The Golden Walker Cup is here.
The 50th edition of the biennial match between the top amateurs from the United States and their counterparts from Great Britain & Ireland begins Saturday at famed Cypress Point Club in Pebble Beach, California.
Rosters for Team USA and GB&I were set last month. For the Americans, it happened at the conclusion of the 125th U.S. Amateur at Olympic Club, where 18-year-old high school senior Mason Howell won the Havemeyer Trophy.
He’s one of eight Americans making their debut in the competition. Meanwhile, one player is making his fifth consecutive start in the Walker Cup.
Here are 10 interesting facts about the 10 members of the United States Walker Cup team:
Ethan Fang
WAGR: 3
Fang transferred to Oklahoma State last year, helping the Cowboys win their 12th national championship in school history. A month later, he won the British Amateur, becoming the first American to win since Drew Weaver in 2007.
Stewart Hagestad
WAGR: 42
Walker Cup record: 8-6-1
Stew is returning for his fifth straight Walker Cup. The 34-year-old mid-am has never lost to GB&I in the competition.
Mason Howell
WAGR: 148
Howell has had an incredible summer, winning the 2025 U.S. Amateur to earn his spot on the team. But his hot streak started when the high school senior shot 63-63 in a U.S. Open qualifier to get into the field at Oakmont.
Jackson Koivun
WAGR: 1
Koivun, the top-ranked amateur in the world, won the Fred Haskins Award, the Heisman Trophy of college golf, after his freshman year in 2024 and finished top 11 in three straight PGA Tour starts this summer.
Ben James
WAGR: 2
Walker Cup record: 1-2-0
James, a rising senior at Virginia, won five times as a freshman, claiming the Phil Mickelson Award in 2023. He’s joins Stew as the only players with Ryder Cup experience.
Michael La Sasso
WAGR: 9
La Sasso was one of the first three players (Koivun, James) picked for the team, and he earned his spot thanks to his World Amateur Golf Ranking after winning the NCAA individual championship in May.
Jacob Modleski
WAGR: 13
Modleski, who made the quarterfinals in the U.S. Amateur last month, was essentially the last player on the team. He was also a semifinalist at the Western Amateur.
Tommy Morrison
WAGR: 6
Morrison, who stands at 6-foot-9, may tower over the cypress trees at Cypress Point. He fell in the Round of 64 to eventual champion Mason Howell at the U.S. Amateur and is No. 4 in the PGA Tour University rankings for 2026.
Preston Stout
WAGR: 4
Stout is a back-to-back Big 12 individual champion. He also won the Northeast Amateur earlier this summer then claimed medalist honors at the U.S. Amateur at Olympic Club, about 2 hours north of Cypress Point.
Jase Summy
WAGR: 5
Summy has been in great form heading to Cypress Point. On Sunday, he split medalist honors with Fang at the Carmel Cup at Spyglass Hill. He also won the Western Amateur, beating Fang in the final.
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