THE 44TH WALKER CUP PROGRAM

THE

44 TH

WALKER CUP MATCH

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA vs. GREAT BRITAIN & IRELAND

National Golf Links of America SOU THAMP TON, NEW YORK

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SEP TEMBER 7–8, 2013

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THE 44TH WALKER CUP MATCH

ANTHONY EDGEWORTH

The Winds of History NATIONAL’S ICONIC WINDMILL has lent an air of rural Dutch charm to the landscape since it was donated to the Club by Daniel Pomeroy roughly a decade into the club’s existence. Mythology has it that the windmill was conceived when Pomeroy commented to Macdonald that the unsightly water tower which originally occupied the rise could be improved upon with a windmill. The story goes on that Macdonald, who had no doubt seen the windmill adorning Royal Wimbledon’s golf course during his tours of the U.K., not only agreed with Pomeroy but purchased a windmill in Holland, had it shipped here in pieces, had it reconstructed over the water tower...and sent Pomeroy the bill. While elements of the story are certifiably true (there was a water tower in that location—in fact it’s still there beneath the mill—and Pomeroy did pay for the windmill), the veracity of the overall tale is uncertain. In fact, the only piece of evidence in the club files regarding the mill both supports and refutes the story.

As construction of the windmill neared completion, Pomeroy cheerily wrote to the secretary of the club: “It has given me no end of pleasure in supplying this feature of our landscape, and it is with a great deal of pride and satisfaction that I take this opportunity of making a formal presentation of the mill to the club…My motive in so doing is expressed in the sentiment inscribed on a small plate that will have its everlasting resting place above the entrance door, to wit: ‘PRESENTED TO THE NATIONAL GOLF LINKS OF AMERICA BY DANIEL E. POMEROY TO CHARLES B. MACDONALD, FATHER, BUILDER AND AUTOCRAT OF THE CLUB.” While the letter makes no mention of Macdonald saddling Pomeroy with an unwanted bill, the reference to Macdonald as “autocrat” might suggest as much. Incidentally, the “everlasting” plaque is no longer there.

Two others, however, do adorn the northwest wall of the lower housing. The first reads, “The National Golf Links has been designated ONE OF AMERICA’S HISTORIC GOLF LANDMARKS by GOLF DIGEST, 1995.”

The other marks the 1971 repair of the windmill’s arms, stating the work was done in memory of Charles E. Mitchell, a founder member from 1918 to 1955. The work was funded by a lead gift from his daughter, Mrs. George Rentschler, and supported by member donations. Today the windmill serves both a decorative and practical purpose. During winter, golf course paraphernalia such as bunker rakes, etc. is stored in the housing.

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TABLE

of

CONTENTS

Welcome Letters 4 “Will ’Ye No Come Back Again?” 12

by GORDON SIMMONDS

The Significance of the Walker Cup Match’s Return to National

Making History: The Inaugural Walker Cup Match 14

Clifford Jones

by CHRIS MILLARD

National Golf Links of America Hole by Hole 38

P h o t o g ra p h y b y A N T H O N Y E D G E W O R T H • Te x t b y C H R I S M I L L A R D

The 44th Walker Cup Match Teams 64 USA vs. Great Britain & Ireland

Win-Win 74

Anthony Edgeworth

PUBLISHER AND CREATIVE DIRECTOR

by CHRIS MILLARD

Macdonald’s “Ideal Golf Course” 28

The 44th Walker Cup Match Official Program is published by Edgeworth Editions, LLC www.EdgeworthEditions.com

MANAGING DIRECTOR

William Caler

MANAGING PARTNER

Chris Millard EDITOR

Larry Hasak

ART AND PRODUCTION DIRECTOR

Debbie Falcone COPY EDITOR

Melody Manolokis

PRODUCTION ASSISTANT

by JOHN HOPKINS

How a 1-point Victory 24 Years Ago Changed the Way British View the Walker Cup Match

What the Walker Cup Match Means to Me 78 Jack Nicklaus, Buddy Marucci and Downing Gray Reflect on the Match

Great Britain & Ireland Wins 84 2011 Walker Cup Match Victory Marks Four Out of Five Successful Homestands for GB&I

Walker Cup Match Records and Results 86 About the USGA 90 About The R&A 92 Acknowledgements 94 Committees 95 COVER AND CONTENTS PHOTOS

BY ANTHONY EDGEWORTH

THE 44TH WALKER CUP MATCH

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THE 44TH WALKER CUP MATCH

Friends of Amateur Golf,

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ELCOME TO NATIONAL GOLF LINKS OF AMERICA and the 44th Walker Cup Match.

We are delighted to have the Walker Cup return to National where the Match was first contested in 1922.

National was conceived and founded by Charles Blair Macdonald and, with the assistance of Seth Raynor, was completed for play in 1909. National was one of the first links-style golf courses created in the United States. The design was inspired by many of the golf holes that Macdonald played both as a student at the University of St. Andrews from 1872-1874 and subsequently when he traveled to England and Scotland on business in the late 1800s. In turn, National’s architecture has inspired golf course design around the world for over a century.

National is also noted for its Walker Cup roots. George Herbert Walker, president of the USGA in 1920 and a member of National, donated the Walker Cup (originally named the International Challenge Cup) in an effort to promote the game of golf on an international scale after the devastation of World War I. Since 1924, the competition has continued as a biennial event, fielding teams of 10 outstanding amateur players each from the United States and Great Britain and Ireland.

The competition is contested at match play—foursomes and singles—over two days. In addition to serving as the inaugural home of the Walker Cup Match, National, as envisioned by Macdonald, is an ideal match-play golf course. The format requires not only skilled shot-making but also risk-taking in specific situations. We think you will find that the strategic nature of match play meshes nicely with the architectural vision of our founder.

The Walker Cup Match is conducted by the United States Golf Association, and we thank the USGA for allowing National the honor of hosting this competition. It is significant that C.B. Macdonald was one of the five signatories in the founding of the United States Golf Association in 1894. Macdonald was also the winner of the first U.S Amateur in 1895 and served with distinction on the Rules Committees of both The Royal & Ancient Golf Club and the USGA. He almost singlehandedly built the bridge between the two organizations that endures to this day. We have no doubt that Macdonald would be pleased to know that we have reconvened in Southampton nearly a century hence. That sentiment would be echoed by John Caven, a member of the visiting 1922 GB&I Team. Upon leaving National after the inaugural Match, Caven, quoting an old Scottish song, wrote in the guest register, “Will ’ye no come back again?” Ninety-one years later, the answer is yes.

The membership of National is pleased to share the rich history of the club and that of the Walker Cup Match with those who love amateur golf. We hope you enjoy the Match.

Sincerely,

ANTHONY EDGEWORTH (3)

S. Parker Gilbert Honorary Chairman

John S. Pyne Co-Chairman

Michael X. McBride Co-Chairman

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THE HONORABLE GEORGE W. BUSH

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REETINGS TO ALL those gathered at National Golf Links of America in Southampton,

N.Y., for the 2013 Walker Cup Match.

After World War I, my great-grandfather, George Herbert Walker, was part of a group of golf enthusiasts

who hoped to create an international amateur golf competition. In 1922, their vision became a reality, and the inaugural Walker Cup Match was held at this very course. I am thrilled this special contest has returned

to National Golf Links of America. Our family is proud that this tradition is still going strong today.

Congratulations to the players selected to represent Great Britain, Ireland and the United States in the

44th Walker Cup Match. This prestigious honor is a result of your hard work and dedication to the great game of golf. Your commitment and perseverance is a source of pride for your families, your communities

and your countries.

Thanks to Captain Jim Holtgrieve, the USGA, The R&A, National Golf Links of America, and all who worked so hard to put this historic tournament on. Laura and I send our best wishes to all the players here for a successful Match.

Sincerely,

George W. Bush Former President of the United States

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THE 44TH WALKER CUP MATCH

George Herbert Walker, for whom the Match is named, was president of the USGA. Both his grandson and great-grandson would be elected president of the United States of America.

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THE 44TH WALKER CUP MATCH

M

ORE THAN 90 YEARS AGO, a group of the best amateur golfers from Great

Britain and Ireland came to the United States for a team competition designed to strengthen the bonds of international friendship. They faced a team of American players in the inaugural Walker Cup Match, named for USGA President George Herbert Walker, the visionary behind the competition.

Since the first Match, which took place in 1922 here at National Golf Links of America, the Walker Cup

has developed into the premier team competition in amateur golf. Representing their country in the Walker

Cup Match has been a highlight for generations of players, from Bob Jones to Jack Nicklaus to Rory McIlroy.

On behalf of the volunteers and staff of the United States Golf Association, we welcome you to the 44th

playing of the Walker Cup Match as it returns to the site of the inaugural competition. Designed by Charles Blair Macdonald, National Golf Links features holes that replicate some of the greatest holes in Great Britain.

These classic holes employ timeless strategic principles that are just as challenging for today’s players as they were for Jones, Francis Ouimet and Bernard Darwin, who competed in the first Walker Cup Match.

In addition to playing the same layout as these gentlemen, this year’s competitors are the heirs and guardians of a great tradition of the game. The patriotism, competitive spirit, friendship and passion displayed by the players from both sides of the Atlantic Ocean are what make the Walker Cup Match such an exceptional event.

We would like to thank the members and staff of National Golf Links of America for their hospitality, as well as the volunteers and spectators for their support of the Match. The Walker Cup is one of golf ’s greatest events, and we are looking forward to a memorable week of exciting competition that also highlights the game’s unique qualities—integrity, respect, sportsmanship and camaraderie.

Sincerely,

Glen D. Nager President United States Golf Association

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EAM MEMBERS representing Great Britain and Ireland and the

United States, and all those attending the 2013 Walker Cup Match, are grateful to the

United States Golf Association and National Golf Links of America for hosting the event

at such a prestigious venue, 91 years after the inaugural Match took place on Charles

Blair MacDonald’s masterpiece.

There is no greater honour for an amateur golfer than to represent his country.

Golfers from Great Britain and Ireland are fortunate to have an opportunity to do so

every year, either against the Continent of Europe for the St Andrews Trophy or against the United States for the Walker Cup. Although Great Britain and Ireland have won only eight of the 43 Walker Cup Matches, the trend over the past 24 years is one of shared success with six victories on each side of the Atlantic.

The Walker Cup Match is above all about friendly rivalry, impeccable sportsmanship and strong links forged between those who, as players or officials, will remain custodians of the game and its great traditions.

Best wishes to the members of both teams for a highly enjoyable Walker Cup Match.

Sincerely,

ANTHONY EDGEWORTH

Pierre Bechmann Captain The Royal & Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews

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THE 44TH WALKER CUP MATCH

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“Will ’ Ye No Come Back Again?”

The Significance of the Walker Cup Match’s Return to National

I

N MANY WAYS, the trans-oceanic nature of the Walker Cup Match reflects the evolution of the game itself. Golf enjoyed its infancy in the British Isles only to spread her wings westward in adolescence. Whatever geographic and cultural divides she encountered along the way have long since been bridged. This is evidenced by the fact that both sides this week play under one set of Rules and on a golf course whose evocative hillocks and fescues could be found just as easily in Prestwick or North Berwick as they are in Southampton.

For that sense of familiarity and oneness, we should take a brief moment to think about and toast the memory of Charles Blair Macdonald. In fact it is fitting that we should gather on the shores of Peconic Bay for the Walker Cup Match, given that National Golf Links of America hosted the first Match in 1922, but also because National is the spiritual home of Macdonald, who is buried nearby. Among golf cognoscenti in Great Britain and Ireland, Macdonald has always been, and will remain, a revered figure. Described variously as “arrogant,” “cantankerous,” “inspirational” and “visionary,” the golfing world owes a debt of gratitude to this Canadian-born American of Scottish origin, forefather of American golf and founder of National Golf Links of America. The return of the Walker Cup Match to National is poetic. It is not only a salute to Macdonald the Administrator’s visionary stewardship of the game, it is a rhyming nod to Macdonald the Architect’s greatest creation.

