ARDMORE, Pa. — Ask Jay Leng Jr. to describe his swing, and he flashes a big smile.
“I’d say it’s art,” the rising junior at Stanford told GOLF after the second round of the 2026 U.S. Amateur at Merion East outside of Philadelphia.
In a previous golf era, Leng’s unique swing wouldn’t have drawn a reaction. But in the age of super-optimized, ball-speed-chasing swings, Leng’s patented motion sticks out. He and his Stanford coach, Conrad Ray, would call it “abbreviated.” Leng takes the club back inside, but before it gets to shoulder level, he turns with the club face slightly closed to start his downswing. During his follow-through, his shaft gets almost parallel to the ground and then whips the club around, finishing it however feels best for that swing. No two are the same, and he has been known to leave the ground when going after one.
Leng has always had a “unique swing.” But the current iteration, the one that has helped him become a budding amateur star, started when he was about to enter high school. Up until that point, Leng had worked with one coach. He decided to go his own route, and a swing all his own was born.
“Right before high school, I kind of started doing my own thing,” Leng said. “The abbreviated backswing — just right before high school, I found out that I was hitting the ball way straighter just doing that. So, that stuck. The finish … I mean, I don’t really know. Like, I don’t really think about my swing too much. I guess just trying to hit the shot that I’m trying to hit produces that finish, and I just don’t really worry about how it looks.”
Looks are an objective measure, but there’s no question that Jay Leng’s swing is working for the man wielding it.
The summer of 2025 was a sluggish one for Leng. He went T19 at the Northeast Amateur, T46 at the North and South Amateur and then T103 at the Western Amateur. He did not play in the U.S. Amateur at Olympic Club.
But with a balky putter fixed thanks to a claw grip change, Leng has been one of, if not the, hottest amateur golfers this summer. He carded a runner-up at the Northeast Amateur and a T-5 at the Southern Amateur before painting his masterpiece last week at the Western Amateur at Beverly Country Club, where Leng defeated No. 1 Junior Miles Russell in the semifinals before rolling Vanderbilt’s Michael Riebe 5&4 to become the fifth Stanford Cardinal to win the third-oldest amateur event, joining Tiger Woods, Michael Thobjornsen, David Chung and Joel Kribel.
While Leng doesn’t worry about how his swing looks, he has heard others’ opinions on his unorthodox move for years. The latest came during his Western Amateur semifinal win over Miles Russell. On the par-3 sixth hole, Leng unleashed a mighty lash with his 6-iron. As the ball left the club, color analyst Tripp Isenhour began his call with a slight critique of the move.
“Jay has a unique finish. There’s a lot of times it doesn’t look like he’s in sync at the finish,” Isenhour said.
But then Leng’s tee shot knifed through the wind and landed a few feet from the pin.
“But then shots do exactly that right there,” Isenhour said.
“I hear the comments,” Leng said. “It’s annoying when people make bad comments about it. But it makes it that much sweeter when you’re playing well and winning with it. Like at the Western, with the commentators saying stuff, it always happens. I know it happens. But right when I start playing well, they’ll say that my swing is great and it works. I have my own thoughts about it, but I’m confident in my swing. Winning shows it works.”
Leng arrived at Merion with the Western Amateur title in his back pocket and is now firmly in the Walker Cup conversation. Ranked 33rd in the World Amateur Golf Rankings, Leng is another option for American captain Nathan Smith to consider as he prepares to put his team together for the September visit to Lahinch Golf Club in Ireland.
Four players, including Russell, have already been selected, and the remainder of the team will be finalized after this week’s U.S. Amateur at Merion. That’s firmly on Leng’s radar. It would be foolish to suggest otherwise. But Merion East demands his full attention. Good golf takes care of everything.
“Of course it’s on my mind,” Leng said. “Can’t say it’s not. But I’m just trying to focus here. There’s enough pressure as it is.”
So far, Leng and his swing have handled the U.S. Amateur pressure just fine. He opened with an even-par 70 at co-host Philadelphia Country Club and then rode a roller coaster at Merion on Tuesday that saw him shoot two under with six birdies, two bogeys and a double. But his two-day total of two under is good for T13 as of this writing and will put Leng easily into the match play portion of the tournament, which starts Wednesday.
Art, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder. But watch Jay Leng make his way around Merion, Beverly or any other course, and it’s clear that what he’s created is an expression of his golfing soul. One that produces results and has him dreaming big at a golden-age gem outside of Philadelphia.
