Jack Nicklaus, 1959

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Nicklaus twice played for the U.S. in the Walker Cup, first here at Muirfield in 1959 and again at Seattle Golf Club in 1961. He went a perfect 4-0 in the competition, with the Americans winning easily both years.

Tom Kite, 1971

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Kite played on the U.S. team that lost to Great Britain & Ireland in 1971 at St. Andrews, one of only two times the GB&I side beat the Americans in the first 32 editions of the match.

Lanny Wadkins, 1971

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Wadkins was playing in his second Walker Cup at St. Andrews, and won both of his singles matches on the Old Course.

Curtis Strange & Jay Haas, 1975

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The Wake Forest college teammates were naturally paired together in foursomes twice at St. Andrews, winning both times.

Craig Stadler, 1975

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Stadler was 3-0 for the U.S. at St. Andrews, with the American team easily avenging its 1971 loss at St. Andrews, beating the GB&I side 15½-8½.

Davis Love III, 1985

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Love beat Peter McEvoy, 5 and 3, in the final singles session to help the U.S. team defeat GB&I 13-11 at New Jersey’s Pine Valley G.C.

Colin Montgomerie, 1987

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Foreshadowing some of his Ryder Cup prowess, Monty was the lone bright spot for the GB&I side at Sunningdale G.C. While the U.S. team won convincingly, 16½-7½, Montgomerie was the only GB&I player to win both his singles matches.

Padraig Harrington & Paul McGinley, 1991

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The fellow Irishman has a surprisingly rough time of it at Portmarnock. Teamed together in the first foursomes sessions, the pair lost, 2 and 1, to career amateurs Jay Sigel and Allen Doyle. Harrington lost in the only other match he played while McGinley did at least win one of his two other matches.

Phil Mickelson & David Duval, 1991

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In the lone Walker Cup appearance for each of these future major winners, Mickelson compiled a 3-1 record at Portmarnock, and Duval went 2-1.

Tiger Woods, 1995

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Woods’ appearance at Royal Porthcawl was his only Walker Cup start. He went 2-2 as the American side lost for just the fourth time in the history of the event.

Justin Rose, 1997

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Nine months before Rose famously finished T-4 at the British Open as an amateur, the then 17-year-old was the only player on the GB&I team to have a winning record at Quaker Ridge G.C. (2-1).

Luke Donald, 1999

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Donald will go down as one of GB&I’s all-time Walker Cup stalwarts after compiling a 4-0 record at Nairn G.C. en route to a 15-9 drubbing of the Americans. Two years later, the future European Ryder Cup captain would go 3-1 at Ocean Forest to help GB&I repeat in the match for the first time in history.

Bill Haas, 2003

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Bill followed in the footsteps of his father Jay (1975) and uncle Jerry (1985) by playing in the competition, going 2-2 at Ganton G.C. as the Americans lost for a third straight time.

Rickie Fowler & Rory McIlroy, 2007

Before the young guns started to go at it in the pro ranks, they clashed at Royal County Down. Fowler, alongside Billy Horschel, beat McIlroy (paired with Jonny Caldwell) in Sunday morning foursomes, as the Americans pulled out a 12½-11½ victory.

Jamie Lovemark, Dustin Johnson, Rickie Fowler & Billy Horschel, 2007

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Within four years of this foursome helping the U.S. win at Royal County Down, all four had earned PGA Tour cards.

Danny Willett, 2007

David Cannon

Before he’d become more well known as the 2016 Masters champion, Willett played for GB&I, posting an 0-2-2 mark at Royal County Down.

Tommy Fleetwood, 2009

David Cannon

At 18, Fleetwood was the youngest member of the GB&I side at Merion, and did not have the long locks we’ve seen from him as a pro. He finished the week with a 1-1 record.

Jordan Spieth & Patrick Rodgers, 2011

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Spieth went 2-0-1 at Royal Aberdeen, tieing his Sunday foursomes match when paired with Rodgers. The duo, however, were on the wrong end of the final tally, with the GB&I team winning 14-12.

Patrick Cantlay, 2011

Matthew Lewis/R&A

Cantlay was the No. 1 ranked amateur in the world and coming off reaching the final of the U.S. Amateur Championship a month earlier. He went 2-1-1 at Royal Aberdeen.

Justin Thomas, 2013

Michael Cohen

Thomas made the Walker Cup his amateur swansong, and did so in style, posting a 2-0-1 record, which included a 6-and-4 blowout win over Max Orrin in Sunday singles as the U.S. cruised to a 17-9 victory.

Matt Fitzpatrick, 2013

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Fitzpatrick, low amateur at the British Open that summer before winning the U.S. Amateur title, continued his solid play by posting a 3-1 record for GB&I in the team’s loss at National Golf Links of America.

Bryson DeChambeau, 2015

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Fresh off his U.S. Amateur win at Olympia Fields, DeChambeau was among the few bright spots for the American side that was drubbed by GB&I, 16½-9½, at Royal Lytham & St. Annes. He was one of just two U.S. players to win his Sunday singles match to go 2-0-1 for the week.

Scottie Scheffler & Collin Morikawa, 2017

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Scheffler and Morikawa helped lead the U.S. to victory at LACC, the latter going 4-0. Both would go on to win major championships. They are two of nine players from that 2017 American team who have PGA Tour cards.

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It all turned out all right in the end. For the USA that is. But only just. Although armed with what appeared to be a vastly superior side (if the World Amateur Golf Rankings are to be believed) it wasn’t until Georgian David Ford won the 26th of the 26 games (one was still to be decided) and took his side over the 13.5-point winning threshold that the American side eventually clinched victory on Sunday in the 49th Walker Cup match on the Old Course at St Andrews.

Until then, doubt of varying degrees permeated what turned into the visitor’s 39th victory (against nine losses and one halved match) in golf’s long-running biennial contest, one that stretches back exactly a century. At the conclusion of each of the first three series of matches over the last two days, it was the Great Britain & Ireland side who led. But by the close, that had changed, the final score 14½ -11½ to the visitors, who have now won the trophy four times in succession.

While it is forever invidious to single out individuals within a team contest, much credit for his side’s success must go to the world’s No. 1 amateur, Gordon Sargent.

Although only two of his teammates failed to score even one point, the Vanderbilt junior was the only player on either side to emerge from this hard-fought contest with an unbeaten record, winning all four of his matches. Every one of the other 19 participants lost at least once.

But even Sargent had his struggles. The 1-up victory over Englishman John Gough he all but clinched with a magnificent 3-wood to the 18th in the second series of singles was the third of his four wins to conclude on the final green. In all, Sargent had to play a tiring total of 70 holes over the two days.

