automatic qualifier for the United States team in next month’s Walker Cup Match against Great Britain & Ireland at Lahinch Golf Club in Ireland.

   Jay Leng Jr. of San Diego, Calif. is a junior at Stanford and No. 23 in the WAGR. He’s coming off a victory in the Western Amateur, defeating Vanderbilt sophomore Michael Riebe, 5 and 4, in the final at Beverly Country Club in Chicago, among other strong showings in Elite Amateur Series events this summer.

   The Western Am might be an even tougher test than the U.S. Amateur with 72 holes of stroke-play qualifying for match play with only the top 16 advancing to the match-play bracket.

   Leng had rolled to a 6 and 5 victory over Florida junior Zack Swanwick of New Zealand and No. 20 in the WAGR in Thursday morning’s round of 16. Watts had knocked off Anson Munzlinger, a 16-year-old from Columbia, Mo., in the round of 16 to do his part to set up the showdown with Leng.

   The Leng-Watts match was golf entertainment at its best with Leng ultimately holding on for a 1-up decision to earn a spot in Friday afternoon’s quarterfinals.

   It will be another heavyweight showdown in the quarterfinals, where Leng will take on Florida senior Jack Turner of Orlando, Fla and No. 19 in the WAGR. Turner reached the quarterfinals with a 5 and 3 victory over fellow Gator Joshua Bai, like Swanwick, a Kiwi, in another round-of-16 match Thursday afternoon.

   I arrived on the scene just in time to see Watts hole a five-foot putt for birdie at the par-5 fourth hole to take a 2-up lead. Leng was completely aware what he was getting into when he drew Watts in the round of 16.

   “I knew it was going to be a battle out there from the beginning,” Leng told the USGA website (the sketchy reliability of the shuttle buses back to remote parking at nearby Haverford College makes it a risky proposition to hang around for the interview sessions). “I’ve played with Tyler enough to know how good he is and what he’s capable of.”

   Leng cut his deficit in half with a beautifully executed lag putt from the top of green to the pin near the front left that left him a short par putt. When Watts botched his chip from just off the green, he conceded the par putt to Leng.

   But the match really turned two holes later at the short, par-4 seventh hole. Leng’s layup tee shot found the left bunker near the tee box for the fourth hole. He had 140 yards to negotiate and he lashed a 50-degree wedge that trundled on the front of the green, 45 feet from the hole.

   Watts’ tee shot left him near the out-of-bounds fence on the right side. His punch shot ran through the green.

   Leng, however, dropped his birdie bomb and Watts hit a pretty effective flop shot, but couldn’t find the hole. The match was even.

   At the par-3 ninth hole, Watts couldn’t get a 15-foot birdie try to drop, but Leng’s eight-footer disappeared for a birdie and he was 1-up.

   Leng increased his advantage to 2-up when he drove it just off the green in the rough at the short, par-4 10^th hole and chipped it close for another birdie.

   Watts fought back, his approach at the short, par-4 11^th hole, the Bobby Jones hole, skipping to a stop three feet from the hole. He converted the birdie try to cut his deficit to 1-down.

   Watts holed another birdie putt at the par-4 12^th hole, draining his 12-footer.  Problem was, Leng was on the same line and had no trouble dropping his eight-foot birdie try right on top of Watts’ birdie after seeing the line.

   Leng stuck it to four feet at the little, par-3 13^th hole and easily converted the birdie putt after Watts had been unable to get his 12-footer to fall. Leng had made birdies at the seventh, ninth, 10^th, 12^th and 13^th holes. He was 2-up.

   It looks like kind of a homemade swing that Leng has, but it’s repeatable. He finally opened the door a little with a block off the tee at the par-4 15^th hole. Watts hit in the fairway and knocked it to 10 feet, ultimately getting a conceded birdie that cut Leng’s lead to 1-up with three holes to play.

   Watt’s last best chance to even the match came at the tough, par-3 17^th hole. It has proven to be such a pivotal hole in the matches that have lasted that long.

   Watts was just off the front edge, but 50 feet away and needing to negotiate the 17^th’s mini valley of sin to an impossible pin on the right-front porch. Watts didn’t quite hit it hard enough and left himself eight feet for par.

   Leng was just on the green, pretty much on the same line that Watts had been on. Leng’s first putt didn’t make it up the hill at all and rolled back to him. His second try was better, leaving him three feet for bogey.