The deprivations of war-torn golfing nations; America’s defeat of the cream of British amateur golf at Hoylake in 1921; an evolving yet fraught relationship between the august Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews (The R&A) and the youthful, introspective United States Golf Association (USGA)—all of these elements combined to influence the course of golf history when, in August 1922 at National, a bilateral contest was inaugurated between Great Britain and the United States. The prize: a trophy donated by former USGA president and longtime member of National, George Herbert Walker. He called it the “International Challenge Trophy.” It would quickly become known as the Walker Cup.

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THE 44TH WALKER CUP MATCH

Nearly a century later, the Walker Cup Match makes a welcome return to National. Much has transpired in the interim, but the collaboration and shared sense of purpose between The R&A and the USGA has never wavered. At the center of this collaboration lies Charles Blair Macdonald. Macdonald was 66 years old in 1922. He had founded Chicago Golf Club, one of the first five clubs in the United States, 30 years earlier. He was not only present at the formation of the USGA, but his call for an American sanctioning body to stage national championships inspired the very founding of the Association in 1894. Macdonald was one of the signatories to the original charter, and while personality differences may have prevented his elevation to the USGA presidency, Macdonald, through sheer force of will, saw to it that the game America embraced was the same game entrusted to her by the British Isles. When some called for an Americanization of the Rules, Macdonald was adamant and ultimately persuasive that the fledgling American game should not, could not ostracize itself from the recognized governing body for rules, The R&A. Ongoing disputes with the Western Golf Association on Rules of Amateur Status and governance of the game could easily have fractured administration of the game before it had even begun to take root in the United States.

Thankfully, Macdonald was a well-positioned force for realism. His election to the newly formed USGA Rules sub-committee in 1902 and then, more significantly, his appointment to The Rules of Golf Committee of The R&A itself in 1907—a committee on which he would serve for nearly 20 years as the USGA’s representative—laid the foundation for what would ultimately become one global game governed by a single set of Rules administered jointly by The R&A and the USGA. It was Macdonald who worked tirelessly behind the scenes to safeguard the game’s best interests. He kept The R&A properly informed and generally onside with Rules developments on the other side of the Atlantic; these were driven as much by commercial interests as they were by golf ’s swift and widespread popularity. Disputes between the governing authorities arose from time to time, particularly in relation to the form and make of equipment such as the Schenectady Putter and the metrics of the ball, but in the long

LEFT: ANTHONY EDGEWORTH OPPOSITE: EDWIN LEVICK

by GORDON SIMMONDS

run, the hallmark of this storied trans-Atlantic relationship has been comity. In 1920 Walker, an English public school-educated “Westerner” and then president of the USGA, who had been supportive of Macdonald’s Rules harmonization, led a group of USGA Committee members over to Britain for a Rules conference. Walker’s subsequent idea of an annual international amateur team event comprising the golfing nations of the world was slightly ahead of its time. In the wake of World War I, few golfing nations had the time or resources to commit to international amateur competition. However, following the overwhelming triumph by a group of American amateurs against Britain’s finest at Hoylake in the summer of 1921, the idea of a bilateral match—Great Britain and the United States— rather than the originally envisaged multilateral competition, was tabled. The R&A was not convinced until Macdonald intervened.

Clearly he saw an opportunity to showcase his signature golf course design at National, but he no doubt saw the value in bringing the governing authorities together against the backdrop of international competition. Further, an avowed advocate of amateurism, Macdonald undoubtedly was drawn to the ideals of amateur participation and sportsmanship.

So, the golf world returns to National this week for the first time since 1922. In doing so, we tip our caps to the leadership and vision of Macdonald and the generosity of Walker. We wonder in the words of the old Scottish song, “Will ’ye no come back again? Will ’ye no come back again? Better lo’ed ’ye canna be, Will ’ye no come back again?” WC Gordon Simmonds is the author of The Walker Cup 1922-2003: Golf ’s Finest Contest.

The return of the Walker Cup Match to National Golf Links of America is a tribute to Charles Blair Macdonald, champion golfer, visionary architect and cutting-edge administrator of early American golf. This photo was taken at National during the inaugural Walker Cup Match. Opposite: An assortment of Macdonald’s championship medals.

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Making History The Inaugural Walker Cup Match

by CHRIS MILLARD

B

Y 1922, GOLF HAD TAKEN PERMANENT ROOT in the United States. Bob Jones, only 20 years old, had just begun swiping headlines from the thoroughbreds, pugilists and baseball stars who had dominated the sports page. American golfers, after ceding the first 16 U.S. Open titles to Scottish and British imports, had won eight of their last 10 national championships.

With the game fully woven into the fabric of American sports culture, and with American golfers now routinely listed among the world’s best, the notion of high-profile international tournaments gained momentum. The idea itself was not new. In 1895, Charles Blair Macdonald helped organize and actually competed in a formative international competition. The International Championship Tournament, a match between the U.S. and Canada, was contested PHOTOGRAPHY OF THE INAUGURAL WALKER CUP MATCH IN THIS PROGRAM WAS TAKEN BY EDWIN LEVIK

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W.C. Fownes Jr., captain of the USA Walker Cup Team, putts in front of a well-dressed crowd at the inaugural Walker Cup Match beside the famed Punchbowl green (16th) and in the shadow of National Golf Links’ iconic windmill.

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Making History

at Niagara Golf Course on Lake Ontario, not far from Macdonald’s summer home.

Macdonald helped recruit the American side, which featured several members of Chicago Golf Club and a handful of future National Golf Links of America members, including James Deering. There were similar international efforts in 1919 and 1920.

Macdonald himself proposed a forerunner to the Walker Cup in 1913, offering to put up “an international cup to be played for by teams of four from any country.” In a

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rare instance of Macdonald’s not seeing something through, The Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews slow-pedaled the suggestion, and by the time World War I broke out, the idea had been abandoned.

Against a postwar backdrop of growing internationalism, the Executive Committee of the United States Golf Association sailed east for a series of meetings with The R&A on Rules revision. The meeting would stretch over several days and include multiple outings on legendary local links.

Above: A remarkable assemblage of talent. Participants in the inaugural Walker Cup Match included (standing left to right): Robert Harris (GB&I captain), Chick Evans, Roger Wethered, Francis Ouimet, Robert Gardner, W.C. Fownes (U.S. captain), Bernard Darwin, Max Marston, Cyril Tolley, Jesse Guilford, and C.B. Macdonald (not a player); and seated: John Caven, Bob Jones, C.C. Aylmer, W.B. Torrance, J. Frederick Byers (president of the USGA), Watts Gunn (not a player), W.W. Mackenzie, Jess Sweetser and C.V.L. Hooman.

Left: A telegram between Macdonald and his friend and fellow National member, Morgan J. O’Brien Jr. regarding the club’s storied Singles Tournament, instituted by Macdonald in 1911. The contestants were invited to play the tournament the day before the actual Walker Cup Match.

Among the U.S. delegation was the president of the USGA at the time, a brusque investment banker by the name of George

Herbert Walker. Bert Walker, as he was known, was the son of a successful Midwest dry goods wholesaler. The father’s means

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Making History

afforded young Bert a prep school education at Stonyhurst College, the Jesuit boarding school in England. According to one historian of the Walker family, the colorful and complex young Herb would develop “into a physically powerful young man, excelling at boxing, polo, and golf.”

(In those bare-knuckle days, Walker would actually win the Missouri heavyweight amateur championship.)

Only a few years after graduating from Washington University in St. Louis, Walker, who would become grandfather to one future president of the United States (George H.W. Bush) and great-grandfather to another (George W. Bush), embarked on a remarkable career in banking with his establishment of G. H. Walker and Company. He became a member at St. Louis Country Club (a Macdonald design), where, according to the USGA, he played to a 5 handicap and captained the club’s championship polo team.

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Whether the idea of a series of cross-Atlantic amateur matches was officially broached in the USGA-R&A meetings or raised simply as a sidebar, it was discussed, specifically by Walker and The R&A representative Norman Boase, who found themselves paired together in one of the gathering’s golf outings. A powerful figure in British golf, Boase was the provost of the University of St. Andrews. He also served as chairman of The R&A Championship Committee, as a member of The R&A Rules Committee and chairman of The R&A Greens Committee. (In 1935, Boase would drive himself in as captain of The R&A.) According to a USGA history of the Walker Cup Match written by John English in 1953, the idea of an international competition so appealed to Walker “that at a meeting of the USGA executive committee at the Links Club in Manhattan on the afternoon of December 21, 1920, (Walker) presented a

A 20-year-old Bob Jones, who had yet to take the global golf scene by storm, executes a deft chip in the 1922 Walker Cup Match.

plan for an international golf championship.” He then offered to donate the United States Golf Association International Challenge Trophy. It would become known almost immediately as the Walker Cup. It would be easy to credit Walker with what in retrospect seems a no-brainer. But the Walker Cup Match we know today did not become the Walker Cup overnight. First, the competition as originally envisioned by Walker was open to all golfing nations, the idea being that perhaps golf might help accelerate improvements in global relations being ushered in by the end of World War I. The hitch in that concept was that so many countries were still reeling financially from the ravages of the war few could even consider

funding a traveling golf team. This was evidenced by the weak turnout for what would have been the first Walker Cup Match competition: Early in 1921, the USGA sent invitations to all golfing nations. None came.

Funding was an issue in 1922 as well.

According to The Walker Cup 1922-2003: Golf ’s Finest Contest, Gordon Simmonds’ excellent history of the competition, in 1922 The R&A actually solicited donations from British clubs and individuals to send their team to Long Island. One hundred sixty-six clubs and several individuals collectively donated the equivalent of $5,000 or just more than half the total tab. Also, the Walker Cup Match was originally envisioned—and for its first four editions staged— as an annual event. Today it is a biennial affair.

It is called the Walker Cup Match today because the initial momentum and the trophy itself— breathtaking 36-inch tall sterling masterpiece made by Tiffany—were provided by Walker. However, it might just as well be called the Fownes Cup in recognition of the man who salvaged the competition.

After the global no-show of 1921, the competition might simply have withered away, but in May of the same year, 1921, W.C. Fownes Jr., the 1910 U.S. Amateur champion and scion of Oakmont Country Club’s founding family, took it upon himself to assemble an eightman U.S. entry for an informal match against the Brits at Hoylake. This was not a Walker Cup Match per se, but rather an informal expression of the growing appetite for trans-oceanic competition. Like the teams Fownes had led in earlier matches against Canada, this one was loaded: Chick Evans, Fownes himself, Jesse Guilford, Paul Hunter, Bob Jones, Francis Ouimet, J. Wood Platt and Frederick J. Wright Jr. Fownes timed the trip

to coincide with the British Amateur Championship, so the visitors would be getting maximum competitive bang for their buck (the tradition of scheduling the Walker Cup Match around the British and U.S. Amateurs continues to this day). The international match was actually contested on the day before the British Amateur, with the U.S. winning 9-3 after taking all four of the morning foursomes and five of the eight afternoon singles. It was this informal match that ce-

Two of the most influential figures in 20th century golf, Bernard Darwin, left, and C.B. Macdonald, played key roles in the development of the Walker Cup Match.

mented the future of the Walker Cup Match.

Early the next year, 1922, The R&A compiled a team for the trip to the United States.

The dates for the first official Walker Cup Match were Monday and Tuesday, Aug. 28 and 29, 1922. In a testament to the excite-

ment surrounding the Match, The New York Times described the upcoming event in major championship terms, going so far as to express concerns that the fledgling competition might actually overshadow the upcoming U.S. Amateur Championship at The Country Club in Brookline, Mass.

The R&A Team set sail from Liverpool on Aug. 4 aboard the RMS Carmania.

On the eight-day cruise to New York, the British Team, comprised of Captain Robert Harris, John Caven, W.B. Torrance, Willis Mackenzie (all Scots), Roger Wethered, W.B. Colin Aylmer, C.V.L. “Chubby” Hooman and Cyril Tolley, was accompanied by The Times of London correspondent Bernard Darwin, who was to detail the Match for his newspaper. His accounts would become legendary, not only for their prose, but for the fact that during the competition he would obliterate the wall between subject and journalist.

