Tomorrow the 49th Walker Cup starts at St Andrews. One hundred years ago the second staging of the biennial showdown took place at The Home of Golf. Mark Flanagan looks ahead to a mouthwatering encounter as the USA bid for four in a row.
In sport, as in life, much of what we do is assessed ‘on paper’. Now, more than ever, analysis and stats drive ‘performance enhancement’ in sport.
Golf is no stranger to this and to those, not exactly au fait with the nuances of the sport we all love, this weekend’s match on the Fife coast looks like the mismatch to end all mismatches.
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On paper the visiting American team look unbeatable. If the World Amateur Golf Rankings are to be believed, the USA has 10 of the best 11 players. If this was a boxing match people would be wondering what was the point. And that’s even with the official world No 2 (Michael Thorbjornsen) missing out with an injury.
However amateur golf rankings are not like any other ratings system in that the amount of collegiate golf played skews matters a great deal. It becomes self fulfilling when a group of players compete against each other so often, raising the rating of the event and giving them more opportunities to claim big points.
Day 1 matches – foursomes
8.30am: Barclay Brown (Eng) & Mark Power (Ire) v Gordon Sargent & Dylan Menante
8.40am: Calum Scott (Sco) & Connor Graham (Sco) v Caleb Surratt & Ben James
8.50am: Matthew McClean (Ire) & John Gough (Eng) v Preston Summerhays & David Ford
9.00am: Alex Maguire (Ire) & James Ashfield (Wal) v Nick Dunlap & Stewart Hagestad
Singles
1.45pm: Barclay Brown v Caleb Surratt
1.55pm: Calum Scott v Nick Gabrelcik
2.05pm: Jack Bigham (Eng) v Gordon Sargent
2.15pm: Liam Nolan (Ire) v Austin Greaser
2.25pm: Mark Power v David Ford
2.35pm: Matthew McClean v Preston Summerhays
2.45pm: Alex Maguire v Stewart Hagestad
2.55pm: John Gough v Nick Dunlap
In contrast the GB&I-based golfers don’t have such plentiful opportunities.
That said the likes of Barclay Brown and Calum Scott have had the same opportunities of Gordon Sargent et al so it does not explain everything and the Americans, rightly, are heavy favourites.
The likes of Sargent look primed to make a big splash in the professional game, once their time comes. The World No 1, in particular, is a genuinely exciting talent, generating enormous power with a ridiculously athletic swing. For him, driving the 18th at St Andrews, should be a relatively straightforward prospect.
The other nine Americans sit in the world’s top 20 and most in the top 10. Such stats might leave GB&I captain Stuart Wilson with sleepless nights.
However it wasn’t too disimilar last time around at Seminole when GB&I only lost by two points. That time the USA had 11 of the top 20 while GB&I’s ‘best’ player was Alex Fitzpatrick (No 13). This time around it is John Gough at 14.
Captain Wilson is certain to take heart from that.
With home advantage, history and tradition dictates that the gap should be narrowed but this is where things take a turn for the worse for the GB&I
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St Andrews was the one course the Americans would probably have chosen to play on. Many of their squad will have never seen it in the flesh but, so familiar is it to all of us, it just won’t feel like that. They will also be buoyed by the thrill of playing in such legendary surroundings. It could have the potentially detrimental effect of helping them raise their game. In contrast our top amateurs get to play it regularly so the excitement factor is not quite the same in that respect.
Had the R&A been cute somewhere like a Royal Dornoch or Castle Stuart might have worked in the GB&I team’s favour. Tough and exacting, but a little bit more low key, might have been a better strategy.
However the pull of the 100th anniversary of the 1923 Walker Cup being played at St Andrews meant heart was always going to rule the head to a fair degree in respect of this part of the event-staging equation.
The spectacle of The Old Course is certain to draw a decent crowd for the R&A and the showpiece amateur golf event in the world deserves the brighest possible spotlights and the publicity that generates.
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And it won’t take much to get the home crowd going and the opening foursomes are critical in setting the tone. Some early GB&I success will be pivotal. Every sportsman and woman gets to a point where they get rattled and the home side have to land some early punches.
If the hosts can stay in touch on the first day then the crowds will turn out in force on Sunday to cheer them on. That prospect is enough to get any Walker Cup fan excited. Let’s hope we get plenty of excitement and drama and the result depends on the last few Sunday singles.