A commanding afternoon of Singles Matches for the USA team pic.twitter.com/qHlIrlKaVl

— The Walker Cup (@WalkerCup) September 3, 2023

“This is the biggest achievement of my career so far,” said the Birmingham, Alabama, native. “Winning four points for the US is huge, especially seeing what it means to everyone else. It’s such a big deal. I played well all four rounds and capped it off with what was my best shot of the week on the 18th tee. It was a full 3-wood. My caddie told me on the tee I could rip it, so I did. I don’t see going up the right side as aggressive. I’ve been hitting the ball well all week so I just went ahead and hit it.

“What is really nice for me is that, in match play recently, I’ve had trouble finishing games off down the stretch,” he continued. “So this week it’s been nice to see some success. To win three matches on 18 is huge. This just gives me so much confidence. We don’t play a ton of match play. But to see some success is nice for me to take back to college, where there is some match play. To know I can compete with the best players in the world is pretty special.”

Certainly, Alan Tulleth, Sargent’s caddie, is one who has no doubts as to where his man is headed.

“I think he can go to the very, very top,” said the man who makes his living walking the Old Course. “Everything about his game is absolutely amazing. If he keeps working hard, I can see his career going only one way.”

Before that, however, the Americans had some celebrating to do, much to the relief of captain Mike McCoy. The Iowa native narrowly dodged adding his name to what remains a short list of two (Francis Ouimet and John M Winters) visiting Walker Cup captains who have lost at St Andrews.

“We just played hard, right to the bitter end,” said the 60-year-old, who was part of the last US Walker Cup team to lose, at Royal Lytham in 2015. “We had those two [North Carolina] Tar Heels [Austin Greaser and David Ford] in those last two spots. I had a lot of confidence in them. Nick Dunlap fighting through to get a half point [from three down with four to play against Barclay Brown] was huge, and, of course, Caleb [Surratt] led us off by beating Calum Scott. They all played great. But I feel very fortunate. All credit to the GB&I team. They really fought hard. It was, I think, an epic Walker Cup.”

On the other side of the aisle, GB&I skipper Stuart Wilson was rightly proud of his 10-man squad, all of whom recorded at least half a point against a visiting team most observers felt would triumph handily. A rare feat for any losing team, that statistic alone speaks to what was a stubborn and persistent performance by Wilson’s men, whose leading points scorer was Irishman Mark Power (3-1-0).

“I’m obviously disappointed,” said Wilson, who won the Amateur Championship over the Old Course 20 years ago. “We always knew it was going to be a tight match. Everything went our way yesterday. Six matches went up the last, and we got four and a half points out of them. But all the momentum was on the US side today. Things seemed to be going their way. But they are a great side, and they handled the conditions a lot better than our guys. We had a nice lead this morning, but we let it slide quite a bit in the foursomes. The guys will be hurting most because they know themselves that they haven’t turned up this afternoon in the way we know they can.”

Indeed, as Wilson hinted, there was ultimately a familiar feel to the final day’s singles. Of the 10, GB&I won only two. As so often and in the end, the greater depth in the US squad made the crucial difference.

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Yes, it is a game played outdoors in all kinds of weather. Yes, 18-hole matches are unpredictable sprints in which a hot putter can often be the springboard to a seemingly unexpected result. And yes, the inherent randomness of golf makes pre-emptive assumptions mere acts of folly. It’s all true.

OK, now forget all that stuff.

Sometimes, what is expected, predicted or foretold by so-called experts actually does occur.

OK, now forget that too.

Welcome to the opening day of the 49th Walker Cup at St Andrews, a time and place where all that is good about match-play golf was on show. A few matches were dominated by one side or the other. Some saw leads change hands multiple times. Others featured near-epic comebacks from sizeable deficits. Many could have gone either way.

All the while the overall momentum of the occasion shifted, providing almost endless interest and excitement for the large crowds walking the fairways — yes, on the fairways — of golf’s most famous course. Card-and-pencil golf might be the best way to determine winners/champions over 72 holes, but over 18 it is a no-contest; match play is the way to go.

Whatever, no matter how you look at things, with the score 7½-4½ in favour of the home team (equalling their biggest first day advantage since 1989), this remains a contest both teams will fancy their chances of winning. Certainly, both captains remain full of fighting talk.

“Obviously, a great day for us results-wise,” said GB&I skipper Stuart Wilson. “But this is still going to be a tight match. They started fast this afternoon. But our guys got some points ‘against the head’ later on. So, well done to my lads. They have proved that they can compete with the best. There were so many close matches out there. And a lot of strong numbers. So, we’re taking nothing for granted. A putt here and there can make such a big difference.”

Understandably, US captain Mike McCoy was a little more subdued. But with 14 more points to play for on Sunday (10 singles will conclude proceedings after four morning foursomes) the contest isn’t even half done. So much remains to be played for, a fact McCoy was keen to underline.

“It wasn’t the day we were looking for,” admitted McCoy. “The afternoon did start the way we wanted and guys got up early, but we didn’t close those matches. A couple slipped away. But we will regroup. … The course is likely to play more difficult. So, our players will need to step up and give us an opportunity.”

Remarkably, World No. 1 Gordon Sargent and his foursomes partner, Dylan Menante (who did not play in the singles), are the only Americans who didn’t lose a match on a day when all 10 teed up at least once. Of the other eight, US Amateur champion Nick Dunlap will surely have the biggest sense of anti-climax. Just three weeks on from claiming his national title, the Alabama native lost by a whopping 6&5 margin to Englishman John Gough.

“We knew what we had to do this afternoon,” said Sargent, who came from 1-down with two to play to defeat Jack Bigham. “We weren’t really down at lunch. We knew that we didn’t play bad golf. They played well and hats off to them. But we knew singles was where we could take advantage.”

So much for that theory.

In contrast to the American travails, only two of captain Wilson’s men — Bigham and Barclay Brown — have yet to add at least a point to the GB&I total. And much to the glee of the home crowd, the two Scots in the side, 16-year-old Connor Graham and Calum Scott, are unbeaten. The pair combined to win their morning foursome before Scott went on to defeat Nick Gabrelcik 2&1.

None of which appeared likely 24 hours earlier. The US side had been called “vastly superior”, “deeper from top to bottom” and “likely to win handily” in what is golf’s oldest biennial contest.

OK, forget that too.

Down 3-1 after the morning foursomes, the powerful-looking American squad — one containing eight of the top 10 in the World Amateur Rankings — lost the afternoon singles 4½-3½.

Released from the unfamiliar constraints and pressures of foursomes golf, one-on-one the American squad was supposed to own a depth the opponents wouldn’t be able to match. But all was very different as gloriously warm sunshine and light breezes cooled golf’s most famous venue only slightly.

A final thought. After all of the above, perhaps the only safe prediction for day two is that anything might happen.

