Predicting the 10-man United States roster for the 2026 Walker Cup at Lahinch

Cameron Jourdan, GolfweekWed, June 24, 2026 at 3:01 PM UTC

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The 51st Walker Cup at Lahinch in Ireland is less than three months away.

On July 8, the top three Americans in the World Amateur Golf Rankings will secure their spots on the United States squad for the biennial competition between the top amateurs from the U.S. against their counterparts from Great Britain and Ireland. The full 10-man roster will be announced following the conclusion of the U.S. Amateur, set for Aug. 10-16 at Merion in Ardmore, Pennsylvania.

That means the clock is ticking for golfers to play their way onto the team. With a majority of the major amateur events still on the calendar, there is plenty of time for those on the bubble and on the outside looking in to show captain Nathan Smith why they deserve a chance to wear the red, white and blue.

There are likely only a handful of returning players for the U.S. in 2026, and this team is trending to be much, much younger than the one that dominated Sunday Singles at Cypress Point last fall. The young players who will likely be on the team are proven in all levels of competition, and it's finally their time to shine in the Walker Cup.

The U.S. leads the all-time series, 40-9-1.

Here's a look at predictions for who will round out the 10-man U.S. Walker Cup team (WAGR ranking in parentheses).

Likely auto selections

Preston Stout (No. 2)

Ethan Fang (No. 4)

Miles Russell (No. 5)

In two weeks, three players will automatically earn their spots on the team. That's likely to be Stout and Fang, teammates at Oklahoma State and members of the 2025 team at Cypress Point, and 17-year-old Miles Russell, who made the cut in his first major start at the U.S. Open. Last year, I wrote Russell deserved a spot on the 2025 team. Now he's likely to be an automatic selection, if not a lock. All of these players will go up one spot in the rankings once Jackson Koivun officially turns pro, too.

Locks

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Josiah Gilbert (No. 6)

William Jennings (No. 8)

Ryder Cowan (No. 10)

Gilbert is close enough to Russell that he could, theoretically, jump him in WAGR and earn the automatic selection in two week's time. Regardless, he's a lock. As are William Jennings and Ryder Cowan. Jennings is coming off a stellar season at Alabama that nearly saw him win the individual national championship, losing by a shot to Stout. Cowan won low-amateur honors at the U.S. Open last week and vaulted five spots in WAGR. Hard to imagine these three older players missing the roster on what will be a much-younger U.S. team than 2025.

Good chance with strong summer

Tyler Watts (No. 9)

Kihei Akina (No. 11)

It's going to be hard to see either of these players being left off the team. Watts, an incoming freshman at Tennessee, is already a top-10 amateur in the world. That's impressive to do before entering college. Akina is coming off a quarterfinal appearance in the British Amateur and won the Phil Mickelson Award this season as the nation's top freshman at BYU. If these two play strong over the summer, they are almost shoo-in selections.

Mid-am representative

Stewart Hagestad (No. 83)

Stew played in his fifth Walker Cup last fall and is going to make an excellent captain one day. He secured the retaining point at Cypress Point. Barring his game has fallen off a cliff, it feels like the mid-am spot is his unless his play drops off a cliff this summer. He's 7-1 in singles during his five Walker Cup appearances.

On the bubble

Jacob Modleski (No. 12)

Eric Lee (No. 14)

Jack Turner (No. 16)

Connor Williams (No. 21)

U.S. Amateur winner

As it stands, there are nine players above that, to me, seem almost guaranteed selections. That leaves only one spot, and if an American not on the team wins the U.S. Amateur, that's who will be on the team (see Mason Howell last year). Modleski was essentially the last pick at Cypress Point, but after a quiet junior season at Notre Dame, he'll need to have a strong summer to get back on the team but has experience that will be needed. Lee just made the cut at the U.S. Open and has plenty of match-play experience at Oklahoma State and made the semis last year at the U.S. Amateur. Turner and Williams are likely on the outside looking in, but go win a couple amateur events this summer and they could make their case to take a spot.

Cameron Jourdan is an assistant editor of Golfweek, covering college and amateur golf, the PGA Tour and plenty more. Follow Cameron on X/Twitter (@Cam_Jourdan) or Instagram (@GolfweekJourdan).

This article originally appeared on Golfweek: Walker Cup 2026: Predicting the United States roster for Lahinch

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