Ten golfers have been selected to represent Great Britain and Ireland against the United States in the 51st Walker Cup at Lahinch, The R&A announced Tuesday.
The match will take place Saturday, September 5 and Sunday, September 6 on the northwest coast of County Clare, Ireland, with GB&I aiming to win the trophy for the first time since its 16½-9½ victory at Royal Lytham & St Annes in 2015. The United States leads the overall series 40-9-1 and won last year's match at Cypress Point, 17-9.
Six members of that Cypress Point team return, including Amateur champion Stuart Grehan and Connor Graham, who will make his third successive appearance. Eliot Baker, Luke Poulter, Niall Sheils Donegan and Tyler Weaver also feature for the second consecutive match, while Ben Bolton, Sam Easterbrook, Josh Hill and Jack Whaley will make their Walker Cup debuts.
Whaley became only the third Englishman to win the U.S. Amateur when he defeated Jay Leng Jr. 4&3 at Merion on Sunday, joining Harold Hilton and Matt Fitzpatrick as English winners of the Havemeyer Trophy. Grehan secured the biggest victory of his amateur career in June, winning The Amateur Championship at Royal Liverpool to become the first Irish champion since 2019. The top five eligible players in the World Amateur Golf Ranking, along with The Amateur champion and U.S. Amateur champion, were automatically selected, with the balance of the ten-man team picked by the captain.
Dean Robertson will captain GB&I for a third time, having led the team at Cypress Point and guided GB&I to victory over the Continent of Europe in the St Andrews Trophy in Madrid. The Scot, who has been Head of Golf at the University of Stirling since 2010, also played in the 1993 Walker Cup at Interlachen, where he defeated U.S. amateur great Jay Sigel in singles.
"It is a tremendous honour to captain Great Britain and Ireland again and I'm excited by the team we have selected for the match at Lahinch," Robertson said. "We have a really exciting blend of players who have experienced the Walker Cup before and others who have earned their first opportunity through some excellent performances over the last year. We have players who have won important championships, performed at the highest level in amateur golf and demonstrated that they can deliver results in international match play.
"Playing at Lahinch will make this a particularly special Walker Cup. We know there will be fantastic support for the team in Ireland and our players will be determined to give those supporters plenty to get behind. We learned a great deal from Cypress Point and everyone involved is hugely motivated by the challenge ahead."
The GB&I team
Eliot Baker, England, Tiverton, 23 — Won the individual title at the 2026 European Nations Cup at Sotogrande and finished runner-up in the Brabazon Trophy, after a seven-shot win in the 2025 Scottish Men's Open Amateur at North Berwick.
Ben Bolton, England, Enville, 19 — Walker Cup debutant who tied for third at both the Lytham Trophy and the European Nations Cup, with further top-tens at the Portuguese and Spanish International Amateurs.
Sam Easterbrook, England, Olton, 21 — Debutant who won the 2025 Puerto Rico Classic for Purdue, finished top-20 at the NCAA Championship and reached the quarterfinals of The Amateur Championship at Royal Liverpool.
Connor Graham, Scotland, Blairgowrie, 19 — Making his third straight appearance after becoming the youngest ever Walker Cup player at St Andrews in 2023 at age 16; earned All-America and First Team All-Big 12 honors at Texas Tech.
Stuart Grehan, Ireland, County Louth, 33 — Won The Amateur Championship at Royal Liverpool in June, earning starts in The Open, the U.S. Open and, by tradition, the Masters. Won the South of Ireland Championship at Lahinch in 2015.
Josh Hill, England, Fox Den, 22 — Debutant who earned PING All-Southeast Region honors at Tennessee. At 15, he became the youngest winner of a professional event carrying OWGR points at the 2019 Al Ain Open.
Luke Poulter, England, Woburn, 22 — Won the 2026 NCAA Columbus Regional for Florida and earned Third Team All-America honors. The son of Ryder Cup player Ian Poulter makes his second straight appearance.
Niall Sheils Donegan, Scotland, Meadow Club, 21 — Reached the semifinals of the 2025 U.S. Amateur at The Olympic Club and was part of the winning International team at the Arnold Palmer Cup; plays collegiately at North Carolina.
Tyler Weaver, England, Bury St Edmunds, 21 — First Team All-America at Florida State who won the Valspar Collegiate Invitational and posted a 69.58 scoring average; made his major debut at the 2025 U.S. Open.
Jack Whaley, England, Rotherham, 22 — The newly crowned U.S. Amateur champion defeated Jay Leng Jr. 4&3 at Merion. The Florida State senior won five NAIA tournaments and every major NAIA national honor at Dalton State before transferring.
Reserves: Thomas Higgins, Ireland, Roscommon, 23; David Howard, Ireland, Fota Island, 27.
Recent Walker Cup results
2025 — Cypress Point: USA 17, GB&I 9
2023 — St Andrews: USA 14½, GB&I 11½
2021 — Seminole: USA 14, GB&I 12
2019 — Royal Liverpool: USA 15½, GB&I 10½
2017 — Los Angeles CC: USA 19, GB&I 7
2015 — Royal Lytham & St Annes: GB&I 16½, USA 9½
The Walker Cup is a biennial ten-man amateur team competition between Great Britain and Ireland and the United States, played over two days with 18 singles matches and eight foursomes matches. A limited number of tickets remain available via randa.org.