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NBC Sports
4 days ago
- Sport
- NBC Sports
U.S. Walker Cup team scenarios as U.S. Amateur begins at Olympic
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.
NBC Sports
30-06-2025
- Sport
- NBC Sports
Preview: Poulter duo highlight entrants for The Open final qualifying
Ian Poulter and his son, Luke, will be among nearly 300 players vying for 20 available spots in The Open at Royal Portrush when final qualifying takes place Tuesday at four sites across the U.K. Five spots each will be up for grabs at Burnham and Berrow's Somersert course in England; Dundonald Links in Troon, Scotland; Royal Cinque Ports in Deal, England; and West Lancashire in Blundellsands, England, near Liverpool. The elder Poulter, who owns three top-10s in his Open career but hasn't played since 2022, is one of 14 current LIV Golf members entered into final qualifying. Luke Poulter is a likely Walker Cupper this year and a rising senior at Florida, where he overcame a serious back injury last year to finish as the 26th-ranked player in the nation this past season. The Poulters, who will play at Royal Cinque Ports, are trying to become the first father-son duo to compete in The Open since Christy O'Connor Sr. and Christy O'Conner Jr. in 1977. Only two sets of father-son duos have won Open titles – Old Tom Morris and Young Tom Morris, and Willie Park Sr. and Willie Park Jr. Here is the list of full-time LIV members playing: Ian Poulter, Lee Westwood, Graeme McDowell, David Puig, Dean Burmester, Adrian Meronk, Jinichiro Kozuma, Caleb Surratt, Anirban Lahiri, Harold Varner III, Lucas Herbert, Peter Uihlein, Sam Horsfield and Andy Ogletree. Luis Masaveu, who was recently replaced on Fireballs GC by Josele Ballester, will also attempt to qualify. Sergio Garcia did not enter final qualifying, though he earned his Open spot by edging Puig as the top-ranked player in LIV points not already qualified. Here is a closer look at some notables from each of the four sites: BURNHAM AND BERROW • Former GB&I Walker Cuppers Jake Bolton, Jack Davidson, Harry Ellis, Harry Hall, Niall Kearney, Thomas Plumb, Jack Singh Brar, Tom Sloman and Oliver Wilson. • Hall, the top-ranked player in any of the final qualifiers at world No. 73, is one of two current PGA Tour players in this field along with rookie Danny Walker. • Former British Amateur champions Ellis and Jacob Skov Olesen, plus the man that Olesen beat last summer, Dominic Clemons, who recently finished his college career at Alabama but is still listed as an amateur. Clemons plus fellow Englishmen Charlie Forster and Freddie Turnell are potential GB&I Walker Cuppers this year. • Caleb Surratt is joined by fellow LIV members Anirban Lahiri and Jinichiro Kozuma, who just tied for second at LIV Dallas. • England's Dan Brown opened last year's Open at Troon with a leading 65 before tying for 10th. He's currently 50th in the Race to Dubai. • England's Chris Wood, the former Ryder Cupper and Open low amateur in 2008, hasn't played an Open since missing the cut in 2019. He's dealt with neck and back injuries along with anxiety and burnout, but back in May he notched his first top-10 on the DP World Tour in seven years in Turkey. He's only played three times since, with two missed cuts and nothing better than T-65. DUNDONALD LINKS • Ireland's Gavin Tiernan is the recent runner-up to British Amateur winner Ethan Fang of Oklahoma State. • Scotland's Niall Shiels Donegan recently transferred from Northwestern to North Carolina and is a potential GB&I Walker Cupper this year. Speaking of Walker Cup, Scotland's Connor Graham, a rising sophomore at Texas Tech, is a strong bet to make his second team. • Past GB&I Walker Cuppers Jack McDonald, John Murphy, Liam Nolan, Caolan Rafferty and Marc Warren are also in this field. • Jamie Donaldson secured the winning point in his only Ryder Cup appearance, in 2014, though he's now 49 years old and has made just four DPWT starts this year. • Another former Ryder Cupper, Lee Westwood, is one of two LIV members here, along with Adrian Meronk. • Young South African Robin Williams was recently an alternate for the U.S. Open and is currently ranked just outside both the top 250 of OWGR and top 112 of DPWT's Race to Dubai. Jack Senior (85) and Callum Tarren (103) are also hoping for an extra start for DPWT points purposes. ROYAL CINQUE PORTS • The second highest-ranked player in this field is Denmark's Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen at world No. 87. The Oklahoma State product recently was T-12 at the U.S. Open and is currently 16th in the Race to Dubai. • France's Frederic Lacroix also qualified for this year's U.S. Open, where he missed the cut, and is currently 106th in the Race to Dubai. Also in this field is Sweden's Jens Dantorp (65), England's Matthew Southgate (89) and England's Nathan Kimsey (119). Southgate has played in six Opens – five times he's gotten through final qualifying at Royal Cinque Ports – with three top-25 finishes, including a T-6 in 2017. • Kimsey is also a former GB&I Walker Cupper, along with John Gough and Tom Lewis, the 2011 Open low amateur who also was T-11 at the 2019 Open at Portrush. • Florida State junior Tyler Weaver is among this year's potential GB&I Walker Cuppers, along with fellow Englishmen Luke Poulter, Harley Smith and Seb Cave. • One more U.S. Open qualifier, Maxwell Moldovan, is one of seven Americans in this field, most among the four qualifiers. That group includes recent Duke grad Luke Sample, club pro Brad Marek and LIV's Peter Uihlein. • Uihlein is one of XX LIV members in this field along with Ian Poulter, David Puig, Graeme McDowell and Dean Burmester. WEST LANCASHIRE • Texas senior Tommy Morrison, who won last year's European Amateur and then made the cut at Troon, is among the Americans in this field, along with former Alabama standout Davis Shore. • There is a strong Race to Dubai presence with Finland's Oliver Lindell (54), New Zealand's Kozuma Kobori (73), England's Joe Dean (100) and American Dan Erickson (129) • Former GB&I Walker Cuppers James Ashfield, Jack Bigham, Alex Fitzpatrick, Alex Maguire, Paul McBride and Conor Purcell are in this field. • LIV players at this site are Sam Horsfield, Lucas Herbert, Andy Ogletree and Harold Varner III.
