Race For U.S. Walker Cup Team Still Wide Open

Sneak Peek: This article will appear in the June 10 issue of Global Golf Post.

The men’s NCAA Championship has been decided, U.S. Open qualifying is complete, and now the summer elite-amateur circuit begins. Hanging over each of those tournaments, beginning next week with the Sunnehanna Amateur, will be the long sprint for a berth on the U.S. Walker Cup team that will travel to England’s Royal Liverpool Golf Club to face Great Britain and Ireland in September.

The team makeup is wide open at this juncture, as open as I can ever recall at this time of year. The USGA International Team Selection Committee, led by Martha Lang, will be busy over the next 90 days.

Sixteen prospective team members assembled in South Florida last December for a practice session, a mix of evaluation and indoctrination. Of the 16, just one looks to be guaranteed a spot on captain Nathaniel Crosby’s squad.

University of Texas rising sophomore Cole Hammer had a solid freshman year, earning NCAA Division I All-American honors and winning the Phil Mick...