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In the run-up to any team contest, a few sporting metaphors invariably spring to mind when it comes to the various decisions, behavior and carefully considered comments required of the two captains. “Jockeying for position” comes to mind. So does “shadow boxing.” And, from cricket, “playing a straight bat.”

Still, after all the preamble has been taken care of, a “show of hands” is inevitably required. In the context of this 49th edition of the Walker Cup matches between the United States and Great Britain & Ireland, on the eve of the event non-playing skippers Mike McCoy and Stuart Wilson were required to reveal who will represent their sides — and in what order — in the opening day foursomes and singles.

The foursomes typically involve most thought. Especially unfamiliar to the American players, the format of alternating shots is something of a dark art and one where things can sometimes go disastrously wrong. Perhaps the most difficult role in golf, for example, is playing second-fiddle to a partner who is playing markedly better than you are. Nowhere is there more pressure not to let the other down.

Still, even the most careful planning can go astray. Pairing two players in the hope that they will mesh was, for long enough, a decision made on gut instinct. Maybe the thinking went as far as teaming two pals together and avoiding a scenario where there might be a personality clash. But these days the rise of statistical analysis has turned that art form into more and more of a science, one that this weekend is complicated by the configuration of the holes on the Old Course at St Andrews.

“We’ve tried to look at this in a bit of depth, but with a par 3 on the front that’s even and a par 3 on the back that’s odd, and vice versa with the par 5s, it gets difficult,” agreed GB&I’s Wilson, who knows a thing or two about the most famous course in golf, having won the Amateur Championship here in 2003. “So, if a pair is playing regulation golf, everybody is going to be doing the same amount of putting. It’s the same coming in or going out. If you’re a strong wedge player, the same applies. Going out 1, 3, 5, 7, 9 are your holes, then on the back it is 10, 12, 14, 16, 18.

“We do a bit of matching with personalities too, but we’ve probably got 10 different personalities here,” he continued. “So, while we’ve looked at possible pairings and done a lot of the numbers and stats and things, I don’t think we could have done any better of a job than putting 10 balls in a hat and pulling them out. The team is that close-knit.”

As for McCoy, the American captain owned up to having included “a little bit of everything” — art and science — within his own decision-making process.

“We have certain players that have a quicker rhythm,” pointed out the Iowa native, a member of the losing American side at Royal Lytham & St Annes in 2015. “We have players that have played together a lot and are very close friends. So they obviously know each other’s games well. They match up well. We have looked some at who are our better drivers and who are our better wedge players. We’ve put those types of combinations together.”

And, like Wilson, McCoy is well aware of the Old Course’s famous foibles when it comes to a layout containing 14 par 4s.

“We spent some time working on that, and it took a day or two for everybody to come to agreement what made the most sense,” continued McCoy. “We obviously tried some other combinations if we do have to break a couple teams up for Sunday. We’ve worked with some other combinations. But everybody knows whether they’re odd or even.”

Let the action begin:
Morning foursomes
Gordon Sargent-Dylan Menante (US) vs. Barclay Brown-Mark Power (GB&I)
Caleb Surratt-Ben James (US) vs. Callum Scott-Connor Graham (GB&I)
Preston Summerhays-David Ford (US) vs. Matthew McClean-John Gough (GB&I)
Nick Dunlap-Stewart Hagestad (US) vs. Alex Maguire-James Ashfield (GB&I)

Afternoon Singles
Surratt (US) vs. Brown (GB&I)
Nick Gabrelick (US) vs. Scott (GB&I)
Sargent (US) vs. Jack Bigham (GB&I)
Austin Greaser (US) vs. Liam Nolan (GB&I)
Ford (US) vs. Power (GB&I)
Summerhays (US) vs. McClean (GB&I)
Hagestad (US) vs. Maguire (GB&I)
Dunlap (US) vs. Gough (GB&I)

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You may have heard this before in a golf context. Walker Cups, like every other golf competition, are played on grass and not, as the tired old cliché has it, on paper. Which is perhaps just as well for the 10-man Great Britain & Ireland side that this weekend will attempt to wrest the trophy out of American hands over the Old Course at St Andrews.

Reading over, under and between the lines, the US team led by captain Mike McCoy are the overwhelming favourites to retain the trophy the visitors have owned since 2017. Certainly, history, current form and just about any statistic you care to mention is strongly on the side of the Americans in a series that currently stands at 38-9-1 in their favour.

Some examples:

• While amateur rankings are open to legitimate scrutiny, not the least in how the formula is skewed towards the American college system, the difference in World Amateur Golf Ranking between the two sides is vast. The USA team feature eight of the current top 10 players (and it would have been nine had No. 2 Michael Thorbjornsen not withdrawn through injury) with an average position of 8.2 for the 10 members of the team. In vivid and perhaps telling contrast, GB&I’s average ranking is 87.4, with John Gough most prominent at No. 14. Only two others, Barclay Brown and Calum Scott, are inside the top 50.
• Speaking of Scott and Gough, the pair do bring a bit of novelty value to the GB&I squad. Both have brothers who have played in a previous Walker Cup match (Conor Gough and Sandy Scott both played in 2019 at Royal Liverpool). The Goughs and the Scotts are the fifth and sixth sets of brothers to have played in the Walker Cup.
• Also on the novelty front: At age 16 years, 10 months and 9 days, Scotland’s Connor Graham becomes the youngest player on either team to compete in a Walker Cup.
• All told, 39 US Walker Cup players have gone on to win major championships, 93 to be exact (21 Masters, 32 US Opens, 20 PGA Championships and 20 Open Championships). As is always the case when Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods come up, the two most successful major champions account for a big chunk of the conversation — 33 combined. But still, even without the “big two”, 60 majors have been won by Americans as opposed to 13 won by GB&I players.
• To be fair, GB&I are competitive in at least one category. In the previous 48 Walker Cup matches 613 players have featured for the two sides (307 players for the USA and 306 for GB&I). After this year, those figures will increase to 630 overall, 316 for the USA and 314 for GB&I.
• And yes, there is at least a little hope of a home victory. St Andrews is the only Walker Cup venue that GB&I have won at on more than one occasion, in 1938 and 1971. Those were GB&I’s first two victories in the series. On the other hand, 1971 was the only victory registered by Euro representatives between ’38 and 1989. And of the eight previous Walker Cups at the Home of Golf, the USA team has won six.
• One last thing, a straw that may be grasped in desperation by the more superstitious members of the home team and support. There are four Irish players in this year’s GB&I team, the most since 2015 at Royal Lytham. And that was the last time the Americans relinquished their hold on the Walker Cup.

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As ever at such things, the opening press conferences two days before the 49th Walker Cup begins between the US and Great Britain & Ireland consisted of mostly innocuous answers to generally predictable questions.

Everyone on both sides is “really looking forward” to playing the 7,313-yard Old Course at St Andrews 100 years after the first match between the best amateurs on both sides of the Atlantic took place at the same venue. Oh, and “everybody is playing well”.

