“In Case You Missed It” is a GGP+ feature that highlights a story from Global Golf Post‘s Monday magazine.
SANDWICH, ENGLAND | Back in 2009, when he was mounting his audacious bid to win the Open at the age of 59, Tom Watson turned wonderfully Gothic when seeking a metaphor to describe the second-round conditions.
“Lady Turnberry took off her gloves today,” he said, “and she had some teeth.”
It might be said that throughout last week’s Amateur Championship, as with the Open it hosted four summers ago, Royal St. George’s was lacking gnashers of the sharpest kind. The skies were blue. The sun was hot. The fairways were dry. The rough was wispy. The greens were pure. The wind was more or less nonexistent.
Ultimately, then, it was not the golf course that put one in mind of teeth (of the hand or even the more traditional mouth kind) but the champion – the wonderfully named Ethan Fang, an Oklahoma State junior from Plano, Texas.
Fang defeated Ireland’s Gavin Tiernan (East Tennessee State), 1 up, to become the 130th Amateur champion and the first American winner since Drew Weaver in 2007. Victory earns the 20-year-old a spot in the Open at Royal Portrush next month, as well as invitations to the 2026 Masters and U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills.
It also makes him a virtual lock for the Nathan Smith-captained U.S. Walker Cup team in September and maintains a wonderful summer run that kicked off with him helping Oklahoma State to its first NCAA Championship in seven years.
The gongs and baubles associated with victory are straightforward to list but the business of claiming the result was considerably more protracted and Fang admitted in the immediate aftermath of a wonderfully tight final that “this was probably the longest day of my golf life.”
It was a lengthy week, too. One that took in practice rounds at both Royal Cinque Ports and Royal St. George’s, two rounds of stroke play, five rounds of 18-hole match play, and all 36 holes of the final.
But, even on arrival alongside his good friend and caddie Will Livermore, there was a sense that the test was one that was going to suit the Texan’s skill set.
“When we were playing the practice rounds and saw how the course challenged creativity, we kind of felt this was a place Ethan could tear up,” said Livermore, who met Fang on the putting green at Stonebriar Country Club in Frisco, Texas, as a junior and struck up an immediate rapport. “In between the two rounds of the final we chatted about what we needed to do and it was pretty simple: keep doing what we’d been doing.”
A key element of that game plan related to the winner of the 2021 Open, Collin Morikawa. “I played my freshman year at the University of California and that’s where Collin was at college,” explained Fang. “I knew that was kind of neat when I came over here and I spent this week watching YouTube videos of his win.
“His strategy was to keep hitting fairways and greens. It seemed a good policy to me. I’m a big believer in ‘you’ve got to see it to believe it.’ Every night I saw it and now I believe it.”
Fang had qualified from the stroke-play section with ease on 4-under par but met Scotland’s Connor Graham in the second round of match play. Graham had topped the stroke-play scoring for a second year running in the championship and Fang needed 20 holes to advance to the last 16. However, two of his next three wins were by 5-and-4 margins as he increasingly took to the seaside challenge that, while becalmed in fine weather, remained devilish in design.
“I’ve gone 9-for-9 at saving par from off the greens in the past and I liked these greens. The nearest I’ve seen to them in the past was Bandon Dunes but even that doesn’t really compare.” – Ethan Fang
In the final it was debatable who was the more nervous. The American, the Irishman, or the young man in the gallery who had taken the bold step of not only inviting a first date to the final of a golf tournament, but tried to woo her with nervous discussion of the unusual angle from the championship tee at 11.
Blow followed counter-blow in the match itself. Fang’s putting, which had drawn praise all week, eluded him but his power fade and sure touch around the greens made him a relentless proposition.
“My short game is my strength,” he explained later. “I’ve gone 9-for-9 at saving par from off the greens in the past and I liked these greens. The nearest I’ve seen to them in the past was Bandon Dunes but even that doesn’t really compare.”
Tiernan was honed on the links at County Louth, also known as Baltray. Always a promising talent, his first year in the U.S. college system has been the making of him. Friends and family in the galleries talked of him returning leaner in body and sharper on the course. Both his long game and his chipping were the equal of the eventual winner and made light of his pre-championship World Amateur Golf Ranking of 1,340th (in contrast to Fang’s No. 7).
Tiernan’s family and friends were quickly becoming a highlight of the day. A few of them had arrived in time for the conclusion of his quarterfinal, a handful more arrived midway through the semifinal, but the rush began after a place in the final was confirmed.
The stories abounded. Cousins, uncles and aunties. Friends, friends of friends and acquaintances. Flights purchased, flights delayed, flights missed. Arrivals in Birmingham, Heathrow and Gatwick. Rental cars that worked, rental cars that didn’t. Nights spent in hotel rooms, nights spent in those cars, nights spent travelling.
Mum Debbie and dad Terry were interviewed by television midway through the first 18 holes. They talked of pride in their son, how much he was loving college, of his grandfather who had also been a golfer, and of the state of their beating hearts.
“We’re very nervous,” said Terry. “This is very new to us.”
Debbie asked the interviewer for a moment. “We must say hello to our other son Matthew,” she said. “He’s in Perth, Australia, he’s watching now and we tried to find him a flight. We love you, Matthew!”
Terry added: “Love you son” and then cried: “Up the Dubs!” – an exclamation of pride in County Dublin that had the watching cousins in fits of giggles.
It all made for a tremendous atmosphere. After losing 14 and 15 to go 2 down, however, Tiernan appeared on the brink of exhaustion. He’d pre-qualified and had played 172 holes (not counting practice) to that point, yet he dug deep to drain 20-foot birdie putts at 16 and 17 to ignite the galleries and draw all square.
The dream was alive only for Fang to nail a superb approach to 18 and complete the birdie for the 1-up win, the championship and the tickets to the majors.
Tiernan was disappointed to have come so close yet grateful for the support. “You could feel it,” he said. “You could literally feel it. The energy was amazing. When the putt dropped on 16 the noise was outrageous. And you know what? Even this morning, before most of them had arrived, I was thinking even if I lose, I still win because all my family and friends are here.”
Fang, too, had family in tow – his Chinese parents, Frank and Helen, who attended U.S. college and now have a Texan son whose regular use of “Y’all” delighted the galleries in his victory speech.
Told that his name sounded deliciously Bond villain-like, Fang laughed a little uncertainly. When told that he was also a born headline maker he was less reticent.
“That’s the goal!” he said.