#Meet lone amateur who made US Open cut at Winged Foot

John Pak is not going to win the U.S. Open, but he is going to be standing on the 18th green at Winged Foot late Sunday afternoon for the awards ceremony and he’ll be handed a trophy.

Pak, a 21-year-old senior at Florida State who grew up in Scotch Plains, N.J., will have the luxury on Sunday of shooting whatever in the final round, and he’ll still win low amateur at this 120th U.S. Open.

That’s because, of the 13 amateurs who qualified into the 144-player field this week, Pak was the only one to make the cut.

He wasn’t happy with the 79 he shot in Saturday’s third round, but he’ll always have Thursday, when he shot an opening-round 1-under 69 and was in contention for one day.

“I’m so honored to be low amateur this week,’’ Pak told The Post Saturday. “I played a very good first day, and it feels good to know that I at least had one good round and competed with some of the best players in the world.’’

One of those “best players in the world’’ he referred to is Matthew Wolff, who like Pak is 21, but is leading the U.S. Open entering Sunday at 5-under — 19 shots better than Pak’s 14-over for the week.

Wolff, whom Pak competed against in college, serves as inspiration for where Pak can take his career.

Pak, when he turns pro, soon will be chasing the likes of Wolff and Collin Morikawa.

“My good is just as good as anyone else’s, but I feel like they’re just way more consistently good,’’ Pak said. “I need to find that next level to make my game just as good as theirs. It makes me happy to see them being so successful, because I played against them and now since this is my first PGA Tour event/major I finally got the chance to go up against them again.

“I wasn’t too far off after two rounds, but I just had a really bad day [Saturday]. That’s what separates us. I need to figure that out.’’

His plan for Sunday?

“I want to prove to people that I didn’t just have one good day,’’ Pak said. “I just want to put up a good number and prove to people that I can play some golf.’’

The reality is that you don’t get into this elite field unless you can “play some golf,’’ and Pak is a decorated amateur with dreams of making the transition from the college to pro came as remarkably seamlessly as Wolff and Morikawa have.

Pak is a soft-spoken young man, but not too timid to walk up to Tiger Woods, Bryson DeChambeau and Jordan Spieth this week and ask for advice.

“I wanted to hear from the best, so I asked them what they think I should do out here,’’ Pak said. “I walked up to them and introduced myself and said, ‘This is my first major, first PGA Tour event and what’s some advice you can give to someone like me?’ ’’

Pak found himself walking near Woods on the way to the parking lot early in the week and introduced himself.

“I said, ‘Hey Tiger, how’s it going? My name is John Pak,’ ’’ Pak said. “Nice guy. Tiger told me to stay patient, which is great advice. Bryson told me just to find a consistency in my golf game. He took about 15 minutes to say it and he went on about this big science stuff. But it was cool to hear his thought process behind it. Jordan gave me some course advice, to stay below the hole out here.’’

Woods and Spieth missed the cut Friday. DeChambeau is in contention to win on Sunday. What a scene it would be if DeChambeau and Pak were on that 18th green together being presented awards Sunday evening.

“It was cool to hear what they had to say,’’ Pak said. “Bryson congratulated me the other day [after his 69]. He’s such a nice guy.’’

Pak’s back story is a cool one. His father, Kwang, who’s not a golfer, moved John and himself from New Jersey to Orlando, Fla., in John’s sophomore year at Scotch Plains-Fanwood High School on the advice of a friend.

“It wasn’t an easy decision,’’ Pak recalled. “It was just the only way to get good at golf. Six months of the year [in New Jersey] you can’t really play golf. I didn’t really want to go at first. But we talked about it, and I look back on it now and it was probably one of the best decisions we’ve ever made.’’

This week has served as Exhibit A.

Last Am standing.