Far Hills, N.J., (July 17, 2013) – The
United States Golf Association (USGA) today announced the selection of
five of the 10 amateur players who will comprise the 2013 USA Walker Cup
Team. The 44th Walker Cup Match against Great Britain and Ireland will
be played Sept. 7-8 at the National Golf Links of America in
Southampton, N.Y., which is hosting the Match for the first time since
it hosted the inaugural Walker Cup in 1922.
“We are proud of the players who have
been chosen to represent the USA when the Walker Cup returns to its
historic birthplace,” said Thomas J. O’Toole, Jr., USGA vice president
and chairman of the USGA’s Championship Committee. “I have no doubt that
every one of these young men is ready for the challenge presented by
the team from Great Britain and Ireland. Each will perform with
distinction and bring honor to a competition and a place that have a
unique connection to the game’s history.”
The first five players named to the 2013 USA Walker Cup squad are:
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Max Homa, 22, of Valencia, Calif.
– Homa won the Pac-12 Conference Championship in early May and was the
individual medalist at the 2013 NCAA Men’s Division I Championship to
close out his career at the University of California-Berkeley. In his
senior year of 2012-13, he captained a team that won 11 tournaments. His
individual honors include being named as a first-team All-American and
to the All-Nicklaus Team, both awarded by the Golf Coaches Association
of America. In June, he survived a playoff at sectional qualifying to
make the field for the 2013 U.S. Open at Merion Golf Club, where he
missed the cut by three strokes. Homa also advanced to the quarter
finals of the 2010 U.S. Amateur.
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Michael Kim, 20, of Del Mar, Calif.
– Kim won four collegiate events in his sophomore year at the
University of California-Berkeley and was honored as the 2012-13
Golfweek/Sagarin Player of the Year and the Pac-12 Conference Golfer of
the Year. He was first-team All-American and named to the All-Nicklaus
Team, Palmer Cup, All-West Region and All-Pac 12. He also won the 2013
Golfstat Cup for having the lowest adjusted scoring average entering the
NCAA Championship. In May, he won the Jack Nicklaus Award as the NCAA
Division I player of the year, and in June the Fred Haskins Award as the
national collegiate player of the year as determined in voting by
collegiate golfers, coaches and members of the national media. He was
one of three finalists for the Ben Hogan Award presented annually to the
top men’s NCAA Division I, II or III, NAIA or NJCAA college golfer. He
finished as the low amateur by five strokes at the 2013 U.S. Open at
Merion Golf Club, tying for 17th place. He also tied for 38th in the PGA
Tour’s Greenbrier Classic in July.
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Patrick Rodgers, 21, of Avon, Ind.
– Rodgers is a returning USA Walker Cup Team member, having competed at
the 2011 Match at Royal Aberdeen Golf Club in Scotland. Rodgers wrapped
up his sophomore season at Stanford with three intercollegiate
victories and six top-10 finishes, leading the Cardinal with a 70.88
stroke average. For the second consecutive year, he was named first-team
All-American, first-team All-Pac 12 Conference, and was a Palmer Cup
selection. He was also named to the All-Nicklaus Team this year. During
the 2011-’12 college season, Rodgers produced two tournament wins and 10
top-10 finishes, was named to the All-Freshman Team, and was a finalist
for the Ben Hogan Award. The 2011 Porter Cup champion, Rodgers was also
a quarterfinalist at the 2011 U.S. Amateur, where he lost to eventual
champion Kelly Kraft. He finished tied for 15th at the 2013 PGA Tour’s
John Deere Classic.
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Justin Thomas, 20, of Goshen, Ky.
– In his sophomore season at the University of Alabama, Thomas was
named as a second-team All-American and first-team All-Southeastern
Conference with two wins and six top-10 finishes. In 2012, he was
selected as a first-team All-American with four wins and nine top-10
finishes, and was a Palmer Cup selection in each of the past two years.
