County Louth’s Gavin Tiernan and the United States’ Ethan Fang will battle it for glory in the 130th Amateur Championship at Royal St George’s after semi-final victories over Riccardo Fantinelli of Italy and Finland’s Veikka Viskari respectively.
Tiernan never lead in his quarter final match against Estonian Richard Teder until he was walking off the 18th green with a 1UP victory, but although he fell behind having bogeyed the second hole in his semi-final, he was back on level terms through four and never trailed thereafter.
A delightful tee shot on the par-3 sixth that came to rest six inches from the hole saw Tiernan hit the front and though the Italian struck back to claim parity on the ninth, Tiernan edged ahead again on the next and powered away to victory, playing his final six holes in -1 in blustery conditions on the rock-hard links to win 4&3.
Gavin Tiernan, take a bow 👏
The Irishman makes a near ace in the semi-final of The 130th Amateur Championship.
Watch live here 👉 https://t.co/0CcPgkSJP2 pic.twitter.com/l9tbFS23tx
— The R&A (@RandA) June 20, 2025
The second Finalist of The 130th Amateur Championship, Gavin Tiernan 🏌️♂️ pic.twitter.com/7aWHkBb5tr
— The R&A (@RandA) June 20, 2025
Following his semi-final victory at Royal St George’s, the Dubliner, ranked 1340 in the world, said: “That doesn’t really mean much to me, to be honest. In my head, I’m the best player here. Might not be the truth, but that’s what I believe.
“It doesn’t really matter who I’m playing against. Really I’m just playing against the golf course. Playing against myself really. As long as I’ve done all that I can to win, if I don’t, fair play. I don’t mind that.
“But yeah, that doesn’t really do too much for me. Like I’m just playing golf against myself, against the course, and we’ll see what happens.”
Fang’s semi-final contest proved to be a one-sided affair as he hit the front on the third and then reeled off three wins in-a-row to close out the front nine 4UP. Another win on 10 put him five ahead and he cruised home to secure victory on the 14th.
Fang would love to etch his name into the history of The Amateur Championship – following some of the iconic champions to have come before.
After sealing his spot in tomorrow’s 36-hole final, he said: “Each day as I win matches, it gets that much closer.
“It’s really hard not to [dream of winning], especially because I’m 36 holes away from it. But yeah, I just try to stay present and just do everything I’ve been doing.”
He added: “I took a pretty long look on that board over there with the trophies and all those names [of previous champions].
“Like I saw Sergio [Garcia] won it. It’s cool to see all those pro players who have come out here and won it.”
The winner of the Championship will receive an invitation to the 153rd Open Championship at Royal Portrush next month, along with an invitation to Augusta National for the 2026 Masters.
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