Sugrue, Gough, Fitzpatrick highlight GB&I Walker Cup team
Alex Fitzpatrick (USGA/Chris Keane)
With the Walker Cup just three weeks away, both sides have laid their cards on the table. The 10-man U.S. team was named within minutes of the conclusion of the U.S. Amateur. Both men in the final match at Pinehurst No. 2 were on it.
Great Britian and Ireland has some stars of its own as it tries to reclaim the Cup at Royal Liverpool in Hoylake, England on Sept. 7-8.
The GB&I team is highlighted by the R&A’s Amateur champion James Sugrue, English Amateur champion Conor Gough and by Conor Purcell ,who won the Australian Amateur Championship earlier this year. Alex Fitzpatrick, whose brother Matthew played in the Walker Cup in 2013, also was selected alongside Scotland’s Euan Walker, who finished runner-up in both the Amateur and European Amateur.
Said Craig Watson, GB&I captain, “It has been a very difficult decision to select ten players for Great Britain and Ireland from a strong squad but we have been very impressed with the results of those we have picked and we believe they will give us the best chance of regaining the Walker Cup against a strong American team.”
The GB&I team
Alex Fitzpatrick, Hallamshire, 20
Conor Gough, Stoke Park, 16
Harry Hall, West Cornwall, 21
Thomas Plumb, Yeovil, 20
Conor Purcell, Portmarnock, 21
Caolan Rafferty, Dundalk, 26
Sandy Scott, Nairn, 20
Tom Sloman, Taunton & Pickeridge, 22
James Sugrue, Mallow, 22
Euan Walker, Kilmarnock (Barassie), 24
ABOUT THE
The Walker Cup
The Walker Cup Match is a biennial 10-man
amateur
team competition between the USA and a team
composed of players from Great Britain and
Ireland
and selected by The R&A. It is played over two
days
with 18 singles matches and eight foursomes
(alternate-shot) matches.
The first United States Walker Cup Team, which
in
1922 defeated the GB&I side, 8-4, at the
National Golf
Links of America, is considered among the best
teams
ever and included Francis Ouimet, Bob Jones,
Charles
“Chick” Evans and Jess Sweetser. Many of the
game’s
greatest players have taken part in Walker Cup
competition, including U.S. Open champions
Jack
Nicklaus, Tiger Woods and Jordan Spieth for
the
USA
and Graeme McDowell, Rory McIlroy and Justin
Rose
for Great Britain and Ireland.
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