USGA Announces Final Selections for 2019 USA Walker Cup Team

(LIBERTY CORNER, N.J. and ST. ANDREWS, SCOTLAND) - The USGA finalized the 10-player roster for the USA Team for the 47th Walker Cup Match with the announcement of seven players who will join the three previously announced selections. The Team will meet Great Britain and Ireland at Royal Liverpool Golf Club in Hoylake, England on Saturday and Sunday, Sept. 7-8.

The seven players announced today by the USGA’s International Team Selection Committee and captained by Nathaniel Crosby, of Jupiter, Fla, are: John Augenstein, 21, Owensboro, Ky.; Steven Fisk, 22, Stockbridge, Ga.; Andy Ogletree, 21, of Little Rock, Miss.; John Pak, 20, Scotch Plains, N.J.; Isaiah Salinda, 22, South San Francisco, Calif.; Alex Smalley, 22, Greensboro, N.C.; Brandon Wu, 22, Scarsdale, N.Y.

These players join Akshay Bhatia, 17, of Wake Forest, N.C.; Stewart Hagestad, 28, of Newport Beach, Calif.; and Cole Hammer, 19, of Houston, Texas, who were previously announced.

Additional bio information can be found at Walker Cup bios.

“The USGA has assembled an extremely talented squad to represent our country in the 47th Walker Cup Match,” said Stuart Francis, USGA Championship Committee chairman. “We are looking forward to watching this group bond in the spirit of teamwork, commitment and camaraderie when they compete to defend the Walker Cup.”

The Walker Cup Match is a biennial amateur team competition between the USA and a team composed of players from Great Britain and Ireland, selected by The R&A. The Match is played over two days with 18 singles matches and eight foursomes (alternate-shot) matches. The USA leads the overall series, 36-9-1, but the USA has just an 8-7 advantage over the last 15 meetings since 1989.

“Being picked as captain of the Walker Cup has been a life-changing experience for me,” said Crosby. “It’s not often that anyone gets to take a bow for something they did 40 years earlier, but this has come to pass for me, and I am full of gratitude and appreciation.

“To me, the greatest reward has been to get to know all of the Walker Cup prospects and their families over the last 18 months and watching their progress. It will be such a pleasure for me to see them succeed not only in the coming Walker Cup event but throughout their careers.”

The USA will look to retain the Walker Cup following the 19-7 victory over GB&I in 2017 at The Los Angeles Country Club.

This year’s host site, Royal Liverpool Golf Club, has played a significant role in Walker Cup history. The club served as the site of a friendly competition between golfers from Great Britain and Ireland and the United States in 1921 where the idea of the competition was discussed. The first Walker Cup was held the following year at the National Golf Links of America in Southampton, N.Y.

The club last hosted the match in 1983 when the USA won, 13½ to 10½.

The club, which is celebrating its 150th anniversary, has also been the host site for some of the game’s premier events including 12 Open Championships, 19 The Amateur Championships, the 1992 Curtis Cup Match and the 2012 Women’s British Open. The Open Championship will return in 2022.

Chandler Phillips, 22, of Huntsville, Texas and Ricky Castillo, 18, of Yorba Linda, Calif., are the first, second alternatives, respectively.

Tickets for the 47th Walker Cup Match are available here.