U.S. Walker Cup team scenarios as U.S. Amateur begins at Olympic

NBC Sports

2 days ago

SAN FRANCISCO – So, you want to play the Walker Cup at Cypress Point?
This week's U.S. Amateur at Olympic Club in San Francisco serves as the final opportunity for players to make Nathan Smith's 10-man U.S. team, which will take on Great Britain and Ireland on Sept. 6-7 at the famed Alister Mackenzie gem.
Five players have already been selected – Auburn's Jackson Koivun, Ole Miss' Michael La Sasso and two-time Walker Cupper Ben James of Virginia via the World Amateur Golf Ranking, plus more recently Oklahoma State teammates Ethan Fang and Preston Stout.
The remaining five players will be chosen by the USGA's International Team Selection Working Group immediately following the U.S. Amateur.
One of those spots will go to the winner at Olympic, if American and not already on the squad.
Another will assuredly go to a mid-amateur, with Stewart Hagestad, looking to make his fifth team, and reigning U.S. Mid-Amateur champion Evan Beck the two contenders. Beck has played sparingly this year, aside from missing cuts at the Masters, U.S. Open and Western Amateur. Hagestad, who battled some elbow tendonitis last year while losing in the Round of 32 at the U.S. Mid-Amateur, has been busy this summer, tying for eighth at the Northeast Amateur and making match play at the Western.
Oklahoma's Jase Summy, the winner of the Western, is a virtual lock at seventh in the world.
That leaves a handful of players battling for two or three spots.
Here's an estimate of what those remaining contenders need to do, at minimum, to make the U.S. Walker Cup team for Cypress:
Needs to make match play
Tommy Morrison: Tall Texan hit a rough patch to start the summer, but some nice showings overseas and a match-play appearance at the Western have him on the cusp of selection.
Needs to win a match
Jacob Modleski: Notre Dame senior advanced to the quarters last year at Hazeltine, and this year he won ACCs, was fourth at regionals, and strung together multiple top-10s this summer, including advancing to the semis of the Western.
Needs to make Round of 16
Wells Williams: If not for a poor finish at Western, the Vanderbilt standout would've made match play. He had a couple nice wins this past spring, though his T-8 at Northeast is 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 was 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.
Tyler Watts: Another junior player who has had one of the best summers, though still is ranked only 40th in the world. He won the Sunnehanna in record fashion, was sixth at Northeast, lost in the final of the North and South, made the Round of 16 at the U.S. Junior and finished 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.