16th August 2026
Following the conclusion of the 126th U.S. Amateur Championship on Sunday 16th August the USGA’s Teams Selection Committee working group confirmed the 10 players who will represent the USA in the 2026 Walker Cup match.
The USA Team, led by captain Nathan Smith, will compete against Great Britain and Ireland in the 51st Walker Cup Match on 5th-6th September at Lahinch G.C. in County Claire, Ireland.
Four players had already been selected in advance of the U.S. Amateur so today saw the six remaining players confirmed.
Preston STOUT (22), Tyler WATTS (18) and Ethan FANG (21) who were ranked 1st, 3rd and 4th in the World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR) were automatically selected on 8th July 2026.
Miles RUSSELL (17), WAGR ranked #5 at the time, was also added to the USA roster by the USGA Team Selection Committee when they formally announced the above on 9th July 2026.
USA Walker Cup Team (Graphic: USGA)
Kihei AKINA (19 / WAGR #110, Ryder COWAN (21 / WAGR #8), Josiah GILBERT (21 / WAGR #7), William JENNINGS (20 / WAGR #5), Stewart HAGESTAD (35 / WAGR #27) and Jay LENG JR. (20 / WAGR #23) were the additional players named to the 2026 USA Walker Cup Team this evening.
Max HERENDEEN (21 / WAGR #26) of Bellevue, Washington and Logan REILLY (19 / WAGR #56) of Lovettsville, Virginia were also named as the USA’s first and second alternates, respectively.
The USA will have three returning players in their 2026 line-up, namely Stewart Hagestad, Ethan Fang and Preston Stout.
USA Player Profiles – Courtesy of the USGA
Kihei AKINA (20) – Alpine, Utah
Earned the 2026 Phil Mickelson Award as the nation’s top collegiate freshman in his first season at Brigham Young University.
Akina tied for eighth in the NCAA Championship at Omni La Costa Resort.
He was runner-up in the Big 12 Conference Championship and won a pair of collegiate tournaments during the 2025-26 season.
He has made two cuts on the PGA TOUR in 2026.
Akina made the Quarter finals of this year’s Amateur Championship and the Round of 64 at the U.S. Amateur.
Ryder COWAN (21) – Edmond, Oklahoma
Earned low-amateur honors at the 2026 U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills Golf Club, finishing tied 23rd.
He is a rising University of Oklahoma senior having posted one collegiate victory this past season.
Cowan has qualified for the last three U.S. Amateurs.
Ethan FANG (21) – Plano, Texas
WAGR No. 4 after winning the Maridoe Collegiate and finishing in the top 10 of the Big 12 Men’s Golf Championship.
A junior at Oklahoma State.
In 2025, he captured The Amateur Championship at Royal St. George’s.
He represented USA at the 2025 World Amateur Team Championship in Singapore.
Josiah GILBERT (21) – Millbrook, Alabama
A rising senior at Auburn University, where he helped the Tigers to their 2024 and 2026 NCAA Division I titles.
DGilbert’s 2026 season earned him PING Second-Team All-American and First-Team All-SEC honors.
Currently No. 8 on the WAGR, Gilbert advanced to match play in his third U.S. Amateur appearance.
Stewart HAGESTAD (35) – Newport Beach, California
He will be competing in his sixth Walker Cup match. He has won all five he’s played and has W7-L1 record.
U.S. Mid-Amateur champion in 2016, 2021 & 2023.
Hagestad has qualified for five U.S. Opens, making one cut once in 2022.
Only invited U.S. Mid-Amateur champion to make the cut at The Masters (2017).
Advanced to the Round of 32 at the 2026 U.S. Amateur.
Works as a broker for investment bank BDT & MSD Partners in Palm Beach, FL.
William JENNINGS (20) – Greenville, South Carolina
A rising junior at the University of Alabama he earned a 2nd place finish during the stroke-play portion of the 2026 NCAA National Championships.
He has one collegiate victory to his name at the Fields of Honor Collegiate in 2025.
He advanced to match play at the 2025 and 2026 (Round of 16) U.S. Amateur Championships.
Jay LENG JR (20) – San Diego, California
Winner of the 2026 Western Amateur and Runner-up at the 2026 U.S. Amateur and Northeast Amateur.
A rising junior at Stanford.
Leng Jr. advanced to the semi-finals of the 2024 U.S. Junior Amateur.
He was also a member of the 2023 USA Junior Ryder Cup Team.
Miles RUSSELL (17) – Jacksonville Beach, Florida
The left-hander finished fifth at the Northeast Amateur, tied 2nd at the Jones Cup and won the Junior Invitational at Sage Valley.
Currently ranked 5th in WAGR he has committed to Florida State in 2027.
In 2024, Russell became the youngest player in Korn Ferry Tour history to make a cut, doing so at the LECOM Suncoast Classic in Florida.
Also named the 2023 and 2025 AJGA’s Player of the Year.
PRESTON STOUT (21) – Dallas, Texas
Rising senior at Oklahoma State where he claimed the 2026 NCAA Division I individual title and helped his team to victory in the 2025 Championship.
Stout currently sits at No. 1 in WAGR after posting four collegiate victories in the 2025-26 season.
Represented the USA in the 2025 Palmer Cup, World Amateur Team Championship and Walker Cup.
Won the 2025 Northeast Amateur by eight strokes.
Tyler WATTS (18) – Huntsville, Alabama
Became the youngest winner of the Northeast Amateur in June 2026.
Watts, WAGR No. 3, will be starting at the University of Tennessee later this month.
In 2025 he won the 84th Sunnehanna Amateur after shooting 18 under par, the lowest 72-hole score in the history of the event.
The left hander also made the championship match of the 2025 North & South Amateur at Pinehurst.
In 2023, Watts claimed the 107th Alabama State Amateur Championship title, setting the record as the youngest player in history to win at age 15.
That same year, he won the Jones Cup Junior Invitational at Sea Island (Ga.) G.C.
ME.
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