Irish duo in contention as GB&I prepare to name Walker Cup team

Thomas Higgins of Roscommon and Fota Island's David Howard are among those hopeful of being a captain's pick for the GB&I Walker Cup team

David Howard qualified for last month's Open Championship at Royal Birkdale. Pic: ©INPHO/Dan Clohessy

Great Britain & Ireland captain Dean Robertson is on Tuesday set to name his Walker Cup selection for next month’s matches at Lahinch against the United States. He is already confident the team has a great opportunity to regain the trophy for the first time in 11 years.

The Scot hosted a two-day training camp with much of his likely squad at the Co. Clare links ahead of last month’s South of Ireland Championship and although not all of those present played the tournament, he is confident some important groundwork was laid ahead of the September 5 and 6 matches, when GB&I will bid to win for the first time since 2015.

Six of the GB&I team of 10 will be automatic selections, drawn from the top five eligible players in the World Amateur Golf Ranking, along with British Amateur champion Stuart Grehan, the leading ranked Irishman in WAGR, and newly-minted US Amateur winner Jack Whaley of England.

Grehan, 33 and ranked 24th in the world, had four GB&I players ahead of him in the rankings following the US Amateur. The top three are all English, led by world number two Tyler Weaver, No.6 Luke Poulter, the son of European Ryder Cup legend Ian Poulter, and 16th-ranked Eliot Baker, with Scotland’s Niall Sheils Donegan, No.18 making up the leading quartet. With Grehan’s place already secured by his Amateur Championship victory at Royal Liverpool in June, the next ranked and final automatic qualifier was Scotland’s 19-year-old Connor Graham, the world number 25.

The remaining four places, selected by Robertson, are set to be revealed at 10am on Tuesday, with Irish international duo Thomas Higgins of Roscommon and Fota Island’s recent Open Championship qualifier David Howard among those hopeful of a captain’s pick, as is this year’s South Of Ireland champion Sean David of Wales.

Speaking to the Irish Examiner at Lahinch last month, the skipper said any winner of the South would be a serious contender for selection.

“This has more weight than the US Amateur,” Robertson said of the South.

“The South of Ireland has, in my opinion, as much weight as the Amateur Championship at Royal Liverpool a month ago without the exemptions to major championships.” Robertson also mentioned his automatic qualifiers, many of whom played the Old Course prior to the South.

“We had Tyler Weaver here on Monday and Tuesday as well. Tyler's been injured since April. He's a superstar and he's fit, 100%. His phased return wouldn't allow him to play the volume of golf that would have been required to go all the way here for the South. 

"So, he's just keeping holding it back. But he went along and he ghosted one of the players up the fairways. He had a few irons and he hit every approach shot for two days and did not miss a shot in two days.

“Eliot Baker was here as well. He didn’t play here, but he did come here and he's got a good baseline understanding of what Lahinch is all about, as does Tyler.” 

The only two players not present at Lahinch that week were Poulter and Sheils Donegan, both of whom were playing in the Western Amateur in Chicago, but Robertson added: “We'll come back on the ground August 28 and we'll have a holding camp at Ballybunion. Just relax, prior to getting our feet on the ground here.

“They all know each other. Uniquely, the Walker Cup is normally biennial but we played last year in 2025 (at Cypress Point in California), and now we’re in 2026, they changed the year so it didn't coincide with the Eisenhower World Amateur Championship.

“So, the good thing in that is that more than any year ever, there's going to be returning Walker Cup players with the experience of a Walker Cup under their belt. I can confidently predict that there's going to be half a dozen of those that were in there.

“For me, it's not about looking at a spreadsheet and seeing what rank they are. It's about understanding them, spending time on the ground and seeing them play, how they play, what their strengths are, what their areas for improvement are, before you bring in a partnership.”