Player-by-player guide to the Walker Cup teams
Ireland's Stuart Grehan of Team GB&I during a practice round prior to the Walker Cup at Lahinch Golf Club. Pic: Oisin Keniry/R&A/R&A via Getty Images.
22.4 years
40.1
A debutant 12 months ago at Cypress Point, Baker has since enjoyed individual and team success for England in the European Nations Cup team at Sotogrande. Riding high in the R&A’s Global Amateur Pathway standings for a DP World Tour card in 2027.
Another member of England’s victorious European Nations Cup team at Sotogrande, where the teenager finished third in the individual standings. Has also claimed third in the Lytham Trophy during an impressively consistent season.
Impressed GB&I captain Dean Robertson with his run to the British Amateur Championship last eight at West Lancs and Royal Liverpool and a similar performance at Lahinch in the South of Ireland has proven Easterbrook’s ability to play links golf.
Remarkably making his third Walker Cup appearance and still a teenager, the Scot entering his third year at Texas Tech has been described by captain Robertson as a “prodigious talent”.
Ireland’s only representative at Lahinch but stands tall as this year’s British Amateur champion and an automatic qualifier for his second Walker Cup appearance. The Co. Louth golfer, GB&I oldest team member, returns to the Old Course where he claimed the 2015 South of Ireland.
GB&I’s lowest ranked player but the Dubai-raised Englishman earned his captain’s pick by impressing Robertson as the “outstanding performer” at the Walker Cup training camp at Lahinch, ahead of this July’s South of Ireland, where he reached the quarters.
Son of Ryder Cup legend Ian Poulter, Luke is proving every bit as adept at excelling in tense team matchplay situations as a two-time Palmer Cup winner for Europe, and St Andrews Trophy champion with GB&I against the Europeans in 2025. Made his Walker Cup debut last season at Cypress Point.
The US-raised Scot is the fifth top-20 WAGR player in the GB&I ranks ahead of his second Walker Cup appearance and has been marked out by Robertson as a tenacious competitor.
GB&I’s highest-ranked player has not played since April due to an oblique injury but nevertheless impressed during the Lahinch training camp despite not hitting driver. Now hitting the big club but Ireland’s Thomas Higgins stands by as first reserve.
Last man onto the GB&I team thanks to his US Amateur title run on the eve of qualification last month, double-gloved Whaley won in the rain at Merion to prove his ability to master adverse conditions.
Dean Robertson (Sco)
Third time around as GB&I skipper for the former European Tour pro and Italian Open winner. Was victorious against Europe at the 2025 St Andrews Trophy but his team was well beaten by USA 12 months ago on his Walker Cup captaincy debut at Cypress Point. Appears to have learned some valuable lessons in the process, as has the core of his 2026 team, with six returnees.
21.4 years
8.3
Two-time winner in 2025-26 on the US Collegiate circuit, the Brigham Young golfer made the halfway cut at this year’s Wyndham Championship on the PGA Tour and reached the quarters of the British Amateur.
Finished low amateur at Shinnecock Hills in this summer’s US Open, when he finished tied for 23rd overall and reached the last 16 in August’s US Amateur.
The 2025 British Amateur champion, when he defeated Ireland’s Gavin Tiernan in the final at Royal St George’s, Fang claimed another Irish scalp at last autumn’s Walker Cup when he defeated Stuart Grehan in Sunday singles.
A double NCAA Division 1 champion as part of the Auburn University team in 2024 and 26 with matchplay knockout victories this season over USA team-mates Jay Leng Jr and Ethan Fang.
The oldest member of Team USA, the Californian is chasing a sixth Walker Cup victory dating back to 2017, the year he became the only invited US Mid-Amateur champion to make the cut at The Masters. Boasts a 7-1 singles record against GB&I.
Reached the Round of 16 at Merion in last month’s US Amateur having reached the matchplay stages via a strokeplay play-off, one of four American Walker Cuppers in the top five of the men’s WAGR.
Beat his higher-ranked USA team-mate Tyler Watts at the US Amateur R16 stage but lost 4&3 to GB&I’s Jack Whaley in last month’s final at Merion. A perennial contender, he also won the Western Amateur in Chicago, was runner-up in the Northeast and was T5 at the Southern this summer.
The left-hander made the cut and finished tied-39th in his US Open debut at Shinnecock Hills in July and is the youngest player at Lahinch this week.
The top-ranking men’s amateur golfer in the world, having won four individual US Collegiate titles this season. Stout won both his singles matches at last year’s Walker Cup but lost both foursomes partnering Fang.
Became the young champion of the prestigious Northeast Amateur in Rhode Island in June to confirm his spot on the US team for Lahinch, winning the strokeplay even by five shots from Walker Cup team-mate Jay Leng Jr.
Nathan Smith
Team USA’s winning skipper 12 months ago at Cypress Point, Smith was four-time US Mid-Amateur champion as a player and a three-time Walker Cupper, claiming the decisive singles victory over GB&I’s Nathan Kimsey in the home 17-9 triumph of 2013.
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