Tag: Walker Cup 2021

Walker Cup selection begins: Here’s when the next three players will be added to the U.S. team

A Walker Cup practice session just wrapped for U.S. team hopefuls, and now there’s a date for three WAGR selections to the team.

Days after a Walker Cup practice session wrapped up at Bay Hill Club in Orlando, Florida, the U.S. Golf Association’s International Team Selection Committee has set a date for the first round of U.S. team selections.

Selection criteria for a portion of the team remains the same for building the 2021 team. That begins with the three highest-ranked American players in the World Amateur Golf Ranking. The cutoff date for those exemptions will fall after the Feb. 10 WAGR update.

The 2021 Walker Cup match will be played earlier than usual, having been moved from its traditional early September date to May 8-9 – just before the NCAA golf postseason begins in earnest. The matches will be played at Seminole Golf Club in Juno Beach, Florida, an ultra-private course that the golf world got a rare glimpse of in May 2020 when it hosted the TaylorMade Driving Relief exhibition match that featured Rickie Fowler, Matthew Wolff, Rory McIlroy and Dustin Johnson.

Related: Check out the 16 players invited to a Walker Cup practice

So far, only one player has played his way onto the 10-man U.S. team. Tyler Strafaci accomplished that with his U.S. Amateur win at Bandon Dunes Golf Resort in Bandon, Oregon, in August.

Nathaniel Crosby returns for his second captaincy after leading the Americans to victory at Royal Liverpool Golf Club in Hoylake, England, in 2019. Crosby attended the Bay Hill practice session last week that included Strafaci and 15 Walker Cup hopefuls.

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With Walker Cup, Curtis Cup approaching in 2021, R&A selects preliminary GB&I squads

The GB&I Walker Cup team will travel to Seminole in May while the Curtis Cup team will try to win a third straight match on home soil.

The Walker Cup and Curtis Cup, coveted biennial matches for male and female amateurs, will be played in the same calendar year in 2021. Chalk it up as another rarity caused by COVID.

Last month, the USGA released a list of 16 male amateurs who were invited to a Walker Cup practice session to take place at Bay Hill in Orlando, Florida, this month. A similar band of female amateurs were assembled a year ago in anticipation of the Curtis Cup, which was moved from June 2020 to August 2021.

The R&A has now released similar lists for those matches. The Great Britain & Ireland practice squad for the Walker Cup includes 15 men. That eventually will be whittled down to the 10-man team that will compete May 8-9 at Seminole Golf Club in Junior Beach, Florida.

The initial squad includes:

  • Jake Bolton (22, Ogbourne Downs, England)
  • Barclay Brown (19, Hallamshire, England)
  • Callum Farr (22, Northamptonshire County, England)
  • Alex Fitzpatrick (21, Hallamshire, England)
  • Angus Flanagan (21, St George’s Hill, England)
  • Benjamin Jones (21, Northamptonshire County, England)
  • Matty Lamb (22, Hexham, England)
  • John Murphy (22, Kinsale, Ireland)
  • Tom McKibbin (17, Holywood, Ireland)
  • Joseph Pagdin (19, Lake Nona, England)
  • Mark Power (20, Kilkenny, Ireland)
  • Caolan Rafferty (27, Dundalk, Ireland)
  • Benjamin Schmidt (18, Rotherham, England)
  • Sandy Scott (22, Nairn, Scotland)

“We have selected a talented group of players to work with in preparation for the match against the United States of America next year,” GB&I Walker Cup captain Stuart Wilson said in a release. “We will be closely monitoring their form and results in a number of important events over the coming months while other players still have time to play their way into contention before we finalize the team which will travel to Florida. We will go to Seminole with belief in ourselves and will give it our best shot to win back the trophy.”

On the women’s side, the GB&I team has won the past two matches at home – at Nairn in 2012 and Dun Laoghaire in 2016. The Curtis Cup will be played Aug. 26-28 at Conwy Golf Club in Wales.

There are 17 women on the initial GB&I Curtis Cup squad, and by August, that number will be cut to eight team members.