Both captains, Stuart Wilson for the home team and Mike McCoy for the visitors, are happy with their sides, are happy with the pairings they have planned and are expecting a tough contest, no matter what the relative rankings of the two sides might suggest.

“I think selection went really well,” Wilson said. “We’re really delighted with the team we’ve got.”

“It’s always special to be here,” was McCoy’s verdict. “I’ve been focused on our guys getting to know the golf course and understanding that it’s hard to win when you’re on the road and when you’re playing at a golf course they’re unfamiliar with.”

In other words, everyone is just “really happy”.

Wilson further lapsed into: “Oh, come on” territory with his assertion that the forecast fine weather over the weekend would not negatively impact his team’s ability to pull off what would be a huge surprise victory. Ignoring the evidence of 2011 at Royal Aberdeen, when a US team containing Jordan Spieth, Patrick Cantlay, Harris English, Russell Henley, Peter Uihlein and Patrick Rodgers lost out to a clearly inferior GB&I side thanks in part to weather severe even for the perennially windswept north-east corner of Scotland, Wilson was keen to promote his illogical preference for bright sunshine and light winds.

“We all know in links golf things can change from the front nine to the back nine given a wee bit of a change in direction of breeze,” said Wilson, who won the 2003 Amateur Championship at the Old Course. “I’d rather see the guys just going head-to-head on a nice links day rather than battling the elements, absolutely. I’m all for good weather. I think the team would appreciate that, as well.

“It loses something when it’s howling wind and rain,” continued the 46-year old Scot. “At least these guys will be able to show what they can do in good conditions. Maybe a club-and-a-half wind would have been nice and a wee bit of bounce on the Old Course, but we’ll take it the way it is.”

GB&I first-timer Calum Scott says it’s anyone’s game this weekend at the Old Course, where he’s sure the winning team will be the one that holes the most putts. Oisin Keniry/R&A

Where the GB&I side showed even more fight was when the obvious disparity in the relative rankings of the two teams came up. Calum Scott, one of two Scots on the home side, was quite definite in his disdain for any suggestion that his mates were at any kind of psychological disadvantage.

“I wouldn’t say they intimidate us,” said the Texas Tech student. “It’s a completely different game over here. Also, this is match play, different from stroke play. You can play as well as you want and sometimes lose, and sometimes it goes your way. I don’t think the rankings really matter for this, especially being at St Andrews. It’s anyone’s game, and I think the winning team is the team that holes the most putts. That’s it.”

And then Scott went even farther. Identified as the longest player on the GB&I side, he was asked if he had heard how far his opposite number on the US team, Vanderbilt All-American and World No. 1 Gordon Sargent, is capable of launching drives. To his credit — and maybe, later his cost — Scott didn’t back off.

“I’ve played with Gordon a couple times in college, so obviously I know how long he is,” said Scott, who was third in last year’s European Amateur. “I think everyone in the college scene in America knows how long he is. Look, he’s a great player, so it would be great to play him in singles. I would love that match. I’d love any match, but it would be cool to play him at the Home of Golf. We’ll see. It’ll be good.”

Strong stuff. And ably backed up by Scott’s teammate, Alex Maguire.

“Our games are definitely good enough to compete with the Americans,” said the Irishman, who earlier this year won the St Andrews Links Trophy. “It will all come down to the greens here. In a text last week Stuart said: ‘Practise putting’ because it’s the one thing it’ll come down to. You’ll be surprised how similar our games will be to the Americans. We’re not intimidated by the rankings. Obviously, they’re great players, and they’re high up in the rankings for a reason, but at the end of the day, it’ll come down to who can hole the most 10-footers and who can hole the most five-footers.”

So there you have it. The sun is going to shine. And this Walker Cup is going to be all about putting. And maybe one for two long drives. You heard it here first.

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In the month of September, golf’s cups runneth over. Not literally, mind you, but figuratively. And confusingly, perhaps.

Casual golf fans are likely to know that the Ryder Cup — which pits the top men’s professionals from the US against the top from Europe — is taking place at the end of September in Italy.

More informed golf fans are aware that the Solheim Cup, the women’s version of the Ryder Cup, is being held a week earlier in Spain. And passionate golf fans are planning to be up early on Saturday and Sunday to catch the Walker Cup — the men’s amateur equivalent, with the exception of the US facing only Great Britain & Ireland — that will be held for the first time in 48 years at the Old Course at St Andrews.

For the past few weeks, captains from each of the different competitions have been making picks and rounding out rosters in preparation for these biennial match-play events. And trying to keep everything straight as to who is playing for what has got a little complicated for the uninitiated. To help keep track of everything, we have this handy cheat sheet so that no matter what level of golf fan you are, you’re in the know during the next month.

WALKER CUP

Dates: September 2-3
Place: Old Course, St Andrews, Scotland
Format: Foursomes Saturday and Sunday morning, singles Saturday and Sunday afternoon
Defending champ: US won in 2021 at Seminole Golf Club, 14-12
Lowdown: The Americans are starting to turn this event back into the Walk-over Cup as they aim for a fourth straight win. That length of dominance hasn’t happened since the 1980s.

Team USA

Captain: Mike McCoy
Players
Nick Dunlap, 19, Huntsville, Alabama (World Amateur Golf Ranking: (5)
David Ford, 20, Peachtree Corners, Georgia (4)
Nick Gabrelcik, 21, Trinity, Florida (9)
Austin Greaser, 21, Vandalia, Ohio (10)
Stewart Hagestad, 32, Newport Beach, California (19)
Ben James, 19, Milford, Connecticut (7)
Dylan Menante, 22, Carlsbad, California (6)
Gordon Sargent, 20, Birmingham, Alabama (1)
Preston Summerhays, 21, Scottsdale, Arizona (13)
Caleb Surratt, 19, Indian Trail, North Carolina (8)

Team GB&I

Captain: Stuart Wilson
Players
James Ashfield, 22, Wales (69)
Jack Bigham, 19, England (87)
Barclay Brown, 22, England (26)
John Gough, 24, England (14)
Connor Graham, 16, Scotland (214)
Alex Maguire, 22, Ireland (143)
Matthew McClean, 30, Ireland (54)
Liam Nolan, 23, Ireland (150)
Mark Power, 23, Ireland (98)
Calum Scott, 20, Scotland (31)

Maddie Meyer

SOLHEIM CUP

Dates: September 22-24
Place: Finca Cortesin, Anadulcia, Spain
Format: Foursomes and four-balls Friday and Saturday, singles Sunday
Defending champ: Europe won in 2021 at Inverness Club, 15-13
Lowdown: The Americans have lost four of the last six matches, including two straight. Stopping that slide is even more important when you consider they’ll be playing again next year as the schedule adjusts to return to an even-numbered year target.

