Back in 2007, a group of American amateur golfers joined forces to create what might have been the “best” Walker Cup team ever in history, at least according to GOLF’s Subpar co-host Colt Knost.
The biennial Walker Cup is a Ryder Cup-style event that pits the best American amateurs against the best teams from Great Britain and Ireland. And many of the game’s biggest pros played in the long-running event during their time growing up in the game.
But the 2007 team was absolutely loaded, featuring a full roster of golfers, most of whom would go on to play on the PGA Tour. At least so far, none of their careers have gone as well as the world No.1 Scottie Schefflerwho was a member of the team.
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He was joined by current Tour pros Will Zalatoris, Maverick McNealy, Cameron Champ, Doug Ghim and Norman Xiong, to name a few. That year’s team swept the competition at the Los Angeles Country Club by a final score of 19-7.
It also featured a player who just earned his PGA Tour card this year: Braden Thornberry. Thornberry won this year’s Korn Ferry Tour Championship to earn a promotion to the big leagues in 2025.
Not long after his win, Thornberry joined GOLF’s Subpar for a wide-ranging interview with co-hosts Knost and Drew Stoltz.
Naturally, the 2007 Walker Cup came up during their conversation, and Thornberry offered a revealing perspective on the star-studded team. Knost couldn’t help but ask the newly minted Tour pro which Walker Cup teammate seemed to have the brightest future at the time.
“Who did you think would have the best career away from the team?” Knost asked.
Surprisingly, Scheffler was not the man Thornberry had in mind. Instead, it was another major multiple champion he thought would make the biggest waves in the pro ranks: Collin Morikawa.
“This is a difficult question. Maybe Morikawa,” Thornberry replied. “He was another interesting one in college, too, because he didn’t win as much as he was good. But he finished top 5 in every major tournament you can imagine, and definitely a swing of nice golf, it was all very fat. He looked like a PGA Tour player when he got out there. So that was probably the person he couldn’t miss.”
While Morikawa hasn’t had the career that Scheffler has, he’s still one of the most successful young professionals in history. At 27, Morikawa already has two major titles on his resume and six total PGA Tour wins. For the record, Scheffler also has two majors, but he trails Morikawa in PGA Tour wins with 13.
You can watch Thornberry talk Walker Cup above, or you can watch Thornberry’s entire hour-long interview on Subpar on YouTube here.
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