After last week’s Western Amateur, less than three weeks remain before the USGA and captain Nathan Smith finalize the 10 players who will represent the United States at Ireland’s Lahinch Golf Club for the 51st Walker Cup Match.
Already on the team by way of being the top four Americans in the World Amateur Golf Ranking on July 9 are Preston Stout (No. 1), Tyler Watts (3), Miles Russell (5) and Ethan Fang (7). While Oklahoma State teammates Stout and Fang represented the United States at Cypress Point last year, top junior golfers Watts and Russell will make their Walker Cup debuts.
That means six spots remain, one of which will go to the 2026 U.S. Amateur champion (provided he is American and not already on the team) and another will likely go to a mid-amateur. So you can be certain that performances at the Western Amateur, with its stacked field and unique format of 72 holes of stroke play followed by four rounds of match play, had an impact on players’ Walker Cup prospects before the team is finalized after the U.S. Amateur.
Of the four players already on the Walker Cup squad, only Stout didn’t participate in the Western Amateur. Fang missed the 36-hole cut, but both Russell and Watts made match play. Russell made history, becoming the first golfer to earn medalist honors in the U.S. Junior Amateur and the Western Amateur in the same year. The 17-year-old defeated Watts, 3 and 1, in the quarterfinals before losing to eventual champion Jay Leng in the semifinals.
Leng’s impressive victory has certainly put the rising Stanford junior in the conversation. Ranked No. 33 in the WAGR, Leng earned All-ACC honors as a sophomore and finished in the top 10 four times.
But the 20-year-old has shone this summer. A runner-up finish at the Northeast Amateur, a top-five at the Southern Amateur and his Western Amateur victory earned Leng the men’s Elite Amateur Cup for the player with the most points across the seven Elite Amateur Golf Series events.
With a solid performance at the U.S. Amateur, Leng might be hard to overlook for Lahinch.
Among others in the running for the final six berths, William Jennings (No. 6 in the WAGR) and Ryder Cowan (No. 9) remain near locks for Lahinch even though they didn’t play in the Western Amateur. Both were Fred Haskins Award finalists this past collegiate season. Jennings won the NCAA Marana Regional and was runner-up to Stout in the national championship’s stroke-play portion. Cowan was joint low amateur with Jackson Koivun at the U.S. Open.
And while Kihei Akina (11th in the WAGR) missed the 36-hole cut at the Western Amateur, the BYU rising sophomore is still in a good spot for Walker Cup selection. Akina was a Haskins Award finalist and posted nine top-10 finishes in 10 collegiate starts in 2026, including two victories.
Among mid-amateurs, it appears five-time Walker Cup winner Stewart Hagestad (26th in the WAGR) is in the driver’s seat. Hagestad would likely have solidified his spot if he had made the Sweet 16 at the Western Amateur, but since he didn’t the door remains ajar. However, Hagestad made the 36-hole cut while other mid-amateur contenders such as Bobby Massa, Evan Beck and Connor Doyal didn’t.
Of all the contenders, Hagestad is in the best form. He made the cut in the Northeast Amateur and the Southern Amateur (where he finished in the top 10) before making the first cut at the Western Amateur. Still, the spot traditionally reserved for a mid-amateur spot is up for grabs, and players will have a final chance to make a statement at next week’s U.S. Amateur at Merion.
By reaching the Western Amateur quarterfinals, Josiah Gilbert (No. 8 in the WAGR) likely secured a Walker Cup debut at Lahinch. The rising senior at Auburn University finished one stroke behind Russell in stroke play to earn the No. 2 match-play seed. He beat Baylor Larrabee before falling in the quarterfinals to Auburn teammate Logan Reilly.
Gilbert is coming off a solid junior year at Auburn, helping his team to its second national championship in three years. He won individually twice in the fall and finished in the top five of both the NCAA Athens Regional and the NCAA Championship stroke-play portion. Because of these accomplishments, Gilbert would be hard to overlook for a Walker Cup spot regardless of how he performs at the U.S. Amateur.
Carson Bertagnole (24th in the WAGR) saw his stock rise by virtue of his Western Amateur performance, making the Sweet 16 as the No. 9 seed before losing to Watts. The reigning ACC freshman of the year and rising sophomore at the University of North Carolina has played impressively this summer. Bertagnole tied or broke single-round scoring records in both the Northeast Amateur and the Southern Amateur, finishing T-3 in both Elite Amateur Golf Series events. The week before the Western Amateur, he finished runner-up in the Monroe Invitational.
Bertagnole led the field after the first round of stroke play at the Western Amateur. Making match play was impressive, but he will probably need a deep run at the U.S. Amateur to have a shot at the Walker Cup. Still, he is certainly in the running.
While Western Amateur runner-up Michael Riebe (109th in the WAGR) played an impressive tournament, he is likely too far behind to earn a Walker Cup spot. Same goes for semifinalist Logan Reilly (80th). Still, they have a chance, just like any American in the U.S. Amateur field has a chance. It’s incredibly difficult yet simple: win at Merion and play at Lahinch.
Top: Jay Leng helped his chances of making the U.S. Walker Cup team with his Western Amateur victory.
Jenny Butler, Western Golf Association