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One name leaps out from the 26 players named to the Great Britain & Ireland Walker Cup squad from which the eventual 10 players will be selected to face the United States at Royal Liverpool on Sept. 7-8.

Step forward 50-year-old Euan McIntosh. The Scot is comfortably the oldest player on the squad by 24 years over next eldest Caolan Rafferty of Ireland, and 34 years older than 16-year-old Englishman Conor Gough, the British boys champion.

The R&A has no policy on mid-amateurs, unlike the USGA which stipulates one player over the age of 25 must be on its team (it used to be two.) If McIntosh does make the team, he would be the oldest player in recent memory to make the GB&I side.

Gary Wolstenholme was 44 when he played in the 2005 match at Chicago Golf Club, his sixth appearance. Nigel Edwards was 39 when he played in the 2007 contest at Royal County Down. Since then, no player over the age of 27 (England’s Neil Raymond, 2013) has played for the GB&I team.

McIntosh, the reigning Scottish Amateur champion, is one of six Scots on the squad along with South African Amateur champion Euan Walker, Sandy Scott, Ryan Lumsden, Kieran Cantley and Jamie Stewart. Scott and Lumsden play college golf for Texas Tech and Northwestern respectively. Scot recently won El Macero Classic, his first college victory, while Lumsden won the 2018 Marquette Intercollegiate.

Ireland’s Conor Purcell is the highest-ranked player in the World Amateur Golf ranking at No. 25. Purcell, who plays for Wake Forest, won the Australian Amateur at the start of this year, and reached the semifinals of last year’s British Amateur Championship. He is one of five Irish players along with Rafferty, the West of Ireland champion.

Gough, No. 29 in the world, leads a 12-man English contingent that includes Wake Forest’s Alex Fitzpatrick, brother to 2013 Walker Cup player and five-time European Tour winner Matthew Fitzpatrick.

Wales has three squad players, the most prominent being Irish Boys champions Archie Davies.

GB&I has a practice session next week at Royal Liverpool, after which the squad will be reduced before a second practice session in July. The final 10-man GB&I team will be announced in August.

“We have selected a talented group of players who are all in contention for a place in the team to play the United States of America, and will be continuing to monitor the form and results of these players over the course of the season,” said Scotland’s Craig Watson, the GB&I captain.

“We will also be looking closely at the performances of other players who have not been included in the squad. There is still time for them to play their way into our plans ahead of the final team selection later this year.”

GB&I is looking to win the biennial match after a 19-7 loss at Los Angeles Country Club two years ago. The USA has an overall series lead of 36-9-1.

GB&I Walker Cup squad

Jake Burnage, 23, England

Kieran Cantley, 21, Scotland

Ben Chamberlain, 21 Wales

Archie Davies, 17, Wales

Alex Fitzpatrick, 20, England

Bailey Gill, 21, England

Conor Gough, 16, England

David Hague, 22, England

Harry Hall, 21, England

Jake Hapgood, 22, Wales

Benjamin Jones, 19, England

Ryan Lumsden, 22, Scotland

Euan McIntosh, 50, Scotland

John Murphy, 20, Ireland

Joseph Pagdin, 17, England

Thomas Plumb, 20, England

Mark Power, 18, Ireland

Conor Purcell, 21, Ireland

Caolan Rafferty, 26, Ireland

Sandy Scott, 20, Scotland

Tom Sloman, 22, England

Jamie Stewart, 19, Scotland

James Sugrue, 22, Ireland

Tom Thurloway, 21, England

Euan Walker, 23, Scotland

Robin Williams, 17, England