We are very lucky here at Cookie Jar Golf to have subscribers and followers who love to share their thoughts on the game. John Haddon has written this short piece about the weekend’s play ahead and what to look out for at The Walker Cup. Thanks John, it is going to be a great weekend.
(Photo by Oisin Keniry/R&A/R&A via Getty Images)
1) The Score
A quick glance at the match series score paints a dark picture if you’re a Great Britain & Ireland supporter. The USA leads the series 38-9-1. A quick check of recent results does little to raise the spirits either, with the USA winning the last 3 matches. However, after the USA won an astonishing 28 of the first 31 matches (1 draw, 2 losses), a turning point came in 1989, when GB & I won on US soil for the first time, at Peachtree Golf Club in Georgia. From that moment on, the series has been a much more evenly weighted contest, with the USA winning 10 and GB & I winning 7 of the past 17 matches.
2) The Venue
The match returns to the Old Course at St Andrews for the first time since 1975, and exactly a hundred years after it first staged the event in 1923. In total, 8 matches have been hosted at the Old Course, and the USA has a favourable record with 6 wins. However, the 2 wins that GB & I managed at St Andrews, were during those incredibly lean, early years of the series, and represented their only 2 victories in the first 31 matches.
3) A New Welsh Star
Welsh golf fans haven’t had much to celebrate in recent years. The national open was removed from the DP World Tour calendar for 2023 and faces an uncertain future. As at the time of writing this, no Welsh player sits inside the top 350 in the world, and you’ve got to go back to the 2014 Ryder Cup when Jamie Donaldson won the decisive point that retained the trophy for Team Europe, to find the last moment really worth celebrating. Enter, James Ashfield. The 22 year old Welshman won the Welsh Amateur in 2022 and was runner-up at the European Amateur Championship and is currently ranked 70th in the World Amateur Golf Ranking, following 8 top 10 finishes, in addition to his win, in the last 30 counting events. A great run at the Walker Cup could turbo boost his career and give Welsh fans a new star to cheer.
4) The Americans
There is no escaping it, team USA are heavy favourites to win the Walker Cup. Even without the number 2 amateur in the world, Michael Thorbjornsen, who misses the event through injury, the team boasts 7 of the world’s top 10 amateurs, led by Gordon Sargent, the world’s number 1 amateur and someone capable of outdriving Rory McIlroy. The strength in depth of this team is further underlined by the inclusion of the experienced Stewart Hagestad, who is making his fourth appearance in the event, after being on the winning teams in 2017, 2019 and 2021.
5) The Weather
The forecast for this weekend is set to be dry and sunny, which you would suggest favours the Americans. GB & I’s two previous victories at the Old Course were aided by some true Scottish links weather, and you feel they will need all the help they can get from the elements this weekend, if they are to take down this incredibly strong American team.