Team USA

Captain: Stacy Lewis
Automatic qualifiers
Lilia Vu (Rolex Ranking: 1)
Nelly Korda (2)
Allisen Corpuz (8)
Megan Khang (13)
Jennifer Kupcho (28)
Danielle Kang (31)
Andrea Lee (43)
Lexi Thompson (26)
Rose Zhang (30)
Captain’s picks
Ally Ewing (33)
Cheyenne Knight (46)
Angel Yin (32)

Team Europe

Captain: Suzann Pettersen
Automatic qualifiers
Celine Boutier (5)
Maja Stark (39)
Linn Grant (16)
Charley Hull (9)
Carlota Ciganda (34)
Georgia Hall (18)
Leona Maguire (17)
Anna Nordqvist (38)
Captain’s picks
Caroline Hedwall (118)
Madeline Sagstrom (46)
Gemma Dryburgh (51)
Emily Kristine Pedersen (117)

Warren Little

RYDER CUP

Dates: September 29-October 1
Place: Marco Simone, Rome, Italy
Format: Foursomes and four-balls Friday and Saturday, singles Sunday
Defending champ: US won in 2021 at Whistling Straits, 19-9
Lowdown: It didn’t take that long for the Europeans to go from strugglers to sneaky favorites as Viktor Hovland takes his rightful recognition among the tops of the men’s game.

Team USA

Captain: Zach Johnson
Automatic qualifiers
Scottie Scheffler (Official World Golf Ranking: 1)
Wyndham Clark (10)
Brian Harman (9)
Patrick Cantlay (5)
Max Homa (7)
Xander Schauffele (6)
Captain’s picks
Sam Burns (21)
Rickie Fowler (25)
Brooks Koepka (14)
Collin Morikawa (19)
Jordan Spieth (12)
Justin Thomas (26)

Team Europe

Captain: Luke Donald
Automatic qualifiers: Six players will earn spots on the team from two points lists after the end of the Omega European Masters this weekend.
Captain’s picks: Donald will pick six more players to join the team on Monday (September 4)

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With two mostly full days of practice still to come, the United States Walker Cup team’s preparations for this weekend’s competition over the Old Course at St Andrews were of the low-key variety on Wednesday at the Home of Golf. Watched by captain Mike McCoy, members of the 10-man squad, having played the course more than once already, were focusing on the details they feel will help them to a fourth successive victory in what will be the 49th edition of the biennial contest with Great Britain & Ireland.

“To a man they love the course,” says McCoy, who in 2015 at Royal Lytham became the third-oldest Walker Cupper of all-time at 52. “I can say for sure everyone is having a good time. And they are coming together nicely as a team. We’ve found some good pairings and already I can say we will be going with what we’ve discovered so far. We just want to be certain that they are comfortable with who tees off on the odd and even holes. That’s really what we are trying to determine today. That and getting everyone confident about the lines they take off the tees. You absolutely need to know those because there aren’t too many aiming points around here. So we’re working on that.”

One thing that US team is not short of is good advice. In the run-up to the matches, McCoy leaned on his fellow Iowan, Zach Johnson for Old Course tips. This year’s American Ryder Cup captain won the Open Championship at St Andrews in 2015.

“Zach’s advice was simple but the biggest thing he emphasised was to, in almost every case, be past the hole with the approach shots into these greens,” McCoy said. “He was very generous with his time. And the guys have been finding that out for themselves since we got here. Listening to such a tough competitor who has won here has to be beneficial.”

Speaking of which, another source of Old Course wisdom, Jack Nicklaus, has been passing on tips to members of the visiting team. Nicklaus, twice a Walker Cup player in 1959 and 1961, won two Opens at St Andrews.

“There have been a few ‘wow’ comments from the guys,” McCoy continues. “When they saw the double greens for example. And the size of the fifth/13th green provoked some surprise. What didn’t shock anyone is that the bunkers are truly a one-shot penalty. But we had them well-warned about that before we came over. A few of the guys have been exposed to Jack and that was his first piece of advice: ‘Don’t hit any club that can get you in a bunker.’”

Other than those little gems, Wednesday was pretty much like prep for any event, with the speed of the greens being maybe the most important aspect. As is typically the case, they are a bit slower than the Americans are used to, albeit they are, to McCoy’s mind, “running beautifully”.

“Which is why we are doing a lot of lag putting,” says the 60-year-old, who last year won the Senior Amateur Championship at Royal Dornoch. “Even really good players are inevitably going to get some long ones out here.”

As for figuring out who drives on the odd and even holes, the thing that’s proving a little tricky is the fact there are only two par 3s (the eighth and the 11th) on the course. It isn’t as simple as putting the better iron player on the short holes.

“What we have looked at is the par 4s that can potentially be drivable,” McCoy says. “Our stronger players will be driving on those, as much as possible. But even that can change. Today we are seeing a different wind, which is good. The first couple of days the holes on the front nine were playing into the wind. Today they are downwind. One of my biggest goals this week is that we are not going to be surprised by any sort of wind change once the matches start.

“That’s why, after playing Kingsbarns and Dumbarnie earlier this week, we are going to stay here now. Tomorrow we’ll play all 18 holes and Friday will be a light, nine-hole day. The guys will want to rest a little by then.”

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Almost a half-century after its last visit, and exactly 100 years after its first, the Walker Cup is heading home. Back to the Home of Golf that is. For the first time since 1975, the match between the leading amateurs from the United States and those from Great Britain & Ireland will take place this weekend over the Old Course at St Andrews.

Time for a big call. Forget the 2007 American team that included Rickie Fowler, Billy Horschel, Dustin Johnson, Webb Simpson, Chris Kirk and Kyle Stanley. And dismiss the claims of a 2017 crew that boasted the likes of Collin Morikawa, Scottie Scheffler, Will Zalatoris, Cameron Champ and Maverick McNealy. Both powerful squads, no doubt. But the 1975 side, it says here, is at least for now the best US Walker Cup team in history.

The evidence for that bold claim is vivid indeed. Three members of the 10-player squad led by captain Ed Updegraff went on to become major champions: Curtis Strange, Craig Stadler and Jerry Pate. And three more, George Burns, Jay Haas and Gary Koch, played with more than a little success professionally. In all, those six men won 57 PGA Tour events and four Grand Slam championships.

That’s impressive enough, but three of the four remaining members, Dick Siderowf, Vinny Giles and Bill Campbell, won either or both the US Amateur and British Amateur while remaining career amateurs. With John Grace (an eventual member of the Texas and Michigan Golf Halls of Fame) rounding out the squad, this was a team with real depth, top to bottom.

