Oklahoma State's Ethan Fang becomes first American in 18 years to win British Amateur

Ethan Fang’s year just got even better.

Less than a month after helping Oklahoma State to its first NCAA Championship in seven years, the rising Cowboys junior captured the 130th British Amateur on Saturday at Royal St. George’s to score three major invites and a likely Walker Cup spot.

Fang trailed Ireland’s Gavin Tiernan, 1 down, at the halfway point of the scheduled 36-hole final. But Fang took his first lead after Tiernan’s bogey at the par-4 fifth, his third bogey of the afternoon. Tiernan, who just completed his freshman season at East Tennessee State, would card an eagle at the par-5 seventh to tie the match back up, but he also registered six bogeys over the final half after making just one in the morning portion.

Fang won Nos. 14 and 15 to go 2 up, though Tiernan would claw back with lengthy birdie makes at each of the next two holes to send the match to the par-4 18th all tied. That’s when Fang cut a beautiful approach shot into the green, his ball hitting the upslope perfectly and rolling to about 5 feet. Tiernan missed left, though he nearly canned a third straight from long range.

Fang then calmly drained his closing birdie for the win, which comes with invitations into next month’s Open Championship at Royal Portrush, next spring’s Masters and next summer’s U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills. Fang, who entered the championship ranked seventh in the world amateur rankings, was already a good bet to qualify for Nathan Smith’s 10-man U.S. Walker Cup team that will compete at Cypress Point this September; now, Fang is a virtual lock, along with three Americans who officially qualified via the world rankings on Wednesday – Auburn’s Jackson Koivun, Virginia’s Ben James and Ole Miss’ Michael La Sasso.

While Fang marks the 22nd American to capture the British Amateur, he is the first since Drew Weaver in 2007 at Royal Lytham. Before Weaver, one must go back to 1979, when the late Jay Sigel won at Hillside.

Fang was one of eight Americans to make match play this week, though he was the only one to reach the quarterfinals. Texas senior Tommy Morrison, the reigning European Amateur winner, made it to the Round of 16 and at fifth in the world rankings is also considered likely to join Fang in the Walker Cup.