After five years without an outright Simpson Cup victory, the Americans will have experience, home-course advantage and a heavy dose of Texas on their side when they try to win the trophy back at Shady Oaks Country Club.
The 14th Simpson Cup will be played this week in Fort Worth, with Great Britain arriving as defending champion and holding a 7-6 advantage in the all-time series after a 12-7 victory last year at Royal St George’s and Prince’s Golf Clubs.
For the U.S., it has been a while: the Americans haven’t won the Simpson Cup outright since 2021 at The Creek on Long Island. The matches in 2023 and 2024 ended in ties before Great Britain regained the upper hand in 2025. If the Americans are going to change that, they’ll do it with one of their
more experienced teams.
Captain Jacob Nelson’s 13-man roster features only two Simpson Cup rookies and includes former captains Marty Caraway and Chad Pfeifer. Nelson, a Marine veteran who lives in Little Elm, will also get the chance to captain his country in his home state. Texans Jason Leap and Russell Normandin join him on the roster.
“To captain Team USA anywhere would be incredibly special, but to do it here in Texas adds another dimension for me,” Nelson said. “We’ve got three Texans in this team and we know how much it would mean to win the Cup back on home soil. We also have a lot of Simpson Cup experience throughout the group, so our job now is to make that count when the competition starts.”
Great Britain will bring a different mix to Fort Worth.
First-time captain Neil Flynn has five rookies on his 13-man roster, but he can also lean on some of the most experienced players in Simpson Cup history. Ian Bishop will make his 13th appearance, Dave Ward his 12th and Mike Browne his 11th.
“There are five players experiencing the Simpson Cup for the first time, but they’ve earned their place in this team and I know they’ll embrace everything that comes with representing Great Britain,” Flynn said. “We’re heading to Texas as defending champions, but we know the Americans will be desperate to win it back, particularly on home soil. We’ll need to be at our best.”
The Simpson Cup dates to 2012, when injured veterans from the U.S. and British armed forces gathered at TPC Sawgrass for a Ryder Cup-style competition.
The event is named for John Simpson, the former senior vice president of International Management Group who contracted polio as a child and later managed some of golf’s biggest names, including Nick Faldo, Bernhard Langer, Vijay Singh and Greg Norman.
The concept was simple: give wounded, injured and sick service members and veterans the opportunity to represent their countries in golf. The handicap system allows players of different skill levels to compete against one another.
Like the Ryder Cup, the Simpson Cup alternates between the U.S. and Great Britain, and its list of venues over the years has been formidable.
After its debut at TPC Sawgrass, the competition moved to Royal Lytham & St Annes in 2013. Congressional Country Club followed in 2014, then Royal St George’s, Oak Hill, Royal Birkdale, Maidstone and the Old Course at St. Andrews. After the 2020 event was canceled because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Simpson Cup returned in 2021 at The Creek, a 1923 C.B. Macdonald design later restored by Gil Hanse.
That week remains the last outright U.S. victory. The Americans jumped out to a 5-1 advantage in fourballs and then won seven singles matches on their way to a 13-5 victory, reclaiming the Cup after Great Britain had won at St. Andrews in 2019.
Five years later, the Americans will try to do it again.
History suggests the path to doing that is pretty clear.
The U.S. has dominated the fourballs over the life of the competition, outscoring Great Britain 47-31. Singles have been almost the exact opposite, with Great Britain holding a 90-72 advantage.
That makes Tuesday particularly important for the Americans.
Six fourball matches will put six points on the board before all 26 players head out for Wednesday’s 13 singles matches. Great Britain needs 9½ points to retain the trophy, while the U.S. needs 10 to win it back.
The 2021 matches showed how valuable a fast start can be. That year, the U.S. won four of six fourball matches and tied the other two to build its 5-1 advantage before singles.
This time, the Americans will try to build that cushion at one of the most storied clubs in Texas.
Shady Oaks Country Club has long been synonymous with Ben Hogan, who made the Fort Worth club his golfing home. Now it joins a Simpson Cup venue list filled with major championship courses and some of the most recognizable names in golf.
The significance of bringing the event to Texas extends beyond the competition itself.
The 2026 Simpson Cup will serve as the launching point for On Course Foundation’s Texas Initiative, designed to establish a regional presence and create more accessible opportunities for veterans throughout the state.
On Course Foundation plans to build the operation in 2027 while connecting Texas veterans with its national programs, events and employment opportunities.
Every Simpson Cup participant is a member of On Course Foundation, which uses golf not only as competition but as a route back to confidence, purpose and employment. The organization provides golf instruction, mentoring, education and employment support, including pathways to jobs within the golf industry.
That mission has been tied to the Simpson Cup from its beginning.
The golf, though, gets plenty serious once the matches start.
The week began with the opening ceremony and gala dinner on Sunday, followed by the Player/Sponsor Tournament on Monday.
Then it’s time to decide the Cup as six fourball matches open competition Tuesday, before 13 singles matches Wednesday decide who leaves Shady Oaks with the Ben Simpson Trophy, named in memory of founder John Simpson MBE’s son, who died in 2022.
Great Britain comes to Texas with the trophy and a 7-6 lead in the series.
The Americans have home soil, an experienced roster and three Texans trying to take it back.
And if more than a decade of Simpson Cup history tells us anything, the U.S. would be wise to build a lead before those 13 singles matches begin.
Tim Schmitt is the managing editor of Golfweek.
This article originally appeared on Golfweek: Simpson Cup 2026: Team USA looks to reclaim trophy from Great Britain at Shady Oaks