Thomas played an integral part in Alabama winning the 2013 NCAA Division
I National Championship, the first in the school’s history, as well as
the 2013 SEC Championship. He also played for the victorious USA Team in
the 2012 World Amateur Team Championship at Antalya, Turkey, where he
finished tied for seventh. Thomas advanced to the semifinals at the 2012
U.S. Amateur, and was the runner-up at the 2010 U.S. Junior Amateur.
Thomas won both the 2012 Fred Haskins Award and the 2012 Jack Nicklaus
Award as the nation’s top collegiate golfer, as well as the 2012 Phil
Mickelson Award, for the outstanding freshman in Division I men’s golf.
He won the 2012 Jones Cup, and finished tied for 30th in the 2013 PGA
Tour’s Travelers Championship.
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Cory Whitsett, 21, of Houston, Texas
– Whitsett, who just completed his junior year at the University of
Alabama, secured the clinching points for the Crimson Tide in its
first-ever NCAA Division I National Championship victory. In 2013, he
was selected as a first-team All-American and to the All-Nicklaus Team
with three wins and eight top-10 finishes, and was the only player to
win all three matches at the 2013 NCAA Championship. Whitsett continued
his winning ways after the collegiate season, leading the USA to victory
over Europe in June in the Palmer Cup, compiling a 3-0-1 record in the
matches at Wilmington (Del.) Country Club. He then captured the
prestigious Northeast Amateur with a 10-under-par 266 total at
Wannamoisett Country Club in Rumford, R.I., closing with a round of 63,
the lowest final-round score by a winner in the tournament’s 52 years.
Last year, Whitsett was named second-team All-American with two wins and
five top-10 finishes. He is also the 2011 Patriot All-America winner
and the 2007 U.S. Junior Amateur champion.
“It is an honor to be involved with this
prestigious match and these fine young men who will represent the USA in
Walker Cup competition,” said Jim Holtgrieve, captain for the USA,
whose stellar amateur career includes a winning record as a member of
three victorious USA Walker Cup Teams and the captaincy of the USA Team
at the 2011 Match at Royal Aberdeen Golf Club in Scotland. “I appreciate
the commitment on the part of these talented players who were chosen
and those who are still being considered.”
The final five players of the 2013 USA
Walker Cup Team will be named later this summer following the conclusion
of the 2013 U.S. Amateur, scheduled to be played Aug. 12-18 at The
Country Club in Brookline, Mass.
The prestigious Walker Cup Match is a
biennial 10-man amateur team competition between the USA and a team
composed of players from Great Britain and Ireland. It is played over
two days with 18 singles matches and eight foursomes (alternate-shot)
matches. The USA leads the overall series 34-8-1, and has not lost on
American soil since the 2001 Match at Ocean Forest Golf Club in Sea
Island, Ga.
Many of the game’s greatest players have
taken part in Walker Cup competition including U.S. Open champions
Francis Ouimet, Bob Jones, Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods for the USA and
Graeme McDowell, Rory McIlroy and Justin Rose for GB&I.
The first USA Walker Cup Team in 1922,
which defeated the GB&I side, 8-4, at the National Golf Links of
America, is considered among the best teams ever and included Ouimet,
Jones, Charles “Chick” Evans and Jess Sweetser.
A variety of daily and weekly ticket packages are still available for the 2013 Walker Cup Match. For more information, visit www.2013walkercup.com, call (631) 488-4065 or send an email to mperez@brunoeventteam.com.
About the USGA
The USGA conducts the U.S. Open, U.S.
Women’s Open and U.S. Senior Open, as well as 10 national amateur
championships, two state team championships and international matches.
Together with The R&A, the USGA governs the game worldwide, jointly
administering the Rules of Golf, Rules of Amateur Status, Equipment
Standards and World Amateur Golf Rankings. The USGA’s working
jurisdiction comprises the United States, its territories and Mexico.
The USGA is a global leader in the
development and support of sustainable golf course management
practices. It serves as a primary steward for the game’s history and
funds an ongoing “For the Good of the Game” charitable giving program.
Additionally, the USGA’s Course Rating and Handicap systems are used on
six continents in more than 50 countries.
For more information about the USGA, visit www.usga.org.