Justin Thomas
By Sean Martin, Golfweek
The United States’ practice session for
next year’s Walker Cup is
underway in Florida, which provides a
great opportunity to unveil
Golfweek’s first Walker Cup Watch List of
the season. This edition
consists of the 16 players at the practice
session in Naples, Fla. (as
well as T.J. Vogel, who’s sitting out the
session due to injury). The
Walker Cup Watch List is a completely
unscientific (and unofficial) list
based not only on a player’s skill and
resume. The USGA uses myriad
variables for picking the 10-man team.
Here’s how I think these players
stand in the selectors' eyes, based on
patterns I’ve observed in team
selection over the past several years:
1. Justin Thomas
Hometown: Goshen, Ky.
College: Alabama sophomore
R&A World Amateur Ranking: 2
Golfweek/Sagarin College Ranking: 8
Achievements: 2012 Haskins Award
winner (college golf player of the
year); won four college titles in 2011-12,
including 2012 SEC
Championship and NCAA Southeast
Regional; won Jerry Pate National
Intercollegiate; T-7, World Amateur Team
Championship; U.S. Amateur
semifinalist; Western Amateur
quarterfinalist; 2012 Jones Cup champion.
The skinny: Thomas said he put too much
pressure on himself to make
the 2011 Walker Cup team, and his game
suffered because of it. He
won’t need to make a statement this
summer, just keep playing the
way he has since he started his college
career. He’s already been
named to one USGA team, for this year’s
World Amateur Team
Championship.
Patrick Rodgers
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2. Patrick Rodgers
Hometown: Avon, Ind.
College: Stanford sophomore
R&A World Amateur Ranking: 15
Golfweek/Sagarin College Ranking:
10
Achievements: 2012 First-team All-
American; 2011 Walker Cup team
member; winner of four collegiate
tournaments, including 2011 and 2012
Olympia Fields/Fighting Illini and 2012 U.S.
Collegiate; Round of 32, U.S.
Amateur; third, Porter Cup; T-9, NCAA
Championship.
The skinny: Rodgers won two of college
golf’s biggest titles this fall,
proving his game is back on track after a
summer that was below his
standards. He’s looking for a second
consecutive Walker Cup bid.
Steven Fox
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3. Steven Fox
Hometown: Hendersonville, Tenn.
College: Chattanooga senior
R&A World Amateur Ranking: 17
Golfweek/Sagarin College Ranking:
86
Achievements: 2012 U.S. Amateur
champion; T-10, World Amateur
Team Championship; Round of 16, U.S.
Amateur Public Links.
The skinny: Two words: Havemeyer
Trophy. Fox holds it, and that is
the main reason why he’s this high on the
list.
Bobby Wyatt
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4. Bobby Wyatt
Hometown: Mobile, Ala.
College: Alabama junior
R&A World Amateur Ranking: 3
Golfweek/Sagarin College Ranking:
19
Achievements: U.S. Amateur stroke-play
medalist; Round of 16, U.S.
Amateur; Southern Amateur runner-up;
Players Amateur runner-up;
Sunnehanna Amateur champion; T-5,
Northeast Amateur; 4th, Dogwood
Invitational; third-team All-American.
The skinny: Wyatt had arguably the most
consistent summer of any
American amateur, including a strong U.S.
Amateur run that was ended
by Thomas, his Alabama teammate.
Nathan Smith
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5. Nathan Smith
Hometown: Pittsburgh
College: Allegheny graduate
R&A World Amateur Ranking: 143
Golfweek/Sagarin College Ranking:
N/A
Achievements: Four-time U.S. Mid-Amateur
champion (2003, ’09, ’10,
’12); Member, 2009 and 2011 Walker Cup
teams.
The skinny: The USGA is past the point of
requiring that each Walker
Cup team include a mid-amateur. It would
still strongly prefer that each
team have one, if there is a qualified
candidate, though. Smith is that
guy. He won his record fourth Mid-Am title
this year, and is likely to be
on next year’s team.
Peter Williamson
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6. Peter Williamson
Hometown: Hanover, N.H.
College: Dartmouth graduate
R&A World Amateur Ranking: 9
Golfweek/Sagarin College Ranking: 29 (in
2011-12 rankings)
Achievements: Round of 64, U.S. Amateur;
Western Amateur
semifinalist; Southern Amateur champion;
North & South Amateur
champion; North & South Amateur
medalist; third-team All-American.
The skinny: Williamson completed his
college career earlier this year. He
entered Q-School as an amateur, but
failed to advance out of the first
stage. He has stated a desire to remain
amateur for the Walker Cup –
and the Arnold Palmer Invitational, where
he’ll earn a start off his
Southern Am win – even though the
competition is more than a year
after his college career ended.
Brandon Hagy
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7. Brandon Hagy
Hometown: Westlake Village, Calif.
College: Cal junior
R&A World Amateur Ranking: 13
Golfweek/Sagarin College Ranking:
22
Achievements: U.S. Amateur semifinalist;
Alister Mackenzie Invitational
champion; State Fair Amateur champion;
T-3, Northeast Amateur; T-8,
Sunnehanna Amateur; honorable-mention
All-American.
The skinny: The long-hitting Hagy has
made a big move recently,
starting with his third-place finish at the
Northeast Amateur and
extending to the U.S. Amateur. He won
the State Fair, a top event in
California, a few weeks later and then
claimed his first collegiate title.
Momentum is in his favor.
Michael Kim
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8. Michael Kim
Hometown: Del Mar, Calif.
