21st June 2023
In line with the USGA’s International Team Selection Working Group’s (ITS) guidance provided in May we now know the first three members of USA’s 2023 Walker Cup team.
David Ford, Gordon Sargent & Michael Thorbjornsen (Photo: USGA)
The three highest ranked American players in the World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR) on 21st June 2023, namely Gordon SARGENT (20) #1, Michael THORBJORNSEN (21) #2 and David FORD (20) #3, have all secured automatic selections.
All three play in the U.S. college system. Next season Sargent will be a junior at Vanderbilt, Thorbjornsen a senior at Stanford and Ford a junior at University of North Carolina.
Sargent who currently has 16 PGA TOUR University Accelerated points will gain 2 more when he represents USA at the Walker Cup. When a player reaches 20 points and has completed their junior season (as a minimum) they become eligible for a full PGA Tour card for the rest of that season and the one after that. With other amateur and pro events coming up this summer ahead of his September trip to St. Andrews Sargent looks very likely to become the first player to complete this route to the Tour.
The three selectees all attended the USA’s Squad practice session in Jupiter, Florida in December 2022.
The ITS will name a second set of additional players to the 10-man team in late July and then round things off following the completion of the U.S. Amateur Championship on 20th August 2023.
WAGR Top 10 21st June 2023 Release (Graphic: WAGR)
Whilst the match is never played on paper USA players currently occupy nine places in the latest WAGR top 10 and fifteen in the top 20.
Click here to view the current – WAGR Men’s Ranking
Click here to view my earlier article – ‘155. USGA Provides 2023 Walker Cup USA Team Selection Timetable’
ME.
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