Andy DevaneyThe Walker Cup at Lahinch arrives with Great Britain and Ireland carrying a rather inconvenient piece of luggage: five consecutive defeats.
The 51st match is being played at the Irish venue for the first time in the competition’s 104-year history, with 8,000 spectators due through the gates on both Saturday and Sunday. For GB&I, the setting is new. The problem is familiar.
Lahinch brings a different sort of pressure
Tickets are sold out for both days, and more than 1,700 young people will attend through The R&A’s Kids Go Free initiative, which gives under-16s free admission with a paying adult.
That should give elite amateur golf something it does not always enjoy: a crowd large enough to make a missed four-footer feel properly public.
The greater significance sits in the recent history of the match. GB&I have not won since their 16½-9½ victory at Royal Lytham & St Annes in 2015. The USA won 17-9 at Cypress Point last year and now have the opportunity to stretch their sequence to six victories.
A full grandstand cannot hole putts. It can, however, make the consequences of missing them rather more obvious.
Robertson leans on experience
Dean Robertson captains GB&I for the second time, with six members of the previous team returning: Amateur Champion Stuart Grehan, Connor Graham, Eliot Baker, Luke Poulter, Niall Sheils Donegan and Tyler Weaver.
US Amateur champion Jack Whaley, Ben Bolton, Sam Easterbrook and Josh Hill make their Walker Cup debuts.
Robertson’s emphasis is firmly on execution rather than motivational theatre.
“Well, first of all, we’re going to master the challenges that are in front of us with the golf course,” said Robertson. “We’ve got confidence in our preparation and we have got a game plan and we’ll stick to our game plan.
“It’s going to be a brilliant Walker Cup match, I’m sure. It’s going to be extremely difficult. The Americans are so strong but we are prepared. We’ll be playing our own game and we’ll just see where that takes us.”
That final thought is sensibly unheroic. Match play has a habit of making grand predictions look silly before lunch.
The USA arrive with depth and pedigree
Nathan Smith is also captaining for a second time. His side contains three returning players: world number one and McCormack Medal winner Preston Stout, Ethan Fang and Stewart Hagestad.
Hagestad is appearing in his sixth Walker Cup, an unusual depth of experience in a contest populated by players whose amateur careers can move rather quickly.
Miles Russell, Tyler Watts, Kihei Akina, Ryder Cowan, Josiah Gilbert, William Jennings and Jay Leng Jr complete the American team.
Smith expects Lahinch to demand considerably more than one reliable stock shot.
“I think it’s going to be an incredible golf course atmosphere, crowds,” said Smith. “I think it’s a special golf course for both sessions that we’re going to play with alternate shot and singles but I think you’re going to need all the shots out there.
“You’re going to need every club in your bag and watching these guys it’s beautiful when you get on that side of the golf course and then inland there’s some challenging holes. You’re going to need them all.”
The opening foursomes set the temperature
The first foursomes begin at 8.30 am BST, with Grehan and Baker leading out GB&I against Stout and Fang.
It is a suitably serious opening assignment: two returning GB&I players against two of the USA’s three returners.
Foursomes can turn a tidy golf swing into a negotiation. At a venue Smith expects to require every club in the bag, alternate shot should punish poor positioning quickly and reward partnerships able to resist the urge to manufacture something heroic from the shrubbery.
The singles will eventually give players greater individual control. The first session, though, can decide whether the afternoon begins with belief or arithmetic.
A sell-out stage, and nowhere to hide
Live coverage will be available on Sky Sports in the UK and Ireland and Golf Channel in the US, alongside R&A TV and The R&A’s YouTube channel. With both days sold out, fans without tickets have been advised not to attend.
For the USA, victory would extend an unmistakable period of control in the match. For GB&I, Lahinch offers something more urgent: the chance to prevent five defeats becoming six in front of a full house.
The venue is making Walker Cup history simply by hosting it. GB&I would rather not leave the Americans to write the rest.