But it was also a group under an unusual level of pressure. Only four years before at St Andrews, the GB&I side had pulled off a massive upset of an American team boasting the likes of Tom Kite and Lanny Watkins to record what was their only Walker Cup victory between 1938 and 1989.

“There was a different vibe in our team going into the 1975 matches, if only because we had won in 1971,” says George MacGregor, a future R&A captain who played for GB&I both years. “Back then, it was quite unexpected. We hadn’t won in more than 30 years. So this time round there was a greater expectation.”

Equally, for the visitors, where Giles (age 32) and Campbell (age 52) were the lone returning players from 1971, a repeat of what was almost unthinkable would be, well, completely unthinkable in a series that today the US leads 38-9-1.

“Our captain had us over there early,” Koch, a 22-year-old at the time who played college golf at Florida, recalls. “We played a lot of practice rounds, more than once playing 36 holes a day. His theory was that the 1971 team did not know the course well enough. I think we got there Monday morning and we were out there twice a day. He had a plan that we needed to know the course as well as possible.”

That made sense, as more than half the US team (Koch included) had never before set foot on golf’s most famous course, a place notorious for its foibles and one where local knowledge is so often the difference between success and failure. But the Americans proved to be quick learners.

“We had to deal with things we had never seen before,” Strange, the reigning NCAA champion from Wake Forest and the youngest American on the team at 20, says. “You have to be there. You can’t get it from a book. The shots inside 100 yards were amazing to us. The trajectory was different. Then there was the bounce and roll of the ball after it landed. Over there, it’s a game played on the ground. We were all taken aback by the Valley of Sin on the 18th. Every day we all hit maybe a dozen balls, running the shots up there.”

Koch, too, was embarking on what has turned into a lifelong love affair with links golf. Twice, the Louisiana native would go on to be low American in the Open Championship.

“What was fun for me was that the course and the shots it asked us to hit got me into what I call ‘play mode’,” says the six-time PGA Tour winner. “Not ‘swing mode’. It was so different, bouncing the ball in. It brought out my creative side more than my analytic side.”

“When we arrived, I was looking out at the course and asking where we were going to play,” Haas, Strange’s 21-year-old teammate at Wake, adds. “I was told: ‘right there.’ I couldn’t believe it. It was brown and didn’t look like anything. And on our first practice round I’m not sure the cups hadn’t been moved in more than a week. The edges were all broken down. We were wondering what we had gotten ourselves into.”

Across the aisle, GB&I captain David Marsh (who played in ’71) was leading a side containing three other returnees (Scots Hugh Stuart and Charlie Green, and MacGregor) from 1971. But 48 years ago, the GB&I squad was amateur in the true sense of the word.

“The Walker Cup was a softer competition back then, much more than it is now,” Siderowf, 37 at the time, says today. “The atmosphere was different. Now it’s like a fight or a war.”

Recall if you will this was an era before GB&I players made their way to American universities as a highly competitive prelude to a professional career in golf. Of the home players, only future Ryder Cup captain Mark James — who claims to have “no memory” of a Walker Cup in which he won three points from his four games — would go on to any kind of success in the paid ranks. Seven of the 10 never turned professional.

“They didn’t have any college kids,” Haas confirms. “And some of them were in their 30s. We thought they were ancient.”

So the stage was set, one the younger members of the American side were determined to enjoy. Koch talks of trips into the Auld Grey Toon to sample fish suppers wrapped in newspaper. And Strange and Haas spent an enraptured hour watching legendary clubmaker Laurie Auchterlonie lovingly construct a wooden-headed driver.

Ah, but before play would even begin, there was trouble in the American camp. Immediately after the pairings for the first day’s sessions were announced at the opening ceremony on the eve of the event, Burns was stomping off in the direction of the Old Course Hotel. Expecting to feature in all four series, the then 25-year-old college golfer at Maryland was less than pleased to find his name omitted from the Wednesday’s Day 1 singles (interestingly, the matches were played on a Wednesday-Thursday that year).

So unhappy was Burns that he announced he was flying home and would not play in the opening foursomes alongside Stadler, a threat Siderowf and Giles heard after hustling down the 18th fairway in pursuit.

“George felt he was the best player on the team,” Giles says. “But Pate was the US Amateur champion and Curtis was NCAA champion. They had earned the right to play all four games. The plan was that everyone would play three times and they would play four. But Burns didn’t like that. Dick and I actually took him behind the hotel for a talk. George was a big strong boy and could have beat the hell out of both of us. But we got him to listen. He eventually came around.”

George Burns had to be coaxed by teammates to play after threatening to fly home when he learned he wasn’t going to start for the US team in all four sessions. Peter Dazeley

Not completely though. As Stadler tells it, Burns was still in a foul mood the following morning.

“Our tee time was 10am,” says the future Masters champion. “I was hitting balls around 9.40 and no one had seen George. So Bill Campbell and I got a cart over to the Old Course Hotel. We pounded on George’s door and it finally opened. We had about 12 minutes until we had to tee off. But George said he wasn’t going to play. He was so [angry] at being left off the previous morning.

“I told him to get his butt out of bed, into the cart and we were going to play. Still he wouldn’t come. ‘Bull, you’re not coming,” I said. ‘We’re going. Let’s go. I can’t do this by myself.’ After a bit more grumbling, I got him out of the room and into the cart. He didn’t hit any balls before we played, only a couple of putts. And we won 5&4. We obnoxiously destroyed them.”

Today, Burns acknowledges he didn’t make things easy for the American team, maturity having had its time-honoured effect on perspective. Still, he actually might have had a right to be shocked at being omitted. A little more than a month earlier, Burns finished low amateur in the Masters and the previous year he played a prominent role in the four-man US side’s victory at the World Amateur Team Championship. Later in 1975, he would lead the qualifying for the Open Championship at Carnoustie, finish T-10 there and win twice on the European Tour. Then, at year’s end, he finished second at the PGA Tour Q-School (which Pate won, with Koch T-3). Clearly, he was a player.

“I have to apologise for my conduct back then,” he says. “I made a big mistake there. But if my not playing one series had been discussed previously, that would not have been my reaction. It was never discussed, though, and I was taken by surprise. But I overreacted. As my dad would say: ‘I spoke before I thought.’ Giles, Siderowf and my dad tried to talk some sense into me. I just didn’t think it through, which I’m very sorry for.”

Still, amid the bad feeling there was, too, an amusing aspect to this sudden rift in the American ranks.

“Stadler’s reaction made everyone laugh,” Giles says. “He was George’s foursomes partner. So when George said he wasn’t going to play, Craig told everyone he would take the opponents on by himself. We let that go for about 10 minutes before we told him it was alternate shot. It never dawned on him.”

Burns wasn’t the only member of the US squad creating mild controversy. Pate, a renowned chatter-box not slow to, in the British vernacular, “toot his own horn”, was causing some embarrassment with his non-stop banter.