During the voyage to New York, Darwin jotted down a preview of the Walker Cup Match entitled “Our Chances.”

Of the British Team he wrote, “It is, I hope and believe, a fine team. I do not say it is fine enough to win, because I know what it is up against, but I think it will make a good showing and I further think that the National Golf Links, which with its seaside breeze is like some of our own home courses, should suit the players well. If they do not play well there, then they will not play well anywhere and I will offer on their behalf no alibi.”

He then promptly offered an alibi. “The side is not absolutely the best possible that could have been chosen as we have not got Ernest Holderness, our Amateur Champion. He alas! is a busy civil servant and could not get away. Otherwise we have got the men we chose.” This was not the “royal we:” Darwin had actually been a member of

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Making History

the selection committee. Further, the team not only lacked Holderness, but Angus Hambro as well, who was to have served as both co-captain and a reserve player. This hole in the British roster left Darwin in the unusual role of both reporter and reservist,

the second being a role with which he was not entirely comfortable. “Now I,” he wrote in his preview, “who travel with the side in the capacity of camp-follower, become the reserve in case of emergencies which will not, I hope, arise.”

As for the Americans, if it was possible to field a team more formidable than the one Fownes took to the U.K. in 1921, this was it. The U.S. again featured Fownes (as playing captain), Evans, Gardner, Jones, Marston and Ouimet. Only this time they added 1921 U.S. Amateur champion Jesse Guilford and Jess Sweetser, who one week after the Match would win the U.S. Amateur at The Country Club.

The Carmania landed in New York on Aug. 12, a full 16 days before the start of the Match. The gap between arrival and competition, ostensibly intended to afford the visitors ample time to recuperate from their travel, may have had the opposite effect: New York nightlife has a way of filling vacuums. In a contemporaneous issue of Golf Illustrated, Harold Hilton, no stranger to the New York area, suggested that the twoweek-plus gap could cut either way. “Their arrival in America will leave them about three weeks in which to become acclimatized to conditions on the other side. Unfortunately this matter of acclimatization is

greatly a matter of chance. Three weeks may be a sufficient time for some of the wanderers, while on the other hand it may just prove long enough to upset one or two members of the team.” Hilton, who had narrowly won the 1911 U.S. Amateur at nearby Apawamis in unbearable heat, pointed out a particular threat. “So much depends on the weather they encounter. If there is a fairly cool spell we need not worry, but if the hot tap is turned on shortly after the Britishers arrive there will probably be more than one temporary invalid when the international game comes to be played.”

Additionally, the schedule arranged by the American hosts was crowded. Whether this was a symptom of gamesmanship or generosity is unclear, but it likely took a toll. The British Team was met by USGA brass, including President J. Frederick Byers and Assistant Secretary J.F. McMahon. The visitors were taken to the Biltmore Hotel and to lunch at the Links

Left: Bob Jones and Roger Wethered comprised the dynamic duo of 1920s-era amateur golf.

Below and top right: Both galleries and sea-faring spectators observe the Walker Cup action.

Competitor Jess Sweetser made note of the ladies’ “long dresses flapping in the wind.”

Club. The next day, they were escorted to Westchester County for a warm-up round at Westchester Country Club. In the days immediately prior to the Match, many of the British (and American) Team members participated in the 1922 Invitation Tournament, which was won by Cyril Tolley. After the Match, Darwin wrote of the multi-week interregnum: “Perhaps we got there too soon and stayed too long in New York. I do not suppose that, pleasant as they were, the many good dinners and excursions to different courses in the neighbourhood involving long motor drives and big lunches in blazing weather constituted the perfect preparation. I am very sure, however, that, if we had retired into our shells and gone at once to the National, we should have been poor guests and that Mr. C.B. Macdonald would never have forgiven us.”

On a single page in National’s “Visitor’s Register,” dated August 1922, is one of the greatest collections of notable signatures the game has ever seen. In their own hand, the contestants of the inaugural Walker Cup Match signed their names not

by team, but in order of arrival at the front desk. One can imagine club manager Jim Ellis greeting them in the front room.

Fownes was first to sign, followed by Gardner, then Marston, Tolley, Mackenzie, Caven, Torrance, Wethered, Aylmer, Jones, Guilford, Ouimet and Darwin. Between the instantly recognizable signatures of Ouimet and Darwin is that of obscure American alternate, Rudolf Knepper of Sioux City, Iowa, who would play a cameo role in the competition.

The weather for day one was warm and overcast, but the golf course had been prepped to perfection by greenkeeper Mike Tureski. The rough was grown high and the greens were described years later by U.S. Team member Jess Sweetser as “lightning fast.”

August 28 Foursomes (36-hole matches) IF THE BRITS were looking for a hint of the difficulty that awaited them, they needed only look at the thermometer. The visitors, accustomed to playing the firmest of golf courses in jackets and ties, awoke to what Darwin described as insufferable heat. Jess

Sweetser’s account differs. He recalled a mild day, thus underscoring the differing weather sensitivities of the two sides (records show the high temperature was actually about 80 degrees). Compounding the issue was a quick thunderstorm that had very temporarily softened the golf course. Humidity was the order of the day.

The crowd, estimated at about 2,000 people, featured young ladies taking in the action. Sweetser made particular note of their “long dresses flapping in the wind.”

Not surprisingly, two of the Brits’ four opening-day foursome matches would be sloppy affairs.

British golf writer Bernard Darwin, the golf writer for The Times of London, was unexpectedly forced to fill in for ailing British Captain Robert Harris. Darwin, on this day anyway, was of little service. He and partner Cyril Tolley were crushed, 8 and 7, by Jesse Guilford and Francis Ouimet.

The Brits answered with a timely performance by the team of Roger Wethered and Colin Aylmer. They made rather easy work of the formidable U.S. pairing of Chick Evans and Robert Gardner, 5 and 4.

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Making History Bob Jones, who was studying mechanical engineering at Georgia Tech, and Jess Sweetser, then a junior at Yale, had a relatively easy time against Chubby Hooman and Willie Torrance. The American duo was actually 9 up at one point, and coasted in for a 3-and-2 win.

In another pairing, it was Max Marston and Bill Fownes for the U.S. versus John Caven and Willis Mackenzie for the Brits. It was essentially two against one. Mackenzie never got untracked and despite a dazzling performance by Caven, who single-handedly stretched the Match to the 35th hole, the U.S. won 2 and 1.

In retrospect, the first day of the Walker Cup Match would prove a microcosm of the American domination that would mark the competition’s first 65 years.

From left to right: Francis Ouimet of the U.S. Team (with Jesse Guilford, far right), Bernard Darwin and Cyril Tolley of GB&I were among those lending star power to the inaugural Walker Cup Match.

August 29 Singles (36-hole matches) DAY TWO dawned ideal. The New York Times reported that “the sun shone brightly out of a clear blue sky.” That combined with the hint of moisture left over from day one made for perfect National conditions. Even her trademark wind arrived on cue, blowing in steadily from the northwest all day.

But any inspiration the visitors may have drawn from the familiar weather was dashed when the U.S. Team launched a morning offensive.

Guilford (U.S.) defeated Tolley, 2 and 1 Jones (U.S.) defeated Wethered, 3 and 2 Evans (U.S.) defeated Caven, 5 and 4 Ouimet (U.S.) defeated Aylmer, 8 and 7 Gardner (U.S.) defeated Torrance, 7 and 5 On a day when they only needed to win four of eight singles matches, the U.S. team won the first five consecutive battles, some by obscene margins such as 8 and 7,

and 7 and 5, and quickly secured the Cup. The Brits did, however, eke out the last three matches, two of which go down among the most unlikely in Walker Cup Match history.

The first was a case of survival of the fittest. When British Captain Robert Harris contracted tonsillitis on the eve of the inaugural Walker Cup Match, he lent credibility to Harold Hilton’s expressed concerns about the length of the Brits’ stay. The Brits were left with only one option. Bernard Darwin, the newspaper writer, was summoned not only to compete, but also to take on the American stalwart, W.C. Fownes Jr., and to serve as Match captain in lieu of Harris.

Make no mistake that Darwin, then 45, was a very good player. He had competed for Cambridge and served as that team’s captain in 1897. Twice he had progressed to the semifinals of the British Amateur, including as recently as the previous year. He would eventually go on to serve as captain of The R&A, but this was rarified air.

MORGAN STANLEY IS PROUD TO SUPPORT THE 44TH WALKER CUP MATCH. We admire the extraordinary skills of of the Walker Cup contenders, on display this year at at the National Golf Links of America. Your passion n for team and sport will help write a new chapter in n this championship’s storied history.

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Making History winner to take on Darwin. Johnston prevailed, only to have hobbled British Captain Robert Harris weigh in and convince Fownes to play.

The Legacy of 1922

The distinctive Jarvis Hunt-designed clubhouse, which originally boasted 15 bedrooms, played stately host to the 1922 Walker Cup Match.

Darwin, grandson of the legendary naturalist, was first called into action on day one in foursomes as the partner of the great Cyril Tolley. Whether it was Darwin’s nerves, Cyril’s uncertainty or the sheer force of the their opposition—Jesse “Siege Gun” Guilford and Francis Ouimet—the unlikely British duo was pasted, 8 and 7, the worst defeat of the 1922 Match. Nonetheless, Darwin gamely suited up the next day for a singles match against Fownes. One of the finest players America had ever produced, Fownes had already won one U.S. Amateur and had contended for at least two others. Fownes was a proven competitor, and by virtue of his previous captaincies against the Canadians and the British, he was the de facto leader of American amateur golf. Darwin, for all his skill, was nowhere near as steeled in worldclass competition. His warm-up session did not bode well, either. Prior to the start of the match, Darwin was actually hit in the chest by a stray practice ball. As he wrote afterwards, “I thought for a moment here was a state of things if the only available substitute was killed.” The ball did no harm, however,

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and the match went off as scheduled.

Fownes pounded away, winning the first three holes. On the fourth, the par-3 Redan, Fownes had knocked his tee-ball stiff when a man with a movie camera inadvertently salvaged Darwin’s day. The writer, who described himself after three holes as being in “a state of semi-collapse,” was at risk of going 4 down. As he prepared for his tee shot, “the man with the camera began to make it whir at me. This seemed the last straw and yet it saved me. I tried to blot him and his noises out of my mind. I could not think of anymore new styles, but merely of the ball, and so, by the grace of heaven, I hit it and put it on the green. I halved that hole in three and stopped the rot.” The story does not end there. Darwin won the fifth. On the sixth hole, Fownes, attempting to play around Darwin’s stymie, actually knocked Darwin’s ball in the hole.

Amazingly, Darwin was 2 up at the turn and went on to win, 3 and 1.

While many are aware of Darwin’s dramatic win over Fownes, few realize that it almost never happened. Perhaps in recognition of the U.S.’ formidable lead, Captain Fownes had intended to sit out the singles. In fact, he actually instructed American alternates, Harrison Johnston and Rudy Knepper, to play a 36-hole match of their own, the

THE LEGACY of the inaugural Walker Cup Match is multi-layered. From a practical or political standpoint, the 1922 Match at National marked the emergence of the USGA as a co-equal with The R&A. Although the two organizations would dispute issues such as ball diameter and common rules, for decades the Walker Cup Match (and the Americans’ instant and commanding success in it) gave the USGA a status, a level of respect, it had never before enjoyed.

There is also the administrative legacy.

Today, when a Walker Cup Match is convened, it is not necessarily the most important function on the week’s calendar. Just as the Walker Cup Match was born of a USGAR&A meeting, these meetings continue today with an eye toward laying the foundation for the game’s approaching decades and challenges. “The matches go on, but behind the scenes there are far more important things taking place,” said Match historian Gordon Simmonds. “Namely these are meetings between the USGA and The R&A: Rules meetings, championship meetings, you name it.” This co-administration of the game harkens back to Macdonald’s bridging of the USGA and The R&A. Another layer of the original Walker Cup’s legacy is the human element, the intersection of competition and sportsmanship. Looking back on the Walker Cup some 22 years later, Darwin wrote in his book, Golf Between Two Wars: “At least on the evidence of their individual records, there has never been such a side as that first American one.”