College: Cal sophomore
R&A World Amateur Ranking: 25
Golfweek/Sagarin College Ranking: 2
Achievements: Isleworth Collegiate
Invitational champion; Round of 64,
U.S. Amateur; Round of 16, U.S. Amateur
Public Links; Dogwood
Invitational runner-up; T-5, Jones Cup;
7th, Sunnehanna Amateur;
honorable-mention All-American.
The skinny: Kim is a collegiate player-of-
the-year candidate after this
fall. He finished in the top 10 in all five
starts, and won the prestigious
Isleworth Collegiate Invitational. He’s
come on strong this season.
Mike Miller
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9. Michael Miller
Hometown: Brewster, N.Y.
College: N/A
R&A World Amateur Ranking: 33
Golfweek/Sagarin College Ranking:
N/A
Achievements: USGA State Team
Championship medalist; Round of 32,
U.S. Amateur; Sunnehanna Amateur
runner-up; T-4, Irish Amateur
Open; T-4, Lytham Trophy; T-4, Azalea
Invitational; Terra Cotta
Invitational runner-up.
The skinny: Miller, a New York native,
would give the home-state fans
someone to cheer for at National Golf
Links. His eight-shot victory at
the USGA State Team Championship
caught selectors’ eyes. Though he
doesn’t play college golf, he’s collected a
series of strong finishes in
amateur events around the world.
T.J. Vogel
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10. T.J. Vogel
Hometown: Cooper City, Fla.
College: Florida senior
R&A World Amateur Ranking: 12
Golfweek/Sagarin College Ranking:
12
Achievements: U.S. Amateur Public Links
champion; second-team All-
American.
The skinny: Vogel had to sit out the
practice session with a sports
hernia, but is expected to be back in the
lineup for the spring season.
His upcoming Masters appearance is a
great opportunity to impress.
Michael Weaver
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11. Michael Weaver
Hometown: Fresno, Calif.
College: Cal junior
R&A World Amateur Ranking: 35
Golfweek/Sagarin College Ranking:
25
Achievements: U.S. Amateur runner-up; T-
13, Players Amateur;
Alameda Commuters champion.
The skinny: Weaver’s run at the U.S.
Amateur gives him two great
opportunities to impress selectors, at the
Masters and U.S. Open.
Cory Whitsett
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12. Cory Whitsett
Hometown: Houston
College: Alabama junior
R&A World Amateur Ranking: 32
Golfweek/Sagarin College Ranking:
71
Achievements: 2011 Western Refining
College All-America Golf Classic
champion; 2011 Patriot All-American
champion; T-44, Nationwide
Children’s Hospital Invitational; T-4, NCAA
Championship; second-team
All-American.
The skinny: Could we have three players
from the same college team on
one Walker Cup squad? It happened in
2009, when Rickie Fowler,
Morgan Hoffmann and Peter Uihlein played
for the United States.
Max Homa
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13. Max Homa
Hometown: Valencia, Calif.
College: Cal senior
R&A World Amateur Ranking: 26
Golfweek/Sagarin College Ranking:
17
Achievements: Round of 32, U.S. Amateur;
2nd, State Fair Amateur; T-
9, NCAA Championship; T-5, Jones Cup;
third-team All-American.
The skinny: Some of Homa’s biggest
competition will come from his own
teammates. Four Cal Bears are at the
practice session. The fact that all
eyes will be on the Bears this spring could
help their candidacies, but it
will be hard for any one player to stand
out on this team.
Zac Blair
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14. Zac Blair
Hometown: Ogden, Utah
College: BYU senior
R&A World Amateur Ranking: 79
Golfweek/Sagarin College Ranking:
223
Achievements: Round of 64, U.S. Amateur;
Round of 16, Western
Amateur; Round of 32, U.S. Amateur Public
Links; T-9, Sahalee Players
Championship; T-5, Northeast Amateur;
won 2011 William H. Tucker
Intercollegiate; third-team All-American.
The skinny: Blair seems to have struggled
a bit since a strong summer
of 2011 that put him in the running as an
outside candidate for the
Walker Cup team.
Jim Liu
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15. Jim Liu
Hometown: Smithtown, N.Y.
College: N/A (high-school senior; Stanford
commit)
R&A World Amateur Ranking: 108
Golfweek/Sagarin Junior Ranking: 2
Achievements: U.S. Junior Amateur runner-
up; U.S. Junior Amateur co-
medalist; Azalea Invitational runner-up;
Terra Cotta Invitational runner-
up; New Year’s Invitational runner-up;
advanced to second stage of
European Tour Q-School.
The skinny: Liu, a Stanford signee,
represents the junior set at the
practice session. He came close to joining
Tiger Woods and Jordan
Spieth as the only multiple winners of the
U.S. Junior, but lost a lead in
this year’s final.
Todd White
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16. Todd White
Hometown: Moore, S.C.
College: Furman graduate
R&A World Amateur Ranking: 72
Golfweek/Sagarin College Ranking:
N/A
Achievements: U.S. Mid-Amateur
semifinalist; Round of 32, U.S.
Amateur; T-10, Northeast Amateur; T-7,
Azalea Invitational.
The skinny: Is there room for two mid-ams
on this team? There haven’t
been two mid-ams on a U.S. team since
the 2003 Walker Cup, which
the U.S. lost.
Julian Suri
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17. Julian Suri
Hometown: St. Augustine, Fla.
College: Duke senior
R&A World Amateur Ranking: 19
Golfweek/Sagarin College Ranking:
58
Achievements: T-3, 2011 Patriot All-
American; 2011 and 2012 Rod
Myers Invitational champion; John A. Burns
Intercollegiate champion;
third-team All-American.
The skinny: Suri was added to the practice
squad as a replacement for
the injured Vogel.