2026 U.S. Amateur Final Qualifying: Llanerch

Fantinelli, Gross share medal at 66

HAVERTOWN, Pa. — Riccardo Fantinelli, a recent Princeton University graduate, and Nicholas Gross, a rising junior at the University of Alabama, carded respective 5-under-par 66s to share medalist honors in U.S. Amateur Final Qualifying administered by GAP at Llanerch Country Club (par 71, 6,825 yards) Monday.

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Michael Lugiano of Huntsville Golf Club, a rising junior at Liberty University and the 2025 Delaware Amateur Champion, Patrick Isztwan of Huntingdon Valley Country Club, a two-time BMW Philadelphia Amateur Championship runner-up (2023, 2025), Drue Nicholas of Merion Golf Club, a four-time GAP Major winner and the reigning William Hyndman, III Player of the Year, and Josh Ryan of The 1912 Club, a recent Liberty University graduate and runner-up in last week’s Philadelphia Open Championship, also advanced.

Chi Chun Chen of Chinese Taipei and Chuck Tragesser, III rounded out the qualifiers.

The 126^th U.S. Amateur heads to Merion Aug. 10-16.

Fantinelli and Gross mirrored scorecard shapes: six birdies and one bogey.

“I putted better than usual. Coming down the stretch, I had two close eagle looks on Nos. 15 and 16. I missed both of them, but made birdies,” Fantinelli, 22, of Princeton, N.J., said. “I’d like to thank Ari Flaisher, a Llanerch member who had me out here yesterday for a practice round. We zoomed around so I could see the course.”

On the aforementioned No. 15 (par 4, 320 yards), Fantinelli drove the green and narrowly missed a 12-footer. He overread another 12-footer on the next hole after reaching the putting surface with a 5-iron from 236 yards.

Fantinelli surged up the leaderboard by inking 32 (4 under) on his outward nine. His 50-degree wedge set up birdie conversions of 18 feet on No. 1 (par 4, 405 yards) and 18 inches on No. 2 (par 4, 444 yards). A chip-in birdie on No. 6 (par 4, 455 yards) and a two-putt birdie on No. 9 (par 5, 500 yards) also highlighted his day.

Fantinelli, a two-time Ivy League Player of the Year (2024-25), finished as a semifinalist in the British Amateur a year ago. He previously competed in the U.S. Amateur in 2024 at Hazeltine National.

Merion will serve as a primer for his future.

“I’m going to play golf full-time until at least October, and then see what happens with (PGA TOUR) Q-School,” Fantinelli said. “I spend most days at Springdale (Golf Club) practicing.”

Whereas Fantinelli uses reps as a career construct, his co-medalist uses reps as a reset.

“Last summer I got burnt out, so I tried to take some time off and work on my game. I felt there were a lot of holes that needed to be fixed,” Gross, 19, of Downingtown, Pa., said. “I stayed on campus for an extra month and came back the first week of July, throughout that time working on my game. I was hitting a lot of golf balls, trying to get back to basics. I love to compete. Obviously, I want to be like I was today in playing. But if I wasn’t playing my best, then I wasn’t going to travel the country, missing cuts. I thought taking time off was the best decision I could’ve made.”

Monday marked his first competitive round of the summer.

You read that correctly.

Gross scarcely entered the Alabama lineup throughout the 2025-26 college season. Mental fatigue factored into his fall absence. Then Gross dislocated his right knee during a workout in January.

So instead of chasing national trophies and WAGR (World Amateur Golf Ranking) status this summer, Gross pressed pause. “Take some time, get right, come out ready to go” became the mantra for Llanerch.

“I try not to have expectations. That’s one thing that I’ve worked on,” Gross, a Kennett Square Golf & Country Club member, said. “I knew if I played a solid round of golf, then I could’ve gotten through.”

Co-medalist suggests more than solid. Starting on the back nine, Gross birdied No. 15 after narrowly missing the green left with a monstrous drive. His ensuing chip stopped 13 feet from the hole. A perfect pitching wedge on No. 17 (par 3, 150 yards) put Gross eight feet from a front hole location. He cleaned up the birdie putt.

Gross then rattled off three consecutive birdies: a 56-degree wedge 112 yards to 12 feet on No. 1; a 9-iron 162 yards to three feet on No. 2 and a pitching wedge 147 yards to 25 feet on No. 3 (par 4, 465 yards). He buried a six-footer on No. 5 (par 5, 559 yards) following an ideal 90-yard wedge approach. Blame a defensive mentality for his Gross’s lone bogey, which occurred on No. 7 (par 4, 385 yards). His 3-wood found the left rough, providing a jumper lie. Gross missed a six-footer to save par.

Gross is a veteran when it comes to USGA championships, with four U.S. Junior Amateur (2022-25) and three U.S. Amateur (2022-23, 2025) appearances to his credit. The quarterfinals represent his summit in both (U.S. Junior Amateur, 2025; U.S. Amateur, 2022).

“I’m super excited. It was hard not to put pressure on myself for this qualifier, knowing where the U.S. Amateur is,” Gross said. “It’s a fun opportunity to play at home. It’s a 35-minute drive to the course. You can’t beat that. And Merion is obviously a top-notch golf course.”

Michael Lugiano

Preview

Josh Ryan, Drue Nicholas and Patrick Isztwan

Preview

Merion will be represented by one of its members in Nicholas, who birdied Llanerch’s closer (par 4, 298 yards) to avoid a potential sudden-death playoff. He made a tense five-footer after a slippery eagle attempt.

“To finish it off by driving the green on No. 18 was great,” Nicholas, 24, of Philadelphia, Pa., said. “This is very much a sigh of relief.”

Nicholas is a week removed from winning his second straight Philadelphia Open title. His portfolio also includes the Joseph H. Patterson Cup (2022) and BMW Philadelphia Amateur Championship (2025), the latter of which he defeated Isztwan in the Final at Aronimink Golf Club.

Now the two will stand among the field at Merion.

“I didn’t have super high expectations coming into today after missing the cut [in the Philadelphia Open] last week,” Isztwan, 23, of Huntingdon Valley, Pa., said. “I knew I could do it, but I knew it was going to be tough. I was really nervous at the start and at the end, probably the most nervous I’ve been awhile. It’s nice to get it done. There were so many good players here, a lot of impressive bags. I thought it was fun to compete against them.”

Like Nicholas, Isztwan birdied his final hole (No. 9) to secure his spot in regulation. He hit a wedge 80 yards to seven feet. Isztwan will compete in his first U.S. Amateur.

GAP
Celebrating Amateur Golf since 1897, GAP, also known as the Golf Association of Philadelphia, is the oldest regional or state golf association in the United States. It serves as the principal ruling body of amateur golf in its region. The organization’s 345 Member Clubs and 140,000 individual members are spread across Pennsylvania, Delaware, New Jersey and Maryland. The GAP’s mission is to promote, preserve and protect the game of golf.