The Nathan Smith-led U.S. Walker Cup team is beginning to take shape.
Last week, the first three team members were awarded berths, per the new USGA custom of selecting the three highest-ranked American amateurs in the World Amateur Golf Ranking after the U.S. Open, while a pair of Oklahoma State players staked claims to spots on the team with impressive on-course performances.
Jackson Koivun, Ben James and Michael La Sasso, the top three amateurs in the world, earned tickets to Cypress Point in September.
Koivun, a rising junior at Auburn University, has already earned a PGA Tour card via PGA Tour University Accelerated. This is his second week atop the WAGR.
James, a rising senior at the University of Virginia, is a three-time All-American who played on the 2023 Walker Cup squad that won at St. Andrews. He is ranked second in the WAGR.
La Sasso shot up the WAGR ladder by winning the NCAA Division I individual title. The University of Mississippi rising senior is now ranked No. 3 in the world.
One question looms over the selection process: what of mid-amateur participation?
Ethan Fang, an Oklahoma State rising junior ranked seventh in the world, likely sewed up a Walker Cup berth with a victory at the R&A Amateur Championship at Royal St George’s on Saturday. He became the first American to win this prestigious championship in 18 years.
His teammate, Preston Stout, ranked No. 8, captured the Northeast Amateur, winning by eight strokes and earning a spot in the U.S. Amateur in August. He too will likely be selected to play for the U.S. Walker Cup team in September.
Additionally, fifth-ranked Tommy Morrison qualified for match play at the Amateur Championship, taking another step forward in his quest to make Smith's team.
Around the time of the 2012 U.S. Amateur, ahead of becoming USGA president, Tom O’Toole led the charge to codify that future Walker Cup teams would have two mid-amateurs. The thinking was that this was a good way to promote the amateur game, and that it would be a good thing for college players to see that there was life in competitive golf if a professional career did not pan out.
Accordingly, Nathan Smith and Todd White were part of the team that won at National Golf Links in 2013. Mike McCoy and Scott Harvey played for the 2015 team that lost at Royal Lytham & St Annes.
After O’Toole’s time in office ended, the policy quietly went away. Stewart Hagestad has been the lone mid-amateur on the last three Walker Cup teams.
The USGA still has a strong preference for having at least one mid-amateur on each Walker Cup team. However, there are just not a lot of mid-amateurs who can invest the time, effort, and money necessary to compete for a berth. Life – family and career – gets in the way. Traveling the summer Elite Amateur Golf Series schedule is an expensive proposition.
At this juncture, it looks like Evan Beck is in the driver’s seat for the mid-amateur berth. He is the highest-ranked American mid-amateur in the WAGR and he is the reigning U.S. Mid- Amateur champion.
However, there is some concern in Walker Cup circles about his playing schedule in 2025. Ranked No. 18, Beck played in the Giles Invitational, a mid-amateur event, where he finished 17th. He missed the cut at the Masters and the U.S. Open. He will play in the Western Amateur and the U.S. Amateur but is unsure about playing in any other events.
The USGA would prefer to see him playing in a few more of the summer Elite Amateur Golf Series tournaments to measure his game against the college-aged players who will make up both Walker Cup teams. Playing in professional events or mid-amateur tournaments does not enable the USGA to properly evaluate his ability to compete with elite college amateurs.
The only other mid-amateur who could challenge him for a berth is Hagestad. Ranked No. 55 in the WAGR, he is more focused on his career than competitive golf. He played the Northeast Amateur last week, posting a top-10 finish in his first outing of the year, and he will play in the Western Amateur and the U.S. Amateur. Hagestad will need strong finishes in those tournaments to merit serious consideration.
A junior player could make the 2025 team. Miles Russell is ranked No. 28 in the WAGR, but that was prior to a runner-up finish at the Northeast Amateur. Tyler Watts, a member of the USGA’s National Development Program who is ranked No. 85, won the Sunnehanna Amateur this month and finished T6 at the Northeast Amateur.
As it always is in a Walker Cup year, the next 10 weeks will be very interesting.
E-MAIL JIM
Top: Evan Beck
Chris Keane, Usga