“We have a good blend of youth and experience in the squad but there is still time for other players to make their case for inclusion in the final teams selected. I know the girls will relish the opportunity to compete and try to win the two matches,” GB&I captain Elaine Ratcliffe said.

That squad includes:

  • Hannah Darling (17, Broomieknowe, Scotland)
  • Annabell Fuller (18, Roehampton, England)
  • Chloe Goadby (23, St Regulus, Scotland)
  • Paula Grant (27, Lisburn, Ireland)
  • Charlotte Heath (19, Huddersfield, England)
  • Lily May Humphreys (18, Stoke by Nayland, England)
  • Hazel MacGarvie (21, Royal Troon, Scotland)
  • Julie McCarthy (21, Forrest Little, Ireland)
  • Caley McGinty (20, Knowle, England)
  • Shannon McWilliam (21, Aboyne, Scotland)
  • Olivia Mehaffey (23, Royal County Down Ladies, Ireland)
  • Emily Price (21, Ludlow, England)
  • Euphemie Rhodes (18, Burnham and Berrow, England)
  • Emily Toy (23, Carlyon Bay, England)
  • Lauren Walsh (20, Castlewarden, Ireland)
  • Isobel Wardle (20, Prestbury, England)
  • Annabel Wilson (19, Lurgan, Ireland)

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USGA reveals 16 players invited to Walker Cup practice session at Bay Hill

The USGA has announced its 16-man practice squad, which will come together Dec. 16-18 at Bay Hill Club & Lodge and Lake Nona Country Club.

The Walker Cup moves from its traditional fall dates in 2021 to a new spot on the calendar in May. That means that this past summer’s amateur calendar – and the spring college season – are very much in play for the selection of the 10-man United States team that will try to retain the cup on May 8-9 at Seminole Golf Club in Juno Beach, Florida.

The USGA has announced its 16-man practice squad, which will come together Dec. 16-18 at Bay Hill Club & Lodge and Lake Nona Country Club, in Orlando, Florida. The site is strategic considering that eight of the 16 players are competing in the Palmer Cup, also at Bay Hill, which will help to limit travel for the invitees during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The practice squad includes:

  • Ricky Castillo, of Yorba Linda, California
  • Pierceson Coody, of Plano, Texas
  • Quade Cummins, of Weatherford, Oklahoma
  • Cooper Dossey, of Austin, Texas
  • Austin Eckroat, of Edmond, Oklahoma
  • Stewart Hagestad, of Newport Beach, California
  • Cole Hammer, of Houston, Texas
  • McClure Meissner, of San Antonio, Texas
  • William Mouw, of Chino, California
  • John Pak, of Scotch Plains, New Jersey
  • David Perkins, of East Peoria, Illinois
  • Garett Reband, of York, South Carolina
  • Cameron Sisk, of San Diego, California
  • Tyler Strafaci, of Davie, Florida
  • Davis Thompson, of St. Simons Island, Georgia
  • Michael Thorbjornsen, of Wellesley, Massachusetts

Captain Nathaniel Crosby, who guided the U.S. team to victory in 2019 at Royal Liverpool Golf Club and played on the winning U.S. team in the 1983 Match, will also attend the practice session.

Hagestad, Hammer and Pak, the low amateur in this year’s U.S. Open at Winged Foot Golf Club, were on the winning U.S. squad in 2019. Seven of the 16 players from the 2019 Walker Cup practice session made the 10-man U.S. team.

Among the 16 men invited to next month’s practice session, four are USGA champions. That includes Hagestad (2016 U.S. Mid-Amateur); Hammer (2018 U.S. Amateur Four-Ball); Strafaci (2020 U.S. Amateur) and Thorbjornsen (2018 U.S. Junior Amateur).

All but Hagestad are currently on a college roster, though Cummins (Oklahoma), Dossey (Baylor), Perkins (Illinois State) and Reband (Oklahoma) are all fifth-year seniors who returned to their respective rosters after last spring’s championship season was wiped out because of COVID. Strafaci completed four years on the Georgia Tech roster but remains an amateur. Courtesy of his U.S. Amateur win, he has an invitation to the Masters and U.S. Open waiting in 2021 and has presumably already earned his spot on the Walker Cup team, per recently updated selection criteria.

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