He was right. In fact, if the goal of the Walker Cup Match, as envisioned by Walker and Whitney and Boase and the USGA and The R&A, had simply been to stage heart-stopping competitions, the inaugural matches would have been viewed as an utter failure.

Likewise, when the U.S. won 30 of the first 34 meetings, the future of the Match itself might have been at risk. But victory, while hungered after by generations of proud

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Making History

Walker Cup players, has never been the singular goal.

A. Downing Gray played for the United States on three Walker Cup Teams (1963, ’65 and ’67) and served as captain twice (1995, ’97). As a player, his teams have gone 2-0-1; as a captain, 1-1. He has seen the Walker Cup Match from every conceivable angle. He retraces the spirit of today’s Match back to that inaugural one in 1922. “I never had an opportunity to talk with them, but Jones and all those guys who played back then, I think that was exactly what was behind it: sportsmanship. And I think that is why they went so many years without GB&I ever winning, but kept doing it, anyway, because it was not just about who won the cup.”

Jess Sweetser, who played in that first edition and competed in the next four, wrote in 1977 that “the spirit of the Walker Cup is amateurism at its peak. I have never seen anything but the finest sportsmanship exhibited on either side.”

Sweetser’s observation was borne out in the dénouement of the inaugural Walker Cup. At a dinner in the clubhouse on the final night, USGA President Fritz Byers (founding member of National and brother of original founder Eben Byers) presented the Walker Cup to U.S. Captain Fownes. There was little doubt that a grand tradition had begun. Since the conceit of the Match was to promote relations among golfing nations, the inaugural match was a huge success, the ripples of which continue to this day not only in Walker Cup Match play, but in the success of her younger cousin, the Ryder Cup. The loosed spirit of sportsmanship is reflected in the fact that before the 1922 British Team departed National, two members returned to the club’s “Visitor’s Register” to jot down some farewell remarks. Willie Torrance scribbled, “A most delightful club surrounded by delightful people.” But John Caven’s remarks went deeper, approaching the core of the competition. In six simple words, he bridged the gap between golf’s birthplace and its distant office; evincing a warmth of feeling and a foretelling view of the competition’s future: “Will ’ye no come back again.” WC This text is adapted from the soon-to-be-published history of National Golf Links of America.

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Who is Who THE 1922 WALKER CUP MATCH has earned a place in history as the one that started it all, but it is also remembered as a remarkable assemblage of golf talent. The competitors, both on the host and visiting teams, represented the finest players of the era. Their collective competitive records, prior to and subsequent to the inaugural Walker Cup Match, form the historical foundation for the Match’s prominence. It is in the footsteps of these legends that generations of Walker Cup players follow.

UNITED STATES William C. Fownes Jr. (Captain) As the son of Oakmont Country Club founder Henry Fownes, W.C. hailed from a distinguished golf family. In addition to succeeding his father at the helm of Oakmont, he soon carved out his own competitive legacy, winning the U.S. Amateur in 1910 and serving as president of the USGA in 1926-27. Interestingly, Fownes was part of the 1921 United States Team that played in the International Challenge Matches at Hoylake, the forerunner of the Walker Cup Match.

Chick Evans Evans was the finest young golfer yet produced by the Windy City. He had already won the Western Amateur and the Western Open, as well as the French Amateur, the prestigious North and South and the Chicago Amateur title. In 1916, Evans became the first player ever to win the U.S. Amateur Championship and the U.S. Open in the same year. He won the U.S. Amateur again in 1920.

Robert Gardner Gardner won the 1909 U.S. Amateur while a 19year-old sophomore at Yale University. He remained the youngest-ever champion until Tiger Woods won his first Amateur in 1994. Gardner again won the Amateur in 1915.

Jesse Guilford Guilford won the U.S. Amateur in 1921. That same year he played on the United States Team that competed in the International Challenge Matches at Hoylake. He played on two more Walker Cup Teams (1924, ’26) after the inaugural event at National.

Robert T. Jones Jr. Bob Jones was 20 years old when he played in the inaugural Walker Cup Match at National. Although he had already become the darling of Southern golf and was known in golf circles, he was far from the pinnacle of his success. In fact, the Atlantan had yet to win any of his major titles. Less than a year after his appearance at National, however, Jones would win his first, the 1923 U.S. Open at Inwood Country Club on western Long Island. Soon the floodgates would open and Jones, who would remain an amateur throughout his career, would dominate the game. He won 13 major championship titles, including the unmatched Grand Slam of 1930: U.S. Amateur, U.S. Open, British Amateur and British Open.

Max Marston Approximately one year after competing in the inaugural Walker Cup Match at National, Marston would win the 1923 U.S. Amateur at Flossmoor Country Club in Illinois. En route to the title, the Pine Valley member defeated Jones, Ouimet and Sweester. In its obituary of Marston, the Associated Press described him as the kind of player who “never gave up.”

GREAT BRITAIN & IRELAND Robert Harris (Captain) In his 1959 obituary in the Glasgow Herald, Harris was recalled as “possibly the best golfer ever to have been born in Dundee.” A fixture on the Scottish National Team from 1905 to 1928, Harris captained three GB&I Walker Cup Teams and in 1925 captured the British Amateur Championship in a 13-and-12 victory over Kenneth Fradgley. Although it was the only Amateur title Harris ever won, he made it to the finals three times.

Bernard Darwin Darwin was the grandson of famed naturalist Charles Darwin. He went to Eton College and graduated from Trinity College, Cambridge, in 1897, where he was captain of the golf team.

He decided not to practice law and moved into journalism. The first journalist ever to write about golf on a daily basis, he covered the game for The Times of London from 1907 to 1953 and for Country Life from 1907 to 1961. He was a skilled player as well.

Darwin twice progressed to the semifinals of the British Amateur, including as recently as at age 44 in 1921. He would eventually go on to serve as captain of The R&A.

Francis Ouimet It is hard to overstate the role Ouimet played in the development of golf in early 20th century America. His upset win over supernovas Harry Vardon and Ted Ray in the 1913 U.S. Open put the game on the front page of the nation’s newspapers. Ouimet was the first amateur golfer to win that championship. He also won the U.S. Amateur twice more, in 1914 and 1931. He would play on eight Walker Cup Teams and was captain in 1932, ’34, ’36, ’38, ’47 and ’49. In 1951 he became the first American elected captain of The R&A.

Cyril Tolley One of the great amateurs of his time, Tolley was twice British Amateur champion and six times a Walker Cup Match player. His first British Amateur win came while he was a student at Oxford in 1920 when he beat Bob Jones in a 19-hole semifinal at Muirfield and then defeated Robert Gardner in the final, also on the first playoff hole. He won a second British Amateur in 1929. In 1930, he met Jones in the fourth round of the British Amateur at St. Andrews. Bernard Darwin covered the match, describing it as “a magnificent dogfight.” The match came to the 17th hole, the Road Hole, all square. Jones holed an 8-foot putt after a poor chip to halve the hole. Jones went on to win the match, the second leg of his legendary “Grand Slam.”

Few realize that Tolley, a war hero in World War I, served 13 months in a German prison camp in 1917.

Jess Sweetser Sweetser won the 1922 U.S. Amateur at the age of 20, defeating Bob Jones, 8 and 7, in the semifinal and Chick Evans, 3 and 2, in the championship match. In 1926, at Muirfield, he became the first American-born player to win the British Amateur.

Previously, in 1920, he had won a national collegiate championship with Yale. A gifted athlete, Sweetser also excelled in baseball and track.

Roger Wethered Wethered and Tolley both played for the Oxford golf team. Wethered, a Brit, graduated from Oxford in 1921 and promptly lost the British Open to Jock Hutchinson, a professional. Two years later, he won the British Amateur at Deal. He would finish second twice, in 1928 and 1930. Wethered, who would play in five Walker Cup Matches, was the brother of women’s golf legend Joyce Wethered.

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Macdonald’s “Ideal Golf Course”

by CHRIS MILLARD

C.B. Macdonald wrote an article that must have shocked the growing legion of golf lovers across America, particularly those in Wheaton, Ill. The opening sentence read: “The ideal first-class golf links has yet to be selected and the course laid out in America.”

What may have seemed a swipe at existing courses such as Shinnecock, The Country Club and even Chicago Golf Club, was in Macdonald’s discerning mind a simple statement of fact. It was also an indication of where he might be headed. His relocation to New York City in 1900 may have been to sate either his professional or his avocational hunger, but the year after he arrived, Macdonald read an article in the British version of Golf Illustrated that would sound a similar tone and echo throughout the game for centuries to come. The writer was his old friend, Horace Hutchinson, the skilled amateur and gifted journalist who had helped advise Macdonald on Rules issues in the 1890s.

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ANTHONY EDGEWORTH

I

N 1897, long before he ever began to develop a plan for National Golf Links,

The 17th green at National with Bull’s Head Bay glistening in the background.

“Ideal Golf Course” genuine golf course greatness, the kind In the piece, Hutchinson asked a simple routinely found in Scotland and England, question of the leading British players of the lay in linksland; and now with this printed day: “Which do you consider the most testcompilation of the leading holes, he had ing holes on any course in the United Kingcracked the code: Hutchinson’s list prodom?” Responses flooded in from a who is vided the missing link between the natuwho of late-1800s U.K. golf, including Harry rally occurring golf courses of the Old Vardon, J.H. Taylor, James Braid, John Low, World and the man-made designs most Herbert Fowler and Harold Hilton. The responses—broken down by par 3s, par 4s and par 5s— showed remarkable consistency. Among par 3s or one-shot holes as they were then known, the Eden (the 11th at St. Andrews) and the Redan (15th at North Berwick) ruled. Among twoshotters, the hands-down winner was the Alps (17th at Prestwick). And the hole voted toughest in the U.K. among three-shotters was, not Detail from the Albert Sterner mural in National’s clubhouse surprisingly, the Road Hole depicting Morgan J. O’Brien, Macdonald and Seth Raynor.

(17th at the Old Course, which played as a par 5 until 1964). every modern golfer would play for the This may have been intended simply next century and beyond. Macdonald now as pablum for the magazine’s readers, but had a template—proven by centuries and for Macdonald, the article was enlightenendorsed by the game’s greatest players— ment in print, the final piece to a puzzle he for golf course excellence. All he would had been assembling in his head for have to do now is study the “Discussion” decades. He had seen the gaping void in holes and transplant them—or at least American golf course design; he knew that

The 17th hole as it looked three-quarters of a century ago.

their essence—to links-land in America.

This seemingly simple bridge across time and sea marked a tectonic shift. For 400 years golf had largely been an incidental visitor treading on virgin linksland and pasture shaped not by human hands but by eons of wind and water. Macdonald now envisioned a revolution. He was about to re-order golf by introducing the human element—creativity, intentionality, even strategy—into golf course creation. The Neanderthal had departed the cave.

At the moment Macdonald nurtured the thought, he gave rise to a field that would grow, revolutionize and add immeasurable depth and texture to the game forever. He called it golf course architecture.

“He was essentially the first golf course architect, per se,” said Scottish golf historian David Malcolm. “I mean he actually designed courses.

What went before Macdonald was sort of walls and fences and the occasional bunker in the middle of the fairway, but he took it to another level: shaping greens and shaping bunkers and positioning bunkers properly.

