The weekly skins game had come to its conclusion and the regulars were gathering at the Triple Bogey Saloon, talking about golf and the state of the game. The malcontents in the group were commiserating about golf from the perspective of the PGA Tour and men’s professional golf. They agreed that it wasn’t like the old days were Ben and Sam and Arnie and Jack roamed the fairways. From their perspective, anything going on in our modern era is too far removed from the good old days of Ozzie and Harriet and President Eisenhower.
Their basic complaint was all about power and the equipment. They thought the game had degenerated to a bomber-fest with eagles and birdies and 300-yard drives and 200-yard 7-irons. Although I wasn’t around in the era of Bobby Jones, Walter Hagen, Gene Sarazen and the Roaring Twenties, I’m sure the old-timers of that era equally missed Harry Vardon, the gutta percha golf ball and wooden shafts. The overall feeling from the boys was that it was a waste of time to watch pro golf. “It just ain’t what it used to be” was the recurring theme.
I somehow got dragged into the conversation and I told them that I loved to watch the game. Even if they didn’t appreciate the power of Bryson DeChambeau or the precision of Collin Morikawa, they should at least watch the game for the beauty of the golf courses. With that in mind, I’m here to tell you that while the big boys are at Quail Hollow this weekend for the playing of the Wells Fargo Championship, perhaps one should tune in to the 48th edition of the Walker Cup Matches at the iconic Seminole Golf Club alongside Florida’s Atlantic coast. One can watch golf on a highly-regarded Donald Ross golf course and can see a format of play that was very much a part of the post-World War I era when golf was gaining its foothold in America
The Walker Cup is an amateur team competition hosted by the United States Golf Association and the Royal and Ancient Golf Club, the game’s ruling bodies in America and Scotland. It was named after then-USGA president George Herbert Walker. For those of you who follow our national political scene, Walker was the grandfather of George Bush, our 43rd president, and the great-grandfather of George W. Bush, our 45th president. It was the amateur equivalent of the Ryder Cup Matches of the time. Every two years, a squad of 10 amateur golfing greats would host the other side in a series of alternate shot and individual team matches for the honor and glory of taking home the Walker Cup. Unlike the Ryder Cup, which has seen tweaks to its format over the years, they still play the Walker Cup the same way they did back in 1920.
As earlier stated, this weekend’s Walker Cup is being played at the Seminole Golf Club. It is a brilliant design that used to be the winter golf home of Ben Hogan during his golfing prime. Its elite membership includes many of the famed Palm Beach crowd as well as past executives of the USGA. It has consistently been ranked among the top golf courses in America.
On Saturday morning the format will be alternate shot with four two-man teams squaring off against their counterparts. In the afternoon it will be eight individual matches. On Sunday morning, play will once again feature four alternate shot matches followed by all 10 amateur golfers playing individual matches. When all is said and done, there will be 26 total matches at stake. The winning team will need to secure 13 ½ points to win the Walker Cup. A match is worth one point to the winning side and a tied match results in each team receiving half a point.
One of the format issues that have remained over time is the background of each team. There is an American team and a team from Great Britain and Ireland. The Ryder Cup changed its configuration to include all of continental Europe in 1979, but the Walker Cup remains a GB&I gathering of their top amateurs to compete against the opposing side of Team USA.
The Great Britain and Ireland team usually hosts its matches at British Open venues. Two years ago the Cup was contested at Royal Liverpool and two years hence it will be played at the Old Course at St. Andrews. The American courses, such as Seminole, are held at iconic old-style golden-age masterpieces that lack the infrastructure to host a U.S. Open or a PGA Championship. In four years when the competition returns to America, it will be held on the Monterey Peninsula at the highly regarded Cypress Point Golf Club, dubbed the Sistine Chapel of American golf. Past Walker Cup sites on our soil have included Pine Valley, the National Golf Links, the Chicago Golf Club, and Milwaukee Country Club, all top-100 golf courses with world famous designs and the history to match.
The GB&I captain this time around is Stuart Wilson. He won the British Amateur in 2004 and was the low amateur in the British Open in 2005 at St. Andrews. Team America is captained for the second time by Seminole member Nathaniel Crosby. The son of crooner Bing Crosby, Nathaniel won the United States Amateur in 1981 at San Francisco’s Olympic Club. Team USA holds a 37-9 lead in the Walker Cup although the competition has been very tight lately.
The 10-man American team features Rudy Castillo of the University of Florida, U.S. Amateur champ Tyler Strafaci, Big 12 champ Cole Hammer of Texas, and Pierceson Coody. Pierceson’s grandfather, Charles Coody, won the Masters in 1971. The GB&I team includes Joe Long, the 2020 British Amateur champion, University of Minnesota star Angus Flanagan, and Alex Fitzpatrick, the younger brother of European Tour star Matthew Fitzpatrick.
If you happen to be perusing your television remote control this weekend trying to find great golf at a great site, think about looking to the Golf Channel and NBC on Saturday and Sunday. Check out the action at the 48th edition of the biennial Walker Cup Matches. You’ll get to watch some outstanding golfers, a few of whom just may end up being the future stars of professional golf. Check out the agony and the ecstasy of match play, especially during the morning sessions when partners play alternate shot and have to recover from their partner’s drive in the rough or wedge into the sand trap. Yet most importantly, check out Seminole Golf Club. It is one of the world’s great and beautiful golf courses and it is well deserving of its status as a highly ranked course. It’s true that golf is not the same as it used to be, but the Walker Cup brings out a lot of those great old values of sportsmanship, competition and the magic of match play.
