Stanford’s Jay Leng didn’t win the U.S. Amateur on Sunday at Merion, but he still had reason to celebrate as he was among the six players named to complete the U.S. Walker Cup team.
Leng is joined by Alabama’s William Jennings, Oklahoma’s Ryder Cowan, Auburn’s Josiah Gilbert, BYU’s Kihei Akina and mid-amateur Stewart Hagestad.
Oklahoma State teammates Preston Stout and Ethan Fang, plus juniors Tyler Watts and Miles Russell, had already been appointed to U.S. captain Nathan Smith’s 10-man roster. Stout and Fang compete on last year’s team along with Hagestad, who will make his sixth Walker Cup appearance.
Smith captained last year’s U.S. team that won a fifth straight Walker Cup, 17-9 at Cypress Point. The U.S. leads the all-time series, 40-9-1.
This year’s match is scheduled for Sept. 5-6 at Lahinch in Ireland.
Just missing the team were North Carolina’s Carson Bertagnole, Auburn’s Logan Reilly and Florida’s Jack Turner, among others.
The Great Britain and Ireland Walker Cup team will be announced on Monday morning. The home side will have six returners, as Ireland’s Stuart Grehan, Englishmen Tyler Weaver, Luke Poulter and Eliot Baker, Scots Niall Shiels Donegan and Connor Graham have already clinched spots on the team. U.S. Amateur champion Jack Whaley surely will fill one of the four remaining spots.