I mean he actually went about it scientifically. He thought through the various stages

SETH RAYNO

R

“He had no peer.” spectacular canvases and stirring views, was quite possibly the ONLY A PERSON with a sense of least golf course-friendly locale developed to date. humor could have imagined that According to his grandniece, Mary Cummings, Raynor C.B. Macdonald and Seth Raynor was initially hired to help plot the holes. But as Cummings could even co-exist. Macdonald was wrote in a 2004 remembrance, “Macdonald soon realized that cantankerous, egotistical and opin(Raynor) had much more to offer and made him his protégé.” ionated. Raynor was studious, quiet Macdonald, in his own book, Scotland’s Gift, confirms as much and polite. Macdonald, a brash newwhen he writes glowingly of Raynor’s talent, which would comer to New York, was wed to the soon blur the line between engineering and course design. game. Raynor, born and raised on “He scarcely knew a golf ball from a tennis ball when we eastern Long Island, was a devoted family man and a nonfirst met,” wrote Macdonald, and although Raynor “never begolfer. Their paths could not have been more divergent when came much of an expert in playing golf, the facility with which fate brought them together in 1908. Macdonald, who never he absorbed the feeling which animates old and enthusiastic graduated from a four-year college, was a celebrity of sorts, golfers to the manner born was truly amazing, eventually qualenjoying the fruits of Wall Street’s budding influence on Amerifying him to discriminate between a really fine hole and an ican affairs and palling around with the financial community’s indifferent one. grandest names. Meanwhile, Raynor, a graduate of Princeton “When it came to accurate surveying, contours, plastic (with degrees in civil engineering and geodesy), was quietly relief models of the land, draining, piping water in quantity working his trade as village engineer and street commissioner over the entire course, wells and pumps, and in many instances for Southampton, Long Island. clearing land of forests, eradicating the stones, finally resulting Macdonald had hundreds of blueprints, sketches and phoin preparing the course for seeding, he had no peer.” tos of the great golf holes of the world. He wanted those images to be translated onto his 200-plus acres. But in an unusually self-effacing move, he realized the need for the services of an engineer, a man trained in the measurement and movement of earth, an authority on the precipitous mix of drainage, slope and maintenance. He would need a surveyor who could graft abstract diagrams onto actual dirt. The de facto choice was Raynor. Local, well liked and experienced, Raynor knew nothing about golf.

Raynor’s very involvement at National suggests much about the land at hand and even more about the intersection of civil engineering and golf course architecture in the early part of the 20th century. Given the superficial and naïve nature of the era’s golf course designs (flat and straight fairways, 90-degree cross bunkers, pancake greens), course architects of the day had little need for the services of surveyors and engineers. But National was different. The land had never even been surveyed for one thing, but Among the many historic treasures in National’s archives is this original invoice from there would be more intractable issues with Seth Raynor for his formative work on the golf course. which to contend. The site itself, while offering

THE 44TH WALKER CUP MATCH

31

Ideal Golf Course in making a golf hole. This is the very first time this had been done.”

One of the finest summations of the originality and clarity of Macdonald’s pioneering vision comes from a slightly biased but nonetheless knowledgeable source.

In September 1939, four months after Macdonald’s death, Jim Whigham, Macdonald’s son-in-law, wrote an elegant appreciation of his late father-in-law for Country Life magazine. He wrote in part: “He observed that all these classic (U.K.) courses were created mainly by nature and that the founders had taken what nature gave in her lavish moments but generally had also to include one or two indifferent holes because nature had so ordained it. It never occurred to any Scotchman to change the eighteenth hole at Prestwick by putting in steam shovels and dynamite and entirely remaking the topog-

Map of National Golf Links of America circa 1929.

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raphy. The idea of creating out of whole cloth eighteen perfect holes, each presenting different and difficult problems for the player, was something entirely new, and to the average mind a trifle fantastic.”

It was one thing to suggest that there might be patterns or principles of golf course design inherent in the great holes of the United Kingdom. It was another to suggest they could be transplanted, recreated or better yet improved upon; another thing to find suitable ground upon which to make this all happen; and yet another thing to do just that.

Macdonald was determined to do all of the above. Within a year of the Golf Illustrated article’s publication, he began a tour of the world’s great courses. He conferred regularly with the game’s finest players and most knowledgeable writers. They were largely supportive, but there was also skepticism, some fueled by the sheer originality of Mac-

donald’s thinking and some by blind xenophobia. He was alternately praised for his vision and mocked for his naiveté. His perceived attempt to “lift” the iconic building blocks of U.K. golf was derided by one critic who said that Macdonald might be able to copy a hole, but that the facsimile would lack “the genius of locality” and the depth of history and tradition enjoyed by the original.

Macdonald was not swayed. After discussions with many of the leading players of the world he grew ever more certain the concept was viable. So after spending much of the years between 1903 and 1906 abroad, Macdonald returned to New York with sketches, surveyor’s maps and notes, some drawn up

by Macdonald himself, others by friends such as Walter Travis and Devereux Emmet.

Macdonald not only studied the Alps, Redan, Eden and Road Holes, he gathered files on the odd but interesting bunker or

berm, teeing ground or water hazard and other features he thought might be put to use on his patchwork golf course. With notes in hand and mind made up, he turned to a group of people who had the two ingredients he would now need most: money in the bank and confidence in Macdonald.

He steamrolled on, asking for 60 men (he would later increase the number to 70) willing to put up $1,000 each to buy approximately 200 acres and build this ideal golf course (these men would be known as the founders). The precise location was yet to be determined. It would certainly be along the East Coast, but from the beginning it seems that Macdonald had a bias toward Long Island. The most critical element Long Island offered was its surfeit of linksy terrain. Like so many of the spots Macdonald had scouted and studied in the British Isles, Long Island—particularly the east end—boasted

sandy soil, salty air and bellows full of Macdonald’s beloved wind. “Wind,” he wrote in Scotland’s Gift, “I consider the finest asset in golf; in itself it is one of the greatest and most delightful accompaniments in the game.”

He eventually decided on Southampton, N.Y. The village had been settled for some 270 years, but in 1906 the town and its surroundings were still extremely rural.

The eastern Long Island of the early 20th century, while accessible by rail, was traversed by only primitive roads. While the construction of summer homes was on the rise, the Southampton of the early 1900s was still more outpost than destination. That said, in the early 1900s, the Long Island Railroad was doubling its track to Southampton, and, according to Macdonald, had “guaranteed trains landing golfers on the links in two hours from Wall Street or Fifth Avenue.” In 1900, the

Long Island Railroad opened a station named Golf Grounds at the intersection of Tuckahoe Road and County Road 27 for the use of the golfing set. The station remained open until 1939, the year that Macdonald died.

The first site to catch Macdonald’s eye was, oddly enough, Shinnecock Hills Golf Club, founded in 1891. Macdonald was a member of Shinnecock. He knew the course well, and he coveted the loamy acreage on which sat the already-famed Willie DavisWillie Dunn course. Macdonald’s brazen approach and the club’s refusal to sell mark yet another rich chapter in the tale of two neighboring clubs.

Next was 120 acres in the Shinnecock Hills located near the Shinnecock Canal, which connects Peconic Bay to Shinnecock Bay. Macdonald offered $200 an acre to a group of owners who had acquired the

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Ideal Golf Course

One of the earlier communications between C.B. Macdonald and the members of the fledgling club. Note the London return address for Macdonald, who was at the time studying the great courses of the U.K.

land only four weeks earlier for $50 an acre. They refused.

Ironically, Macdonald was wary of building too close to the long-established Shinnecock Hills. By 1906, Shinnecock had already hosted a U.S. Amateur and a U.S. Open. It is understandable that Macdonald would want some breathing room for his new masterpiece. The fact that he ultimately settled on a plot that literally bordered Shinnecock suggests how strongly Macdonald

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felt about the quality of the parcel.

It was a 450-acre insect-infested expanse, a wasteland inhabited only by swamp bogs and thickets of berry bushes. The land, so inhospitable that Macdonald and his future son-in-law, Jim Whigham, could only inspect the property on horseback, was entirely overgrown. In fact, until Macdonald got his hands on it, the land was so inaccessible that it had never even been surveyed.

Macdonald and Whigham evolved from tire-kickers to buyers once they clambered up the hill to what is now the third green. As the duo processed the remarkable view, Whigham, a Prestwick man, and Macdonald agreed that they were standing atop the makings of an Alps hole that could likely surpass the original (No. 17 at Prestwick). Then,

seconds later, as they turned to the eastnortheast, they glimpsed the gently sloping canvas on which they would construct their version of the Redan (modeled on the 15th hole at North Berwick). Like the eager couple that stumbles giddily into a roomy walk-in closet or a newly renovated kitchen, Macdonald and Whigham were sold.

The site was right. It was not perfect; far from it really. In order to effectively transplant or reproduce the great golf holes of the world, the raw, over-grown, bogged-down canvas would require considerable preparation. Still, Macdonald and his colleagues obtained an option on the land in November 1906 and took ownership of 205.0284 acres on June 11, 1907, for the price of $200 an acre. It was a deal in which everybody won. The Shinnecock Hills and Peconic Bay Realty Company was able to sell at a profit land that even it knew had little foreseeable use. In a letter to its shareholders the seller wrote: “Most of this property is lowland, some of it swamp. There are but three high points taken and a large part would not be suitable for building purposes.”

Similarly, the deal was favorable to Macdonald, as he was allowed to cherry-pick which 205 acres of the 450-acre plot he wanted. The terms were also a win-win.

National Golf Links of America put down a $10,000 deposit on the roughly $40,000 acquisition with the balance to be paid by April 2, 1907. The deed provided both parties with wiggle room. As the Realty Company told its shareowners, “If the property fails to be used as a golf course within the next fifty years, it shall revert to us on payment of the purchase price with interest. If they build later a clubhouse to not cost less then $20,000, this is to be excerpted from the reversion together with 5 acres around it.”

There would be further additions to National’s land holdings over time. In fact, immediately after closing the deal, the club acquired another 2.5 acres on its western edge in order to, as Macdonald wrote, “protect ourselves.” In subsequent years, acquisitions and donations of land from members would swell the holding to today’s total of 253 acres.

THE DELFT TILES These famed tiles, which hang in the National Golf Links of America library, were acquired for the club by Charles Blair Macdonald when he purchased the golf memorabilia collection of Dr. William Laidlaw Purves, the founder of Royal St. George’s. While the Delft tiles, named for the Dutch city of their origin, depict locals engaged in various ice-based sports such as kolf or kolven, none of them specifically portrays golf. Yet, it is these tiles that served as the inspiration for the well-known logo of National. Notably the logo of the club was not taken directly from any of the Delft tiles in the National collection. Rather, the club’s insignia—two “kolfers” in opposition (note their skate-like footwear) with crossed golf clubs and balls between them—derives from the overall “look” of the tiles.

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Ideal Golf Course The Coalescence ENSCONCED in offices at 71 Broadway (Room

409), Macdonald assembled and directed the affairs of what was increasingly an international enterprise. It was 1907, and his contacts in Europe—some of the leading authorities and players in the game—were supplying him with maps and photographs of the most outstanding holes, as well as offering suggestions on reproducing them. Macdonald’s office would have been stacked with envelopes and personal notes from luminaries such as Horace Hutchinson, John Low, Harold Hilton and H.S.C. Everard. There would have been surveyors’ maps, as well as the 30 or 40 drawings executed by Macdonald himself during his various tours of the U.K. He had entire plans from St. Andrews, Sandwich, North Berwick, Prestwick and Littlestone. There were also details of single holes or outstanding features that “made the hole interesting and which might be adapted to a hole of different length.” Two or three of these features might be put into an otherwise original hole, forming a composite.

While Macdonald, who had played virtually every significant golf course in the U.K. and the United States, had plenty of experience upon which to draw, it is clear that two clubs influenced his vision for National above all others. It is hard to overstate the impact that St. Andrews and Royal St. George’s had on Macdonald’s thinking.

Whether Macdonald set out specifically

to copy William Purves’ design of St. George’s, or that of St. Andrews, we will never know, but an influence or inspiration is highly likely.

“What is absolutely inarguable, is that they existed on parallel tracks doing the exact same thing,” says golf club archivist David Normoyle, founder of Normoyle Historical Consulting and former assistant director and historian of the USGA Museum and Arnold Palmer Center for Golf History. “In St. George’s you have England’s response to St. Andrews. It is intentional that Purves chose George, the patron saint of England, to represent a course that was supposed to rival Andrew, the patron saint of Scotland. Similarly, the name ‘National Golf Links of America’ could be no clearer statement of intent.”

