SAN FRANCISCO – Want to play the Walker Cup at Cypress Point? First, you’ll need to make the team.
This week’s U.S. Amateur at Olympic Club serves as the final audition for players hoping to secure a spot on Nathan Smith’s 10-man U.S. team that will face Great Britain and Ireland on Sept. 6-7 at the famed Alister Mackenzie masterpiece.
Five players have already punched their tickets – Auburn’s Jackson Koivun, Ole Miss’ Michael La Sasso and two-time Walker Cupper Ben James of Virginia earned spots through the World Amateur Golf Ranking. Oklahoma State teammates Ethan Fang and Preston Stout were added in the most recent selections.
The remaining five players will be chosen by the USGA’s International Team Selection Working Group immediately after the U.S. Amateur wraps up.
One spot is reserved for the U.S. Amateur champion, if American and not already selected. Another will almost certainly go to a mid-amateur, with Stewart Hagestad, eyeing his fifth team appearance, and reigning U.S. Mid-Amateur champion Evan Beck as the top contenders.
Beck has played sparingly this year, missing cuts at the Masters, U.S. Open and Western Amateur. Hagestad, who dealt with elbow tendonitis last year while exiting in the Round of 32 at the U.S. Mid-Amateur, has been more active this summer, tying for eighth at the Northeast Amateur and advancing to match play at the Western.
Oklahoma’s Jase Summy, who won the Western Amateur, is practically a lock at seventh in the world rankings.
That leaves a handful of players battling for just two or three spots.
Here’s what the remaining contenders likely need to accomplish, at minimum, to make the U.S. Walker Cup team:
Needs to make match play
Tommy Morrison: The tall Texan hit a rough patch early this summer, but strong performances overseas and a match-play appearance at the Western have him on the cusp of selection.
Needs to win a match
Jacob Modleski: The Notre Dame senior reached the quarters last year at Hazeltine. This year he won ACCs, finished fourth at regionals, and collected multiple top-10s this summer, including a semifinal run at the Western.
Needs to make Round of 16
Wells Williams: If not for a poor finish at the Western, the Vanderbilt standout would’ve made match play. He secured a couple nice wins this past spring, though his T-8 at Northeast remains his only top-10 this summer.
Need to make quarterfinals
Miles Russell: The 16-year-old would be the youngest Walker Cupper ever. He was on fire over the winter and early spring with multiple ranked wins, including the South Beach Amateur and Junior Invitational at Sage Valley. He then finished runner-up at Northeast and made match play at North and South before losing to fellow junior Luke Colton, who again eliminated Russell in the quarters of the U.S. Junior. He missed the 54-hole cut at the Western by five shots.
Tyler Watts: Another junior player who’s had one of the best summers, though he’s still ranked only 40th in the world. He won the Sunnehanna in record fashion, placed sixth at Northeast, reached the final of the North and South, made the Round of 16 at the U.S. Junior and finished just a shot out of match play at the Western.
Need to make final: Lance Simpson, Max Herendeen, Jack Turner, Cameron Tankersley, Bryan Lee, Luke Colton
Need to win: Everyone else.