“Pate was a bit mouthy in the lunch room,” recalls a teammate who prefers to remain nameless. “Some of the language wasn’t exactly what you would want to hear in public. We called Campbell ‘the saint.’ And eventually he had had enough of Jerry, who never shut up. He was making comments to the waitresses and things like that. So Campbell took Jerry outside into the hallway and gave him a lecture. It was like a father-son meeting. Jerry was told to moderate his language and a whole host of other things too. We all thought that was very funny.”

Still, it should be noted that Pate’s high opinion of his own worth was shared by others in his team. Giles, for one, was a fan.

“I thought Pate was the best of them,” says the two-time US Amateur champion. “Had he not been hurt later, he would have been in the Hall of Fame. Curtis was comparable. His record speaks to that and he proved to be the best. But Pate was every bit as good. He was cocky as hell and had that ‘it’ factor. He wasn’t scared of anything. But he was a heavy load at St Andrews.”

Jerry Pate struggled during the week at St Andrews, finishing 0-4 while the US won 15 1/2-8 1/2. Peter Dazeley

Pate’s play didn’t necessarily live up to his own hype, losing all four of his matches. One week later, Pate would lose in the first round of the Amateur Championship, thereby completing a miserable trip across the Atlantic. “Pate was a great ball-striker, but I’m not sure links golf suited him,” says GB&I’s Ian Hutcheon, who defeated him in singles, 3&2. “He hit the ball high and didn’t get the ball on the ground quick enough.”

Which is not to say Pate was down for long, although his play did maintain a level of inconsistency unusual in such a fine player. One month after the Walker Cup, the Georgian was low amateur in the US Open, which he eventually won in 1976 en route to being the PGA Tour’s Rookie of the Year.

While the visitors were weathering their various self-induced storms, the home team was readying itself like, well, amateurs. In slight mitigation, however, luck was not on their side. Originally selected to play on Day 1, Englishman Peter Hedges was hit by a revolving door at the team hotel, needed stitches in a head wound and ended up being withdrawn from the first two series. And the May 28-29 date meant the emerging talent that was then 17-year-old Nick Faldo would miss out. The future six-time major champion won a number of events that summer, including the English Amateur championship, but his run of form came too late for the Walker Cup.

“I don’t think we were nearly well enough prepared,” concludes Hutcheon, who would go on to win the individual title at the 1976 World Amateur. “Certainly not when you compare it to today. There wasn’t much thought put into the partnerships or order in which we were sent out. There was no sitting down for a team talk, no discussion about what ball we should use. And there was no sign of any psychologists. I don’t recall any expectation other than that we thought we might just win. But that was normal. Back then it was always a daunting task to face the Americans. We were a lot less familiar with them.”

Captains David Marsh (GB&I) and Ed Updegraff (US) speak to the press. Notice a young Renton Laidlaw listening in at the left. Peter Dazeley

Stuart, too, was struggling. The then-31-year-old arrived in St Andrews with his game a mess. Just three months before on the advice of swing coach John Jacobs he had made drastic changes to his address position.

“I couldn’t hit the bloody ball,” says Stuart who, like his fellow Scots, would emerge pointless from the two-day contest. “We had a weekend get together at St Andrews in April. The press were all there. I was hitting one shot 50 yards left, the next one 50 yards right. They thought I was mucking about. But I wasn’t. I cried in the car going home that night. But I went to the Walker Cup still persevering with that new address.”

For all his struggles, Stuart did at least influence the destination of one point. Playing with Green against Burns and Stadler, the Scots noticed that, on every green, the Americans would ask to change their ball, claiming it was “damaged.”

“We didn’t realise exactly what they were doing until we talked at lunch,” Stuart says. “They were changing from the wee ball to the big ball to putt, which was legal at that time. But we raised the issue. John Davies was playing Burns in the afternoon. On the first hole, Burns found the green with his approach. When he marked he shouted over that he was taking the ball out of play. Davies went over and told him it wasn’t damaged. So Burns had to putt with a small ball. And Davies beat him. The captain of the R&A referred to what they were doing at dinner that night. It caused a wee bit of a ripple.”

Amid all of these on- and off-course shenanigans, it was clear that the visiting side was, with something to spare, the superior team. The final score of 15.5-8.5 is a pretty fair reflection of the strengths on both sides, but it could have been worse for the home players. The Americans strode to convincing victory while “carrying” Pate, much to the amusement of his teammates. Even now, they never fail to remind him of his lack of success. And one shot in particular — the opening blow on the opening hole on the opening day — stands out.

“I had played the Old Course in all kinds of wind,” Pate says. “So I should have known better. Siderowf was telling me not to hit driver off the first tee in the first match. He knew it was too much club. But I went ahead and did it anyway. Sure enough, the ball finished in the burn near the Swilcan Bridge. So Dick’s first shot was taking a drop. My dad was there shaking his head. Needless to say, we lost that hole.”

It was, however, a false dawn for the home team. By the end of the next day, the US side had won three of the four series of matches and halved the other. It was a dominant performance by a stellar team packed with past, present and future stars, one “better than most” as Koch might say.

But the final word must go to Giles.

“You can look at more modern teams, but I still think the 1975 side has to be at least one of the strongest we’ve ever had,” says the now-80-year-old. “Today, if you were putting together that team, Campbell probably wouldn’t make it. He was still a heck of a player, but he was as much a leader as a player. So some hot-shot college player would get his spot now. But if someone was to say that side is still the strongest ever, I would not disagree.”

Not many would.

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The 10 amateur stars representing Great Britain and Ireland at the 49th Walker Cup have been selected for the showdown against their American counterparts at St Andrews on September 2-3

GB&I captain Stuart Wilson revealed the names on Monday as the home side are bidding to regain the trophy for the first time since 2015, when they secured a 16.5-9.5 victory at Royal Lytham & St Annes.

“We have selected the 10 players who we believe will give us the best chance of regaining the Walker Cup against the United States of America,” said Wilson. “This is their opportunity to perform on the biggest stage in amateur golf and have their name written alongside some of the greatest names in the history of the sport by winning the Walker Cup. There is arguably no more iconic venue in the world to achieve that feat than on the Old Course in St Andrews.

“We look forward to the challenge of winning the match next week and I know these players will give it their all to win back the trophy in front of a home crowd.”