Macdonald and Purves knew each other, were friends and were cut from the same cloth. When Purves’ vast collection of golf artifacts and memorabilia became available for purchase, Macdonald swooped in. What he paid for it is not known. What is known, or at least can be surmised, is that Macdonald had a crystal-clear reason for buying it. He had already gathered land and blueprints for his course; he had gathered hearts and minds for his membership; but clubs such as St. George’s and St. Andrews had more than turf and men to bind them.

They were joined to the history of the game.

The walls of the great clubhouses of the United Kingdom rival museums with their memorabilia and recitations of the game’s

The original Cape hole, shown here prior to the 1924 construction of Sebonac Inlet Road, was so named by Macdonald for the cape-like fashion in which the putting surface was virtually surrounded by Bull’s Head Bay.

proud traditions. Macdonald instinctively knew that his new club would need the same inspirational accoutrements. Rather than grow a collection over the coming centuries, Macdonald had a chance to give his club a massive head start. He simply bought Purves’ personal collection, the best collection in the world.

“From the standpoint of golf clubs, artwork and literature, C.B. was very purposeful in acquiring the collection to be the cornerstone of his club,” said Normoyle. “C.B., in my mind, saw the ideal golf links as something more than just an architectural experiment. It is about the game from an architectural standpoint, playability standpoint, wind, water, all the ways that he configured this golf course.

But he also felt that the ideal golf links is combined with the ideal golf experience, that is the clubhouse, the food, the service, the experience and all that comes along with that, including decorations and education in the clubhouse. From the very beginning, the idea is that National is imbued with the greatest traditions and history of the game. It is the clearest expression possible of what he felt the game should aspire to.”

He knew exactly what he was doing. WC This text is adapted from the soon-to-bepublished history of National Golf Links of America.

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National Golf Links of America HOLE BY HOLE

PHOTOGRAPHY b y ANTHONY EDGEWORTH TEXT by CHRIS MILLARD

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NO. 1 VALLEY PAR 4 — 326 YARDS ORIGINALLY THE 10TH HOLE at National, Valley has three commanding features. First is the

gaping valley or hollow into which most golfers will play their first shot. More imposing, however, is the steep pile of bunkers to the right and the kingly crest upon which the putting surface rests.

Many a promising day has been undone early here, where even well-conceived approaches and chips (and, yes, even putts) can find themselves rolling off the heaving putting surface.

Macdonald manages to both unsettle the player and also tip his hand here. The hole, playing at 326 yards for the Walker Cup Match, is not long, but given the elevated tee, it appears even shorter. So players are befuddled when they end up well short, either in a bunker or at the nadir of the valley. Macdonald’s message on this starting hole is clear: Be alert. There has been little significant change to this hole over the years. That holds true for virtually the entire golf course.

Prior to this Walker Cup Match, USGA Vice President Tom O’Toole was asked about any changes to the course in preparation for the event. “You do not change the Mona Lisa,” O’Toole responded.

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NO. 2 SAHARA PAR 4 — 302 YARDS an excellent illustration of Macdonald’s ability to draw inspiration from an existing hole while creating an interpretation wholly his own. Sahara owes its name and its overall strategy to the third hole at Royal St. George’s in Sandwich (St. George’s Sahara is now a par 3.) The essence of the hole is the breathtaking thrill of hitting into the unforeseen. The view from the tee is unsettling, particularly to the first-time player. There is a vast sandy wasteland capped only by horizon. The player can take it on faith that there is a green somewhere over the edge, but it is exceedingly well protected by the oft-enlarged Sahara bunker short left, deep rough and bunkers short right, and the ever-present charming menace of the windmill. While long-hitting Walker Cup Match contestants should have no problem reaching this green, holding the green is another question.

THE SECOND HOLE PROVIDES

NO. 3 ALPS PAR 4 — 473 YARDS NATIONAL BARES HER TEETH AT THE ALPS. Inspired by the 17th hole at Prestwick, this is

the toughest hole on the outward nine. Many believe that Macdonald did the impossible at National by not only “copying” standout holes from abroad, but actually improving on them.

That may be true here, in that so many phases of the game come into play on the third, a hole that measures 473 yards. Whether it is the precision required by the tee ball, the balance and focus of playing over a massive hill to a blind green, an awkward greenside chip or a delicate putt on a radically contoured green, the Alps demands it all. No wonder National’s Alps is rated by most observers as the finest blind approach in the game. Jim Whigham, a Prestwick man, contended that the design of National’s Alps surpassed the original. For many who feel this way, the clincher is the placement of the green. On Prestwick’s Alps, the green is recessed or set much deeper into the hill, whereas National’s Alps green sits closer to the apex.

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NO. 4 REDAN PAR 3 — 194 YARDS Tilted away from the tee and to the back left (the back left is about 5 feet below the right front), the Redan, named for an imposing Crimean War-era fortress, requires precise aim and touch, allowing the ball to land softly on the upper-right portion of the green and letting the grade do the remainder of the work. Pot bunkers guard the uphill side of the green, leaving treacherous shots to a run-away surface. Another bunker fronts the landing area, and a massive, deep-fronting bunker adds insult to weak, left balls.

There has long been debate about the primacy of the original Redan—the 15th at North Berwick— or its National cousin. Each has its devotees, but one can count among National’s partisans Ben Sayers, legendary golf professional at none other than North Berwick in the late 1890s. Sayers thought the National version superior to the original. More recently Ben Crenshaw has gone on record as concurring that the fourth hole here exceeds its predecessor. Harold Hilton took the middle ground when he told The New York Herald in 1911, “Looking at the fourth I can see in my mind’s eyes the ‘Redan’ at North Berwick. This hole… is every bit as good a hole as the famous ‘one-shotter’ in Scotland.” The Redan is a signature element in virtually any and all Macdonald/Raynor designs.

THE HEART OF ANY REDAN IS THE GREEN.

NO. 5 HOG’S BACK PAR 4 — 474 YARDS THE BILATERALLY SLOPED LANDING AREA is a common element in early Scottish golf links

and can be found on either a green or a fairway. Macdonald’s version, named Hog’s Back for the spine that runs the length of the landing area, is an excellent example of how Macdonald adopted not only entire holes, but particular concepts, and tailored them to his specifications. One of the oldest Hog’s Back holes is found at famed Lundin Golf Club, not far from St. Andrews in Fife, Scotland. Macdonald so liked the bifurcation of Lundin’s 17th fairway and the low collection areas on either side that he not only employed them here on No. 5, but he utilized the concept again on National’s 16th fairway.

National has made few concessions to the passage of time and the rise of modern equipment.

In 2006, however, the club made one such concession when the green committee changed Hog’s Back from a par 5 to a par 4. In addition to the hole’s relative shortness, it lacked real defenses around the green.

NO. 6 SHORT PAR 3 — 123 YARDS THE INSPIRATION FOR THE SIXTH HOLE is likely the original fifth at Brancaster on England’s

North Sea coast. Like the original, Short is the briefest hole on the course. The Macdonald version is only 123 yards for the Walker Cup Match, while the original at Brancaster measures 129 yards. Both holes play from a high to a slightly lower high and to broad undulating greens, but there the similarities end. Bernard Darwin wrote that the inner contours of the green at National’s Short reminded him of a nearby rollercoaster. They “are beset,” he wrote, “with shocks and switchbacks worthy of Coney Island.”

Short’s primary defense is a visually striking necklace of bunkers that chokes the green, particularly the front left. Players are given the option to play to a small tongue of fairway short and left, but the required chip over the sand and onto the dynamic green is no bargain.

As much as the sixth may have been inspired by Brancaster, the central feature of National’s hole—the “Donut”—is original to Macdonald. Rising from the mid-section of the green, this mound essentially trisects the putting surface into three distinct regions.

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NO. 7 ST. ANDREWS PAR 5 — 505 YARDS of how Macdonald took general inspiration—not specific detail— from the great courses of the British Isles. Macdonald could easily have called for a faux railway shed some 150 yards off the tee. Similarly he could have replicated the infamous Road Hole bunker, the knobby green or the road itself all to exact scale. Instead, Macdonald took the essence of each element and created an entirely new hole. Whereas off the tee the original had drying sheds (then rail barns and now a hotel), National’s tribute has an expanse of bunkers. The pot bunker fronting National’s seventh green is more a nod to the original Road Hole bunker than an outright imitation. The green at National is similar in size but far flatter than that on the Old Course. Yet it is with the final element of the hole—the signature element—that Macdonald took the greatest creative license: His road hole has no road. Instead, the defense against long-right approach shots is a daunting series of everdeepening bunkers that stretches almost 100 yards and angles in closely behind the right rear of the green. This hole features one of only two changes made to the golf course in preparation for the Walker Cup Match. A new back tee has been added here as well as at 16.

NO. 7 IS A SUPERB EXAMPLE

NO. 8 BOTTLE PAR 4 — 407 YARDS IN 1906, WHEN C.B MACDONALD sat down to draft his landmark article for Outing

Magazine entitled “The Ideal Golf Course, a Standard For Comparison,” he listed the 18 holes that occurred to him “as being about right.” The first hole listed was Willie Park’s 12th or “Bottle” on the Old Course at Sunningdale. The essential challenge of Park’s hole is the negotiation on the second shot of a series of bunkers that jut diagonally across the fairway. Macdonald took the underlying principle of diagonal echelon bunkering and moved it up so it is confronted not on the approach, but off the tee. Note also Macdonald’s installation here of a “Principal’s Nose” bunker. The original mission of that famed St. Andrews bunker, named for the prominent proboscis sported by a local school official, was to cleave the landing area: A drive left of the Nose is safe, while a drive to the right surely flirts with the out of bounds. At National, Macdonald placed his swollen version of the Nose not in the drive’s landing area, but about 100 yards short of the eighth green as a deterrent to those who might want to lay up short of the putting surface. This is one of the best examples of Macdonald’s penchant for giving new applications to time-tested features.

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NO. 9 L ONG PAR 5 — 534 YARDS NO. 9 IS MACDONALD’S TAKE on the fabulous 14th at St. Andrews. Both are par 5s that require

extreme care on all three shots; both play into and/or across the prevailing wind; and both present extreme headaches for a ball missed to the right. The 14th at St. Andrews presents two problems off the tee: a stone wall on the right and the “Beardies” bunkers about 240 yards out on the left. Macdonald’s version is similarly constrained, but by water and sand. In his list of 18 ideal golf holes, Macdonald specifically referenced the 14th at St. Andrews, but not without suggested improvements: “Like the 14th at St. Andrews, making green larger and making run up less fluky.” So Macdonald did just that. There is no “Hell” bunker blocking access to the green, the runway to the front of the green, particularly the right front, is far less occluded and the green here is considerably larger. Macdonald obviates the need to play from the neighboring hole. Significantly, the original green slopes aggressively away from the player, contributing to the flukiness of the run-up, whereas the ninth green is quite large and among the flatter putting surfaces at National.

NO. 10 SHINNECOCK PAR 4 — 445 YARDS between this hole and the famed 13th hole at Pine Valley. As Macdonald and Pine Valley founder, George Crump, were quite friendly, it is possible the latter’s hole was influenced by the former’s. What makes National’s 10th so spectacular is its one-two punch: the declarative nature of the tee shot juxtaposed with the stark challenge of the approach. All that is needed off the tee is a long iron or fairway wood played between 200 and 230 yards. Still, the shot must negotiate a yawning bunker on the left and a series of small bunkers on the right. Most players will have at least 160 to 200 yards to a banked green that is largely blocked by a fescue-trimmed sandy maw that infects the entire left side of the hole. Left is to be avoided at all costs, yet the safe play to the right is constricted by a handful of bunkers. While the player is forced to play into a green that is barely visible, Macdonald provides a large and long putting surface. The oversized green means a good shot will likely find the putting surface, but a 40-foot putt here is not uncommon.

MANY OBSERVERS SEE SIMILARITIES

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NO. 11 PLATEAU PAR 4 — 430 YARDS No. 11 IS PURE MACDONALD. From

the well-played drive—which for decades was aimed at the chimney on Ballyshear, his home overlooking National—to the last putt on this diabolical green, Macdonald seems to inhabit the place. The drive at No. 11 is played blindly over a ridge.

