Former President George W. Bush poses with Team USA
caddies on Friday at Seminole Golf Club (AmateurGolf.com photo)
Ladened with talent and experience, the United States seems poised to keep a stronghold on the
Walker Cup when the 48th playing of the event gets underway on Saturday at esteemed
Seminole Golf Club in Juno Beach, Fla.
Captain
Nathaniel Crosby welcomes back three tested veterans –
Stewart Hagestad,
Cole Hammer and
John Pak -- who accounted for six of USA’s 15.5 points two years ago at Royal Liverpool Golf Club, which marked the team’s
first victory on foreign soil since 2007 at Royal County Down. Hagestad, 29, will be making his third Walker Cup appearance after playing on victorious sides in 2017 at Los Angeles Country Club (North Course) and at Royal Liverpool in 2019. Hammer, the former No. 1 amateur in the world, is coming off a win at the Big 12 Championships last week at Prairie Dunes while Pak, a senior at Florida State and currently ranked fourth in the World Amateur Golf Rankings (WAGR), was undefeated in his three matches two years ago at Royal Liverpool.
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Nine of the 10 players on the American roster reside inside WAGR’s top 20 while
William Mouw, who earned first team All-America honors last season as a freshman at Pepperdine, checks in at No. 27. In addition to Walker Cup veterans Hagestad, Hammer and Pak, Crosby’s deep roster also includes the likes of reigning U.S. Amateur champion
Tyler Strafaci; the second and third-ranked players in WAGR in
Pierceson Coody, a junior at Texas, and
Davis Thompson, a senior at Georgia; along with Florida sophomore
Ricky Castillo (10th), Oklahoma State standout
Austin Eckroat (13th) and
Quade Cummins, who is a senior at top-ranked Oklahoma.
Alex Fitzpatrick, a junior at Wake Forest and the younger brother of PGA Tour pro Matthew Fitzpatrick, is the only player on the Great Britain & Ireland team who competed at Royal Liverpool two years ago. GB&I’s roster took a hit when
Sandy Scott, a senior at Texas Tech who is ranked 8th in WAGR, was forced to withdraw from the competition with a wrist injury. He will be replaced by
Jack Dyer of Leigh-on-the-Sea, England, who played collegiately at Cal State-Fullerton.
What makes this year’s Match notable is the venue, hallowed Seminole Golf Club, a Donald Ross masterpiece that is consistently rated among American’s top courses. Though it’s a first-time host of The Match, Seminole has deep ties to the Walker Cup. The club boasts nine former Walker Cup players and 11 former captains among its membership, including Crosby, who resides in nearby Jupiter. The USGA was so excited about the possibility of fiercely-private Seminole hosting the Walker Cup, it agreed to alter the date of the competition from August to early May to avoid hurricane season in South Florida.
“Seminole has been a treasure in American golf,” said current president Jimmy Dunne in an interview with TCPalm. “I felt we should be more open about it. What’s important is we are doing something for amateur golf and for our country. That’s our responsibility.”
While the American side seemingly has a decided advantage on paper, toss it out because it’s the Walker Cup – and it’s at Seminole.
The 48th Walker Cup Match
The Walker Cup Match is a biennial amateur team competition between the United States and a team composed of players from Great Britain and Ireland. The Match is played over two days with 18 singles matches and eight foursomes (alternate shot) matches. This year’s Walker Cup Match will take place May 8-9 at Seminole Golf Club in Juno Beach, Fla. Dating back to the first Match in 1922 held at the National Golf Links of America in Southampton, NY, the Americans hold a 37-9-1 advantage, but are just 9-7 against GB&I over the last 16 competitions dating back to 1989.
The Teams
United States
•
Tyler Strafaci, 22, Davie, Fla. (Georgia Tech; Alum)
•
Davis Thompson, 21, St. Simons Island, Ga. (Georgia, Sr.)
•
Ricky Castillo, 20, Yorba Linda, Calif. (Florida; So.)