The GB&I team
James Ashfield, Wales, Delamere Forest, 22
Jack Bigham, England, Harpenden, 19
Barclay Brown, England, Hallamshire, 22
John Gough, England, The Berkshire, 24
Connor Graham, Scotland, Blairgowrie, 17
Alex Maguire, Ireland, Laytown & Bettystown, 22
Matthew McClean, Ireland, Malone, 30
Liam Nolan, Ireland, Galway, 23
Mark Power, Ireland, Kilkenny, 23
Calum Scott, Scotland, Nairn, 20
Reserves
Tyler Weaver, England, Bury St Edmonds, 18
Caolan Rafferty, Ireland, Dundalk, 30

Player focus

James Ashfield
Ashfield is representing GB&I in the Walker Cup for the first time. In 2023, the member of Wales’ national team has finished runner-up in both the Lytham Trophy and European Amateur Championship in Estonia, finished tied third in the Sotogrande Cup in Spain and reached the last-64 in The Amateur Championship at Hillside. In 2022, he won the Welsh Amateur Championship, reached the last-16 in The Amateur Championship at Royal Lytham & St Annes and represented Wales in the Eisenhower Trophy in France. Two years ago at Nairn, he reached the semi-finals of The Amateur.

Jack Bigham
In 2023, the member of England’s national team has recorded top-12s in both the European Amateur Championship in Estonia and St Andrews Links Trophy, represented his country in both the European Amateur Team Championships and The R&A Men’s Home Internationals and completed his first collegiate season at Florida State University. In 2021, he won the R&A Boys’ Amateur Championship at Royal Cinque Ports and reached the quarter-finals of the English Amateur at Moortown and the last-16 of The Amateur Championship at Nairn. He makes his Walker Cup debut in St Andrews.

Barclay Brown
Brown makes a second Walker Cup appearance after playing at Seminole in 2021. So far in 2023, the member of England’s national team has earned All-America honours in his senior season at Stanford University, finished tied-fourth in the NCAA Division One Individual Championship and competed in the US Open at Los Angeles Country Club. In 2022, he reached the last-64 in The Amateur Championship at Royal Lytham & St Annes and after qualifying for The 150th Open at St Andrews, was tied 12th after 36 holes to make the cut. In that year, he was also a member of the winning GB&I team in the St Andrews Trophy against the Continent of Europe. Reached the quarter-finals of The Amateur Championship in 2020 and the semi-finals of The R&A Boys’ Amateur in 2019.

John Gough
Gough has been eager to make the GB&I team given his younger brother, Conor, represented GB&I at Royal Liverpool in 2019. So far in 2023, the member of England’s national team has won both the Australian Master of the Amateurs and Irish Amateur Open, finished runner-up in both the Avondale Amateur and the Sotogrande Cup, reached the last-32 in The Amateur Championship and made the cut in the DP World Tour’s Betfred British Masters. In 2022, he won both the Spanish Amateur and the Lytham Trophy, finished runner-up in the Scottish Amateur Open, reached the semi-finals of The Amateur Championship at Royal Lytham & St Annes and represented England in the Eisenhower Trophy. Before his defeat to Sam Bairstow in the semi-finals of The Amateur last June, he had gone on a run of only losing one of 24 matchplay ties. Last year, he was also a member of the winning GB&I team in the St Andrews Trophy against the Continent of Europe.

Connor Graham
At the age of 17, Graham becomes one of the youngest players on either team to ever compete in the Walker Cup. So far in 2023, the member of Scotland’s national team has won the Scottish Amateur Open and finished runner-up in the French Under-18 Amateur Open. In 2022, he won The R&A Junior Open at Monifieth and finished runner-up in the Lytham Trophy, tied third in the Scottish Boys’ Amateur Open and shared seventh in the St Andrews Links Trophy.

Alex Maguire. R&A

Alex Maguire
After winning the first-ever Open Amateur Series to qualify for The 151st Open at Royal Liverpool in July, Maguire has achieved another highlight. This year, the member of Ireland’s national team has also won the St Andrews Links Trophy and East of Ireland Amateur Open, reached the quarter-finals of The Amateur Championship at Hillside, finished fourth in the Irish Amateur Open and closed his senior season at Florida Atlantic University with a tie for fourth in his conference championship. In 2022, he won the East of Ireland Amateur Open and reached the semi-finals of The Amateur Championship at Royal Lytham & St Annes. In 2021, he won the North of Ireland Amateur Open and reached the quarter-finals of the South of Ireland Amateur Open.

Matthew McClean
A Walker Cup debut for McClean. Last year, he won the US Mid-Amateur Championship by defeating Hugh Foley in the final at Erin Hills in Wisconsin. To date in 2023, the member of Ireland’s national team has competed in both the Masters Tournament and the US Open and recorded top-ten finishes in the South African Amateur, East of Ireland Amateur Open and Brabazon Trophy. He also reached the last-64 of the US Amateur and the semi-finals of the Western Amateur. In addition to his USGA championship title in 2022, he also finished runner-up in both the Irish Amateur Open and North of Ireland Amateur Open, reached the last-16 in The Amateur Championship at Royal Lytham & St Annes and represented Ireland in the Eisenhower Trophy. In that year, he was also a member of the winning GB&I team in the St Andrews Trophy against the Continent of Europe.

Liam Nolan
Nolan makes his Walker Cup debut thanks to a fine season in which the member of Ireland’s national team has won the South American Amateur in Ecuador and Brabazon Trophy and reached the last-64 in The Amateur Championship at Hillside. In 2022, he recorded top-four finishes in the North of Ireland, South of Ireland and West of Ireland Amateur Open championships and finished in a share of tenth in the Brabazon Trophy and tied-14th in the St Andrews Links Trophy. In 2021, he won an R&A Student Tour Series event in Ireland and finished runner-up in both the West of Ireland Amateur Open and Connacht Men’s Stroke Play.

Mark Power
A second Walker Cup appearance for Power who went 3-1-0 in 2021 at Seminole and was 2-0-0 in foursomes with John Murphy. To date in 2023, the Ireland national team player has completed his fourth collegiate season at Wake Forest University and finished tied 13th in the European Amateur Championship in Estonia. In 2022, he reached the last-32 in The Amateur Championship and the last-64 in the US Amateur and represented Ireland in the Eisenhower Trophy. In that year, he was also a member of the winning GB&I team in the St Andrews Trophy against the Continent of Europe. In 2020, he finished runner-up in the Brabazon Trophy, reached the semi-finals of The Amateur Championship at Royal Birkdale and represented the International team in the Arnold Palmer Cup.

Calum Scott
In 2019, his older brother Sandy represented GB&I at Royal Liverpool and Scott now joins the family roll of honour. This year, the member of Scotland’s national team finished tied third in the St Andrews Links Trophy, reached the last-64 in The Amateur Championship at Hillside, made the last-32 of the US Amateur and completed his second season at Texas Tech University. In 2022, he finished third in the European Amateur Championship and represented Scotland in the Eisenhower Trophy. In that year, he was also a member of the winning GB&I team in the St Andrews Trophy against the Continent of Europe. In 2021, he reached the quarter-finals of The Amateur Championship over his home course of Nairn and reached the last-16 in both The R&A Boys’ Amateur and Scottish Amateur Open.

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