For those who are keeping score, this is the fourth blind shot in 11 holes (drive on No. 2, approach on No. 3, drive on No. 7). A good drive here will find a fairly wide landing area and leave an approach over Shrubland Road, which bisects the eighth and 11th holes. The second shot typically ranges from about 190 to 160 yards. For long hitters, such as this week’s competitors, Macdonald inserts a Principal’s Nose bunker in the middle of a bailout area short of the green. The Nose has the same strategic effect as the one on No. 8: Narrow the bailout, make the cautious player think twice about laying up, and encourage courageous shots into one of the more interesting green complexes (a cousin of the famed Biarritz) on a course filled with them. Par here, particularly with a back-right hole location, is a cause for celebration.

NO. 12 SEBONAC PAR 4 — 459 YARDS OFF THE TEE, THE PLAYER is confronted with Macdonald’s trademark bunkering, which runs diagonally up

the left side of the landing area. Complementing this bunker is a long, punishing, chain-like bunker that runs virtually the entire length of the right side of the fairway. Together these two hazards form a pincer move on the player, but there is a small swath of prime landing area that affords both a level lie and a clearish view of the green. The drive here is vital, not only because of the impending bunkers, but because the green is so well protected. Players approaching from the right see only sand and the obstinate base of the drastically sloped (back to front) green. The pincer intensifies as the player draws closer to the green. The idea of a run up through the throat of the green is nullified as the final 30 yards comprise a mélange of sand, heaving green and a deep low on the left side.

NO. 13 EDEN PAR 3 — 166 YARDS EDEN DESCENDS from the famed 11th hole at St Andrews. Macdonald, always the St. Andrews

man, loved the devilish nature of the hole. All of the key elements of the original Eden are represented in Macdonald’s version. The distance, 166 yards, is approximately the same. Both holes have hazards behind the green. Both have putting surfaces that cant significantly from back to front, and both have a pair of bunkers, “Strath” to the right and “Hill” to the left, ominously guarding the throat of the green.

The rule of thumb for playing the original Eden is to play aggressively, as the center or back of the green is far preferable to the slippery, sandy front. But the original hole does have an Achilles heel. The weakness of the Old Course’s Eden is that it can be outsmarted. Players unwilling to risk an introduction to the green-front bunkers can simply bunt the ball 100 yards or so (some have been known to opt for a putter), stop the ball short of the bunkers and then chip on for par or bogey. Macdonald broached no such license at National. Here, the intervening territory between tee and green features water and a maintenance road, leaving only the smallest of bailouts short of the green. The Eden design has undone some memorable players and rounds.

In the third round of the 1921 British Open at St. Andrews, Bob Jones was confounded by the bunkering, and after five or six shots (eyewitness accounts differ), Jones picked up his ball and “retired” from the championship.

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NO. 14 CAPE PAR 4 — 391 YARDS MACDONALD’S MASTERPIECE. It is this hole that lends credence to the oft-voiced argument

that Macdonald’s original holes at National are even more interesting than his “copied” holes.

His introduction of the Cape hole was certainly his most creative and arguably his most lasting contribution to the golf lexicon. One early reviewer wrote in 1908 that “in the opinion of many competent judges (the 14th) will become the greatest water hole in the world.”

The game of golf has always offered risky carries over harrowing hazards, but in the early 1900s, the idea of an island green was radical and exciting. Pairing those dynamics with the wind, the majesty of National and the tidal swath of salt water that once gurgled along the entire starboard side of the putting surface prior to the construction of Sebonac Inlet Road, it is no surprise that Macdonald proudly wrote of his creation: “It is today one of the most individual holes in existence and there is probably not another like it anywhere… a par four to this hole, which by land is but a little over 300 yards, is very satisfying.”

NO. 15 NARROWS PAR 4 — 419 YARDS THIS IS NOT THE BEST-KNOWN HOLE AT NATIONAL, nor is it the toughest, but it offers as good a glimpse

into Macdonald’s brain as any on the course. That is because it is not only an inspired hole, it is doubly inspired. Macdonald took the best elements of two great holes and combined them into a single beauty. In his 1906 article in Outing, in which he describes the ideal 18 holes, one description reads: “340 yards. Composite first shot of the 14th or Perfection at North Berwick, with green and bunker guards like 15th Muirfield.” The Perfection hole is so named precisely because it requires an exquisite threading of the needle off the tee. Legend has it that Narrows is so christened because it requires two perfect shots to hit the green. The approach is all Muirfield. That legendary course’s 15th hole offers similar visual trickery in the approach, but in reality the bailout short and right of the green is large; in fact, National’s bail-out is considerably more generous than that of Muirfield.

The real danger on the 15th is the green, in particular the rear portion. The putting surface drops off precipitously into a rear-guard bunker that rests some 5 feet below the green. The shot from this hazard— over the ledge and onto a slick downhill surface—is fraught with difficulty.

NO. 16 PUNCHBOWL PAR 4 — 476 YARDS THE PUNCHBOWL-STYLE GREEN—low

in the middle and raised on the sides—is the golfer’s friend. With such an accessible green, defenses must be built up elsewhere. At 16, they come in the form of the drive, traveling some 300 yards to reach the comfort of the fairway plateau, and the visual unease of the approach. While the drive is played to one of the widest landing areas at National, this can be deceptive. From the center and right teeing grounds especially, the large carry bunker on the right certainly condenses the landing area. The fairway itself is reminiscent of the fifth hole, or Hog’s Back, in that a central “spine” steers balls into swales on either side of the fairway. Only a perfectly struck drive can attain the elevated middle section of the fairway. Even the finest drive leaves a blind shot into the green. There are few forced carries in the Macdonald portfolio, but one is justifiably presented here. A series of bunkers separates the end of the fairway from the beginning of the green complex. It adds an element of visual trickery, appearing to mark the front of the green itself, when in fact they are at least 40 yards short of the actual putting surface.

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NO. 17 PECONIC PAR 4 — 370 YARDS here at the glittering nexus of Peconic and Bull’s Head Bays. Regardless of the club selected, distance control and accuracy will be absolutely vital. Everyone—long and short hitters alike—must first negotiate the massive waste area (nearly as large as the club’s Sahara bunker) off the tee. In a mirror image of the tee ball at the Cape hole, the farther to the right here, the shorter the carry and the farther to the left, the more demanding the carry (240 to 250 yards for a center-left drive). The longest hitters have the rarified option of playing for the left portion of green. This short par 4, inspired by the seventh hole at Scotland’s Leven Links, gets you coming and going. Regardless of where a tee ball lands in the fairway, it risks rolling into a collection of deftly placed bunkers that consume the right and center portions of the hole. Shots played from either the left waste area or any of these right-center bunkers are essentially doomed. Adding a touch of gravitas is the hole’s featured element: the hillocks. Macdonald admired Leven’s famed hillocks and recreated them here.

THE MENTAL AND PHYSICAL MERGE

NO . 18 Home PAR 5 — 501 YARDS I think, the finest eighteenth hole in all the world.” Bernard Darwin had it about right. The fundamental issue at 18 is the tee ball. Most mortals will settle for skimming the right side of the first fairway bunker to the fat and happy landing area. This is typically followed by a lay-up shot just left of the regal flagpole and a chip into the green. But this three-shot hole can be reduced to two by nervy long-ballers who can carry the ball on a rope nearly 300 yards and into the hill. From there it is still approximately 190 yards to a green that is largely occluded by muscular foreground, protected on the short left by a few deception bunkers and defended on the right by miles of bayshore and bluffs. Whether playing into the green on the second or third shot, one should not miss right. One early commentator summed it up nicely when he said that should a player “slice his approach, he will be deserving of nothing but sympathy, even from the most hardhearted of opponents.”

“FINALLY, THERE IS,

THE 44TH

WALKER CUP MATCH TEAMS

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ANTHONY EDGEWORTH

I

T IS A COMPETITION, of course, but at its core the Walker Cup Match is a timeless

continuum, a biennial celebration of golf, of amateurism and of the camaraderie that derives from each. The perpetual youthfulness of the Match, its rosy-cheeked visage reappearing unwrinkled and optimistic every two years, is reflected in the rosters of its competitors. From the 20-year-old Bob Jones of the 1922 Match, who had yet to win a major but would soon rewrite golf history, to Jordan Spieth, who represented the United States in 2011 and won recently on the PGA Tour at the age of 19, the Walker Cup Match is simultaneously a mirror—a snapshot of the game in time—and a seer’s view into the future of the sport. A deep look into the all-time roster of the Match produces a hall-of-fame of competitors on both sides, a gallery that traces the global leadership of the game through most of the 20th century and well into the 21st: Jones, Ouimet, Sweetser, Tolley, Wethered, Darwin, Holderness, Mackenzie, Von Elm, Egan, Torrance, Ward, Pennink, Riegel, Turnesa, Carr, Coe, Stranahan, Campbell, Venturi, Nicklaus, Bonallack, Oosterhuis, Hyndman, Siderowf, Gabrielsen, Strange, Stadler, Lyle, Sutton, Pavin, Love, Rafferty, Walton, Dalgleish, Montgomerie, Sigel, Mickelson, Yates, Harrington, Casey, Marucci, Woods, Wolstenholme, Zahringer. Each of them—and dozens who excelled more quietly—have had their hand on the tiller of the game.

That is both the inheritance and the legacy of the participants in this 44th Walker Cup Match. With the inclusion of older mid-amateur competitors, the teams of today and tomorrow may be more seasoned, but beyond a gray hair or two and a wrinkle, these amateurs—literally these lovers of golf—have inexorably joined the long sepia line of Walker Cup players past. On the pages that follow, we meet this week’s competitors.

Regardless of where they go from here or what they do, we can all say we knew them when.

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The 44th Walker Cup Match Teams The Teams The Walker Cup Match is played by male amateur golfers, one team from the United States of America and one team from England, Ireland, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales (GB&I).

The teams consist of not more than 10 players and a captain.

The USA Team is selected by the United States Golf Association, and the GB&I Team by The R&A.

Schedule of Play Saturday, Sept. 7: Four foursomes matches (18 holes each); eight singles matches (18 holes each) Sunday, Sept. 8: Four foursomes matches (18 holes each); 10 singles matches (18 holes each)

Scoring Victory in a match scores one point. When a match goes 18 holes without a decision, one-half point is awarded to each side.

Miscellaneous The Match is held every two years, alternately in the United States of America and Great Britain/Ireland. The country winning the Match takes custody of the Cup for the ensuing two years.

In case of a tie, the Cup stays with previous winner until the next Match is played.

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Walker Cup Match Captains 1922 — 2011 YEAR

USA

GREAT BRITAIN & IRELAND

1922 1923 1924 1926 1928 1930 1932 1934 1936 1938 1947 1949 1951 1953 1955 1957 1959 1961 1963 1965 1967 1969 1971 1973 1975 1977 1979 1981 1983 1985 1987 1989 1991 1993 1995 1997 1999 2001 2003 2005 2007 2009 2011

William C. Fownes Jr. Robert A. Gardner Robert A. Gardner Robert A. Gardner Robert T. Jones Jr. Robert T. Jones Jr. Francis D. Ouimet Francis D. Ouimet Francis D. Ouimet Francis D. Ouimet Francis D. Ouimet Francis D. Ouimet William P. Turnesa Charles R. Yates William C. Campbell Charles R. Coe Charles R. Coe Jack Westland Richard S. Tufts John W. Fischer Jess W. Sweetser William J. Patton John M. Winters Jr. Jess W. Sweetser Dr. Edgar R. Updegraff Lewis W. Oehmig Richard L. Siderowf James R. Gabrielsen Jay Sigel Jay Sigel Fred Ridley Fred Ridley James R. Gabrielsen Vinny Giles A. Downing Gray A. Downing Gray Danny Yates Danny Yates Bob Lewis Bob Lewis George “Buddy” Marucci Jr. George “Buddy” Marucci Jr. Jim Holtgrieve

Robert Harris Robert Harris Cyril Tolley Robert Harris William Tweddell Roger Wethered T. A. Torrance Michael Scott William Tweddell John B. Beck John B. Beck Percy Lucas Raymond Oppenheimer A. A. Duncan G. Alec Hill Gerald Micklem Gerald Micklem Charles Lawrie Charles Lawrie Joe Carr Joe Carr Sir Michael Bonallack Sir Michael Bonallack David Marsh David Marsh Sandy Saddler Rodney Foster Rodney Foster Charles Wilson Green Charles Wilson Green Geoffrey Marks Geoffrey Marks George MacGregor George MacGregor Clive Brown Clive Brown Peter McEvoy Peter McEvoy Garth McGimpsey Garth McGimpsey Colin Dalgleish Colin Dalgleish Nigel Edwards

Jim Holtgrieve USA CAPTA IN

Nigel Edwards

JIM HOLTGRIEVE, of St. Louis, Mo., whose stellar amateur career includes a winning record as a member of three victorious USA Walker Cup Teams, the captaincy of the USA Team at the 2011 Match and an individual triumph at the inaugural U.S. Mid-Amateur Championship in 1981, serves again as captain of the 2013 USA Walker Cup team.