•
John Pak, 22, Scotch Plains, N.J. (Florida State, Sr.)
•
Pierceson Coody, 21, Plano, Texas (Texas, Jr.)
•
Cole Hammer, 21, Houston, Texas (Texas, Jr.)
•
Stewart Hagestad, 29, Newport Beach, Calif. (USC; Alum)
•
Quade Cummins, 24, Weatherford, Okla. (Oklahoma; Sr.)
•
Austin Eckroat, 22, Edmond, Okla. (Oklahoma State; Sr.)
•
William Mouw, 20, Chino, Calif. (Pepperdine, So.)
Great Britain & Ireland
•
Barclay Brown, 20, Hallamshire, England (Stanford)
•
Jack Dyer, 21, Leigh-on-Sea, England (Cal State-Fullerton)
•
Alex Fitzpatrick, 22, Hallamshire, England (Wake Forest)
•
Angus Flanagan, 21, St George’s Hill, England (Minnesota)
•
Ben Jones, 21, Northamptonshire County, England
•
Matty Lamb, 23, Hexham, England
•
Joe Long, 23, Lansdown, England
•
John Murphy, 22, Kinsale, Ireland
•
Mark Power, 20, Kilkenny, Ireland (Wake Forest)
•
Ben Schmidt, 18, Rotherham, England
The Captains
The United States side will once again be captained by
Nathaniel Crosby, who led the U.S. to a victory two years ago at Royal Liverpool. Crosby, 59, won the 1981 U.S. Amateur at the Olympic Club and was low amateur at the 1982 U.S. Open. He also played on victorious U.S. sides in the 1983 Walker Cup and 1982 World Team Championship. A native of Hillsborough, Calif. who now resides in Jupiter, Fla., Crosby is a longtime member at Seminole Golf Club which will host this weekend’s matches.
One of Scotland’s most renowned amateur players, Stuart Wilson will captain Great Britain & Ireland. Wilson’s competitive resume includes a victory at The Amateur Championship at St. Andrews in 2004 where he defeated 2018 Champion Golfer of the Year Francisco Molinari in the quarterfinals. He was also a member of the victorious GB&I side in 2003 at Ganton, where he contributed two points. He served a four-year term on The R&A Boys’ Selection Committee, including three as chairman and the R&A’s Status Committee. He is a member of The Royal and Ancient Golf Club and currently serves as the managing secretary at Forfar Golf Club.
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Format
On both days there are four foursome (alternate shot) matches in the morning, followed by a series of singles matches in the afternoon. There will be eight singles matches on Saturday and 10 on Sunday. There is a total of 26 points available and a team must secure at least 13.5 points to win the match outright. The United States can retain the cup by winning 13 points.
Head-to-Head
The United States leads the all-time series, 35-9-1, however GB&I has won seven of the last 16 matches since 1989.
Venue
Revered Seminole Golf Club in Juno Beach, Fla. will play host to this weekend’s Walker Cup. Consistently ranked among the United States’ top courses, Seminole Golf Club was designed by Donald Ross and opened for play on January 1, 1930. Playing a just over 7,200 yards, Seminole is not long by modern standards, but players must contend with six holes that are set by the windswept Atlantic Ocean and its slick, elevated greens. There have been three significant renovations to the original layout, most recently by the team of Ben Crenshaw and Bill Coore between 2016-18. Ben Hogan frequently visited the club to prepare for the Masters, saying, “It’s the only course I could be perfectly happy playing every single day. If you can play well at Seminole, you can play well anywhere.”
TV Coverage
Saturday, May 8
Peacock 10-11 a.m.; 4:30-5:30 p.m. ET
Golf Channel 11 a.m.-1 p.m.; 5:30-7:30 p.m. ET
Sunday, May 9
Peacock 10-11 a.m.; 4:30-5:30 p.m. ET
Golf Channel 11 a.m.-1 p.m.; 5:30-7:30 p.m. ET