Walker Cup - US 12.5pts : GBI 11.5pts
The Walker Cup is kinda like the Amateur version of the Ryder Cup. It runs in the odd years, where the Ryder Cup is in the even years. It has been on the go since 1922, missing a few years for the war, and has actually been competed for more than the Ryder Cup, this year being the 40th compared the 35 times for the pros.
It has an amazing history. This year saw a very diverse team with some as young as Oliver Fisher (16), and some substantially older like Nigel Edwards (37), who's dad we met, a jolly nice chap too!
I joined the USGA earlier this year and as a result I can buy tickets to these events earlier than the general public. Lorraine and I decided to go on the Sunday to cheer our boys on. We got up really early for a Sunday at 7:30am and were at the course by 9:30. Team GBI had lost the first day by one point, but on past performance we felt confident that we could bring that back and finish the day on top. We watched the morning foursome playing alternate shots with one ball per team, and followed one particular group round the last 5 holes. That was the match that could have squared us off, but unfortunately they lost it on the 18th! So still one point down at this juncture.
After lunch, we went out to the 1st green to watch the singles matches coming through, and saw some incredible golf from the fairway, the rough, the bunker, everywhere, including a fantastic chip in by Oliver Fisher from heavy rough over 20 feet away. In the afternoon, the matches were going well, with us up or all square in 5 of the 8 matches, some up by as many as 3 or 4. Then it all started to go South! It got tighter and tighter, one great shot after another, including an incredible low punch under a tree to the middle of the green over 150 feet away, unfortunately by the American!
We ended up on the 18th watching the last few coming in. It was all square, we had halved a few matches in the dying holes, lost one, won two, it was very nerve racking. The third to last match could have finished it out for the US team, and their guy hit the pin from 15-20 feet. Our guy chipped in from the rough to tie the match, absolutely awesome. Still it wasn't looking good, we were down in the last two remaining matches.
We left at that point as we were meeting Todd & Shannon for dinner. They literally live around the corner from this year's host club and we wanted to avoid the traffic. We later learned that our worst fears were confirmed; we had lost by a point! However, it was a fantastic day out. The golf was incredible, the crowd were both knowledgeable and, for the most part, pretty respectful too. If you get a chance to see it in future years, I can thoroughly recommend it. It will be somewhere in UKI next time round.
It has an amazing history. This year saw a very diverse team with some as young as Oliver Fisher (16), and some substantially older like Nigel Edwards (37), who's dad we met, a jolly nice chap too!
I joined the USGA earlier this year and as a result I can buy tickets to these events earlier than the general public. Lorraine and I decided to go on the Sunday to cheer our boys on. We got up really early for a Sunday at 7:30am and were at the course by 9:30. Team GBI had lost the first day by one point, but on past performance we felt confident that we could bring that back and finish the day on top. We watched the morning foursome playing alternate shots with one ball per team, and followed one particular group round the last 5 holes. That was the match that could have squared us off, but unfortunately they lost it on the 18th! So still one point down at this juncture.
After lunch, we went out to the 1st green to watch the singles matches coming through, and saw some incredible golf from the fairway, the rough, the bunker, everywhere, including a fantastic chip in by Oliver Fisher from heavy rough over 20 feet away. In the afternoon, the matches were going well, with us up or all square in 5 of the 8 matches, some up by as many as 3 or 4. Then it all started to go South! It got tighter and tighter, one great shot after another, including an incredible low punch under a tree to the middle of the green over 150 feet away, unfortunately by the American!
We ended up on the 18th watching the last few coming in. It was all square, we had halved a few matches in the dying holes, lost one, won two, it was very nerve racking. The third to last match could have finished it out for the US team, and their guy hit the pin from 15-20 feet. Our guy chipped in from the rough to tie the match, absolutely awesome. Still it wasn't looking good, we were down in the last two remaining matches.
We left at that point as we were meeting Todd & Shannon for dinner. They literally live around the corner from this year's host club and we wanted to avoid the traffic. We later learned that our worst fears were confirmed; we had lost by a point! However, it was a fantastic day out. The golf was incredible, the crowd were both knowledgeable and, for the most part, pretty respectful too. If you get a chance to see it in future years, I can thoroughly recommend it. It will be somewhere in UKI next time round.
Comments