Stuart Grehan, Gavin Tiernan and Matthew McClean will carry Irish hopes into this week’s US Amateur Championship at Merion.
Grehan will be hopeful of completing a rare Amateur and US Amateur double and he already has his Great Britain and Ireland Walker Cup spot secured for next month in Lahinch while his compatriots Tiernan and McClean will be looking to join him with this their last chance to put in a strong performance.
Captain Dean Robertson will confirm his captain’s picks upon completion of the championship which gets underway on Monday and he would dearly love to have another Irish representative on the team to rally what should be a raucous home crowd against the USA.
Both Tiernan and McClean were part of the European Team Championships winning team for Ireland last month while Thomas Higgins backed up that European success with a Home Internationals win for Ireland, a team which Fota Island’s David Howard – who reached the semi final of the South – was a part of.
It does seem that there are four players vying for one or two places on the Great Britain and Ireland team next month and Tiernan and McClean know that a strong showing is needed to convince Robertson of their credentials.
Tiernan was a member of the 2025 Walker Cup side alongside Grehan while McClean was one of four Irishmen on the team at St Andrews in 2023.
Incidentally there is a strong GB&I presence in Merion with 14 in total teeing it up in the shape of: Eliot Baker, Jack Bigham, Sam Easterbrook, Connor Graham, Mike Hearne, Ieuan Jones, Zach Little, Luke Poulter, Niall Sheils Donegan, Freddie Turnell, Jack Whaley, Grehan, McClean, Tiernan.
The format will see 36-holes of stroke play determine the top 64 match play qualifiers. Ties for the last qualifying place will be resolved by a sudden death play-off.
Six 18 hole matchplay rounds will then be played culminating in a 36-hole Championship Final. Extra holes will be played to resolve any halved games.
Tiernan and Baker will play together alongside USA’s Jacob Modleski at 1:06 pm Irish time.
Amateur champion Grehan tees it up at 1:54 pm Irish time with defending US Amateur champion Mason Howell and Argentina’s Mateo Pulcini, the reigning Latin America Amateur champion.
Former US Mid-Amateur winner Matthew McClean is among the later starters at 6:36 pm Irish time with USA duo Lawrence Allan and Haymes Snedeker.
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