   When Watts was unable to make his par putt and Leng holed his bogey putt, Leng took a 1-up advantage to the last.

   Both players left themselves not far from the back left pin (the John Peters hole-out for eagle to win the 2021 Pennsylvania Amateur pin).

   Watts got it up and down from the rough above the left bunker for a par. Leng, putting from the back fringe, lagged it up to three feet. Leng only needed a par and he got it.

   Just a great match between two great players.

   Most of the rest of the significant gallery at Merion Thursday afternoon watched Michael Lugiano, a scholastic standout at Lake Lehman and Liberty teammate of qualifying medalist Josh Ryan, claim his second 1-up victory of the day, this one coming against Drake Harvey, an incoming freshman at Brigham Young from Henderson, Nev.

   Lugiano, who is staying at the Norristown home of his former Liberty teammate Ryan this week, made a huge splash in the spring when he captured the individual title in the NCAA Corvallis Regional and represented the Flames as an individual in the NCAA Championship at the Omni La Costa Resort & Spa in Carlsbad, Calif. to cap his sophomore season.

   Lugiano began his day with a 1-up victory over Nevill Ruiter of the Netherlands, who wrapped up his college career at the College of Charleston in the spring.

   Harvey, who had opened the week with a 6-under 64 that matched the competitive course record at the East Course in qualifying for match play, had knocked out three-time U.S. Mid-Amateur champion and five-time U.S. Walker Cupper Stewart Hagestad, 2 and 1, in his second-round match. Hagestad is No. 27 in the WAGR.

   Lugiano and Harvey traded wins in the early stages of the round with Harvey taking a 1-up lead with a birdie at the par-4 11^th hole.

   But Lugiano had the answers down the stretch. He drew even by taking the 12^th hole with a birdie and put a nose in front by winning the 14^th with a par.

   Harvey drew even again with a win at the par-4 16^th hole with a par. But Lugiano made a par at the tough, par-3 17^th hole, a really good score on that hole with the pin perched precariously on the right-front corner, to take a 1-up lead to the 18^th tee.

   A par at the 18^th hole was good enough for Lugiano to book himself a spot in the quarterfinals.

   Lugiano will face Auburn sophomore Logan Reilly of Lovettesville, Va., who delivered the clinching point for the Tigers in their 4-1 victory over UCLA in the NCAA Championship’s Final Match at La Costa, after Reilly went 20 holes to knock off Oklahoma senior Ryder Cowan, a home boy from Edmond, Okla. and No. 8 in the WAGR, with the sun setting on the East Course in the Ardmore section of Haverford Township.

   There were a couple of tight matches at the top of the bracket in the round of 16.

   Colorado senior Brandon Wright of Pleasanton, Calif. pulled out a 1-up decision over Gaven Lane of Argyle, Texas, a senior on the powerful Oklahoma State team.

   Lane’s quarterfinal opponent will be Carter Loflin of Duluth, Ga., who wrapped up his career at Georgia in the spring.

   Loflin had to go to the 19^th hole, making a birdie on Merion’s short par-4 opener, to pull out a victory over Alabama junior William Jennings of Greenville, S.C., who is No. 5 in the WAGR.

   Jennings was the runnerup in the NCAA Championship’s individual chase at La Costa in the spring. He rallied with wins in the last two holes of regulation to send his match with Loflin to the 19^th hole before falling.

   The final quarterfinal will pit Moroccan Adam Bresnu, a senior at Texas Tech and No. 30 in the WAGR, against England’s Jack Whaley, a senior at Florida State and No. 90 in the WAGR.

   Bresnu cruised to a 5 and 4 decision over Illinois senior Max Herendeen of Champaign, Ill. and No. 26 in the WAGR in his round-of-16 match.

   Whaley, making a pretty good case for his inclusion on the GB&I side for next month’s Waker Cup Match at Lahinch, rolled to a 4 and 3 victory over accomplished mid-am Christian Cavaliere of Katonah, N.Y.

   The 312 players who began the week in hopes of hoisting the Havemeyer Trophy are down to just eight.

   The Knight-Loflin quarterfinal will kick things off at 1:15 p.m. with the Lugiano-Reilly showdown, the last of the four matches, going off at 2 p.m.