The USA won the Walker Cup in 2025 thanks to a brutal final-day drubbing in the singles, and this is not the first time we’ve said that.
At the 2017 matches at Los Angeles Country Club, the home team collectively won the singles sessions 14-4. That was the one Scottie Scheffler, Collin Morikawa and Will Zalatoris played in.
Great Britain and Ireland edged the first singles session at Hoylake in 2019, but were hammered 8-2 in the decisive one. At Cypress Point last week, GB&I won one singles match on day two, having entered the crunch afternoon only one point behind.
As we fast approach the 2026 Walker Cup, the moral of the story is America’s depth of talent eventually shines through, and since the GB&I turn-of-the-millennium golden age passed, the record books are a tough read.
Two wins in the last 11 attempts only fuel the cries for the Walker Cup to abandon tradition and to incorporate a European team instead.
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It was in 1979 that Team Europe in the Ryder Cup was formed. At that point, GB&I had won the event once since 1935. Change was needed to stoke interest. Now, it is an even contest in which European fans have most of the bragging rights.
But tradition dictates that the GB&I team faces the Americans every two years. There is less of a commercial element to the Walker Cup. It isn’t a week where US TV networks chase ratings, and it isn’t necessarily about the result.
The Walker Cup exists in its own sphere of tradition to give stepping stones to top amateur golfers.
Having said that, the match is still one-sided, and this got us thinking: What would a European Ryder Cup team look like if it weren’t European, but GB&I? And would it stand a chance of beating the USA?
The strength of depth of the Americans is almost impossible to match, but would a top-heavy GB&I team come out on top?
Using the current Official World Golf Rankings (OWGR), we have listed the players who would line up for Luke Donald’s side if the Walker Cup format were adopted instead of continental Europe.
GB Ryder Cup team: Could it beat the USA?
A Ryder Cup team from Great Britain and Ireland (OWGR ranking)Rory McIlroy (2)Matt Fitzpatrick (4)Tommy Fleetwood (8)Justin Rose (15)Robert MacIntyre (18)Aaron Rai (19)Tyrell Hatton (24)Shane Lowry (52)Marco Penge (53)Matt Wallace (58)Alex Fitzpatrick (61)Jordan Smith (72)
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One would assume that the quality of the team drops in this case, which might be true of the bottom half of the squad, but certainly not the top half. All of the top six are inside the world’s top-20, with Tyrell Hatton sitting just outside it at 24. However, the team expericnes a steep drop in ranking after this, down to 52nd and Shane Lowry.
Lowry has a raft of Ryder Cup and PGA Tour experience so he is an outlier, as is Alex Fitzpatrick who has had a brilliant 2026. But when you consider the depth the Americans possess, the team would be facing an uphill battle.
You would see players who ply most of their trade on the DP World Tour involved such as Marco Penge and Jordan Smith. Aaron Rai won this year’s PGA Championship, but remains a newer face on the PGA Tour. Matt Wallace and Penge have won several times in Europe, but has yet to crack America.
Harry Hall would just miss out, sitting one place behind Jordan Smith in the OWGR at 73. On the outskirts of this imagined team, you have Yorkshire’s John Parry and Dan Brown, Paul Waring, Laurie Canter and Dan Bradbury.
The glaring omissions here would make a Ryder Cup extremely difficult to win for a GB&I side. Jon Rahm is a two-time major winner and one of the best players in the world. Ludvig Aberg is a major champion in waiting, as is Viktor Hovland. They have both won multiple times on the PGA Tour.
Looking at the US Presidents Cup team, announced in full last night, as an example of the void in talent between the two sides. Out of the 12-man squad, only 21-year-old phenom Jackson Koivun, who turned professional in July, is outside the world’s top 30. That’s without JJ Spaun, Ben Griffin and LIV Golf’s Bryson DeChambeau.
There have been underdog stories down the years, where titans have been taken down by the plucky hero. Philip Price beating Phil Mickelson 3&2 in the Ryder Cup singles in 2002 comes to mind. But they are one-offs.
What the Walker Cup and our make-believe team show is the absence of continental European talent works in the immense favour of the USA, and makes for a lopsided affair.
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Could a GB Ryder Cup team ever be competitive against the USA? Was it right to remove the Ryder Cup GB&I side? Tell us on X!