The United States team who’ll contest this year’s Walker Cup at St. Andrews has been finalised with the addition of Nick Gabrelcik, Austin Greaser, Stewart Hagestad, Ben James, Dylan Menante, and Preston Summerhays.
The six players join Nick Dunlap, David Ford, Gordon Sargent and Caleb Surratt, all of whom were previously selected to the team. Michael Thorbjornsen, who earned a place on the team as one of the top three Americans in the World Amateur Golf Rankings as of June 21, withdrew earlier this month due to a back injury.
Gabrelcik is a University of North Florida student who reached the round of 32 in the U.S. Amateur last week having been a semifinalist in 2021, and is a three-time Palmer Cup USA Team member.
Greaser, a senior at the University of North Carolina, reached the final of the US Amateur in ’21, losing to current LIV Golf player James Piot, and won that year’s Western Amateur which earned him a place in the 2022 Masters at Augusta National.
Hagestad is a Walker Cup veteran having competed in each of the last three stagings and has six major championship starts. He was the low-Amateur at the 2017 Masters having qualified as US Mid-Amateur champion, becoming the first Mid-Am winner to take the low-Amateur accolade at Augusta.
Ben James was a quarterfinalist in last week’s US Amateur and was a member of the victorious Palmer Cup team this year and Walker Cup selection marks the end of an incredible Freshman year at the University of Virginia.
Menante has played in four straight US Amateurs – and five in total – losing in the round of 64 to Walker Cup teammate Caleb Surratt and led Pepperdine University to their first national title in 25 years in 2021 before transferring to North Carolina where he now plays alongside Greaser.
Summerhays played in his second US Open at Los Angeles Country Club this year having survived a three-for-two playoff in final qualifying and had previously played at Winged Foot in 2020 as the reigning US Junior Amateur champion.
“These six players are outstanding additions to round out this year’s team,” said Mike McCoy, captain of the USA Team. “This group of players has earned the opportunity to be part of this team and I’m thrilled to see their hard work rewarded. I am beyond excited to have our full team set as we begin to prepare for the Old Course.”
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