Listen: Road to Hoylake series concludes with Hammer, Wu

A U.S. Amateur champion has been crowned and the Walker Cup team has been named. The matches at Royal Liverpool in Hoylake, England, are getting nearer and nearer. The U.S. and Great Britain and Ireland teams will meet there Sept. 7-8.

As The Back of the Range podcast’s “Road to Hoylake” series draws to a close, Ben Adelberg is telling the story of two men who have more or less been “locks” for months. Finally, Cole Hammer and Brandon Wu appear on the podcast.

Hammer earned his spot on the team as the No. 1-ranked American in the World Amateur Golf Ranking. He was also recently named the Mark H. McCormack Medal winner for holding the top spot, period, in those rankings. The Texan had a strong first year as a Longhorn freshman after a summer that included the 2018 Western Amateur title and a semifinal run at the U.S. Amateur.

As for Wu, you might say his entire summer has been building to this. The Stanford graduate helped his team win the NCAA title in May then remained amateur for a shot at playing in the Walker Cup. In that time, he has also qualified for (and made the cut in) the U.S. Open and qualified for the British Open. He helped the U.S. team to gold at the Pan American Games and was the U.S. Amateur medalist less than three days later.