“I am indeed honored once again to be named captain of the 2013 United States Walker Cup Team,” said Holtgrieve. “The 2011 Walker Cup journey was an incredible experience for me and one that I will never forget. Golf fans, friends and family all over the United States, as well as overseas, were so supportive of me during this experience that I was praying that I would have the opportunity to captain the 2013 Walker Cup Team.”

Holtgrieve’s deep experience in Walker Cup competition, both as a player and captain, was an important consideration in the USGA’s reappointment of him as captain. “Jim has an exceptional grasp of the meaning of the Walker Cup Match and conveyed that very well to the members of the 2011 USA Team in Scotland,” said USGA President Glen D. Nager. “So it is fitting that he uses that well-developed perspective as a player and a captain to lead the USA squad in 2013 at National Golf Links.”

Holtgrieve was one of the country’s top amateur players during the 1970s and ’80s and played on winning Walker Cup Teams in 1979, 1981 and 1983, assembling a combined record in singles and foursomes (alternate shot) of 6-4. He also represented the USA on two victorious World Amateur Team Championship squads, in 1980 and 1982. A semifinalist at the 1980 U.S. Amateur and runner-up at the 1983 British Amateur, Holtgrieve has won numerous state and district amateur titles in his home state of Missouri.

Holtgrieve played in five Masters Tournaments as an amateur—making the cut three times— and also qualified for the 1978 U.S. Open Championship.

Holtgrieve turned professional in 1998 and played on the Champions Tour from 1999 to 2005, where his top finish was a tie for second at the 1999 Home Depot Invitational. He has played in four U.S. Senior Opens and a total of 42 USGA championships.

The USGA reinstated Holtgrieve’s amateur status in 2007 after he played in 122 professional events. In 2012 he earned medalist honors in the USGA Senior Amateur Championship at Mountain Ridge Country Club in West Caldwell, N.J. He currently serves as a member of the U.S. Mid-Amateur Championship Committee for the USGA.

NIGEL EDWARDS, a native of Wales, is serving again as Great Britain & Ireland Walker Cup captain after leading the 2011 GB&I Team to victory over the United States at Royal Aberdeen. Edwards, who played in four successive Walker Cups between 2001 and 2007 before leading GB&I to a 14-12 victory at Royal Aberdeen, is director of coaching at the English Golf Union (EGU). He previously served as director of player development and coaching at the Golf Union of Wales.

Edwards’ 2011 GB&I Team were considered underdogs against a USA Team that included six of the world’s top-10 amateurs, but stout performances from the likes of fellow Welshman Rhys Pugh and Open Championship silver medalist Tom Lewis earned GB&I the Walker Cup for the first time since 2003.

Edwards, has also played in three St. Andrews Trophy matches (pitting the Continent of Europe vs. the GB&I), winning on every occasion. He was captain for the 2010 match at Castelconturbia, Italy, in which GB&I suffered a 14-10 defeat, but reclaimed the trophy at Portmarnock last summer.

“Captaining the winning side in the 43rd Walker Cup was truly fantastic, and to be given the chance to be part of this special event again is a great honor,” said Edwards. “The experience shared by the 2011 Team will stay with all of those involved for the rest of their lives. I will use my own experience as a player and captain to ensure that the 2013 Team is fully prepared to play to the best of their ability and make the most of their own Walker Cup experience,” he added.

Edwards is the third Welshman to captain the Walker Cup Team after Tony Duncan, as a playing captain in 1953, and Clive Brown in 1995 and 1997, when his side beat a USA Team that included Tiger Woods at Royal Porthcawl.

GREAT BRITAIN & IRELAND CAPTAIN

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United States of America Walker Cup Team

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HE USA WALKER CUP TEAM is selected solely by the United States Golf Association (USGA). Within the USGA, the International Team Selection (ITS) Committee performs the function of identifying those players to be selected to the USA Team.

The USGA Championship Committee oversees this process. The ITS Committee is composed of members of the USGA Executive and Women’s Committees. The USA captain participates in the ITS Committee meetings but does not have a vote on the selection. There is not a pre-determined set of criteria for selection to the USA Walker Cup Team. The Committee reviews a wealth of information before selections are made.

MAX HOMA AGE: 22

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HOMETOWN: VALENCIA, CALIFORNIA

JORDAN NIEBRUGGE AGE: 20 • HOMETOWN: MEQUON, WISCONSIN

Homa won the Pac-12 Conference Championship in early May and was the individual medalist at the 2013 NCAA Men’s Division I Championship to close out his career at the University of CaliforniaBerkeley. In his senior year of 2012-13, he captained a team that won 11 tournaments. His individual honors include being named as a first-team All-American and to the All-Nicklaus Team, both awarded by the Golf Coaches Association of America. In June, he survived a playoff at sectional qualifying to make the field for the 2013 U.S. Open at Merion Golf Club, where he missed the cut by three strokes. Homa also advanced to the quarter-finals of the 2010 U.S. Amateur.

Niebrugge, the 2013 U.S. Amateur Public Links champion, defeated fellow Walker Cup teammate Michael Kim, 1 up, at Laurel Hill Golf Club in Lorton, Va. The Oklahoma State University sophomore earned honorable mention All-America honors as a freshman after finishing runner-up in the Morris Williams Intercollegiate and in The Prestige at PGA West. He won the 2013 Western Amateur, the 2013 Wisconsin State Amateur and the 2013 Wisconsin State Match Play championships. In 2011, Niebrugge became the youngest-ever winner of the Wisconsin State Open at age 18 years, 13 days. He competed in the 2013 U.S. Amateur, advancing to the first round of match play, where he was defeated by Seth Reeves, 22, of Duluth, Ga., 1 up.

MICHAEL KIM

PATRICK RODGERS

AGE: 2O • HOMETOWN: DEL MAR, CALIFORNIA

AGE: 21 • HOMETOWN: AVON, INDIANA

Kim won four collegiate events in his sophomore year at the University of California-Berkeley and was honored as the 2012-13 Golfweek/Sagarin Player of the Year and the Pac-12 Conference Golfer of the Year. He was first-team All-American and named to the All-Nicklaus Team, Palmer Cup, All-West Region and All-Pac 12. He also won the 2013 Golfstat Cup for having the lowest adjusted scoring average entering the NCAA Championship.

In May, he won the Jack Nicklaus Award as the NCAA Division I player of the year, and in June, he won the Fred Haskins Award as the national collegiate player of the year as determined in voting by collegiate golfers, coaches and members of the national media. He finished as the low amateur at the 2013 U.S. Open at Merion Golf Club, tying for 17th place.

Rodgers, a 2011 USA Walker Cup Team member, wrapped up his sophomore season at Stanford with three intercollegiate victories and six top-10 finishes.

For the second consecutive year, he was named first-team All-American, firstteam All-Pac 12 Conference, and he was a Palmer Cup selection. He was also named to the All-Nicklaus Team this year. During the 2011-12 college season, Rodgers produced two tournament wins and 10 top-10 finishes, was named to the All-Freshman Team and was a finalist for the Ben Hogan Award. The 2011 Porter Cup champion, Rodgers was also a quar ter finalist at the 2011 U.S. Amateur.

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NATHAN SMITH

TODD WHITE

AGE: 35 • HOMETOWN: PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA

AGE: 45 • HOMETOWN: SPARTANBURG, SOUTH CAROLINA

Smith is a four-time U.S. Mid-Amateur champion, holding the record for most victories in the championship. He first won in 2003, becoming the youngestever champion at age 25. He won two consecutive Mid-Ams in 2009 and 2010, and then made histor y with his fourth win in 2012, breaking a tie with Jay Sigel. Smith was a member of the 2009 and 2011 USA Walker Cup Teams.

He earned four consecutive victories in the Western Pennsylvania Amateur, from 2007-10. Smith won the Pennsylvania State Amateur in 2002 and 2009 and was runner-up in 2001, 2007 and 2008. Additionally, he finished runner-up at the 2002 North & South Amateur and the 2008 Northeast Amateur.

White has competed in 11 USGA championships, including four U.S. Amateurs, two U.S. Mid-Amateurs, four USGA State Team Championships and one U.S. Open. His best finish in a U.S. Mid-Amateur was in 2012, when he lost in the semifinals to Garrett Rank, 1 up. In June, White posted a 4-under-par 65 in the final round of the 2013 Northeast Amateur to finish tied for fifth and earn low-mid-amateur honors. White played collegiate golf at Furman University and was inducted to the school’s Athletic Hall of Fame in 2003. White was also honored as the South Carolina Golf Association Player of the Year in 2010 and 2012.

JUSTIN THOMAS

CORY WHITSETT

AGE: 2O • HOMETOWN: GOSHEN, KENTUCKY

AGE: 21 • HOMETOWN: HOUSTON, TEXAS

In his sophomore season at the University of Alabama, Thomas was named as a second-team All-American and first-team AllSoutheastern Conference with two wins and six top-10 finishes. He played an integral part in Alabama winning the 2013 NCAA Division I National Championship, the first in the school’s history, as well as the 2013 SEC Championship. He also played for the victorious USA Team in the 2012 World Amateur Team Championship at Antalya, Turkey. Thomas advanced to the semifinals at the 2012 U.S. Amateur and was the runner-up at the 2010 U.S. Junior Amateur.

Thomas won both the 2012 Fred Haskins Award and the 2012 Jack Nicklaus Award as the nation’s top collegiate golfer, as well as the 2012 Phil Mickelson Award for the outstanding freshman in Division I men’s golf. He also won the 2012 Jones Cup.

Whitsett, a rising senior at the University of Alabama, secured the clinching points for the Crimson Tide in its first-ever NCAA Division I National Championship victory.

In 2013, he was selected as a first-team All-American and to the All-Nicklaus Team with three wins and eight top-10 finishes.

He was the only player to win all three matches at the 2013 NCAA Championship. He continued his winning ways after the collegiate season, leading the USA to victory over Europe in June in the Palmer Cup, compiling a 3-01 record in the matches at Wilmington (Del.) Country Club. He then captured the prestigious Northeast Amateur with a 10-under-par 266 total at Wannamoisett Country Club in Rumford, R.I., closing with a round of 63, the lowest final-round score by a winner in the tournament’s 52 years. He is the 2007 U.S. Junior Amateur champion.

MICHAEL WEAVER

BOBBY WYATT

AGE: 22 • HOMETOWN: FRESNO, CALIFORNIA

AGE: 21 • HOMETOWN: MOBILE, ALA.

Weaver was the runner-up in the 2012 U.S. Amateur at Cherry Hills (Colo.) Country Club, losing to Steven Fox in 37 holes.

The finish earned him an exemption into the 2013 Masters, where he missed the cut, and the 2013 U.S. Open, where he finished 64th. He competed in the 2013 U.S. Amateur and advanced to the first round of match play, where he was defeated by Greg Eason, 21, of England, 3 and 2. Weaver was selected to compete in the 2013 Palmer Cup, where he recorded 1.5 points to contribute to Team USA’s victory. In 2013, the fifth-year senior at the University of California-Berkeley was named first-team All-American, All-West Region and All-Pac-12 selection.

Wyatt competed in the 2013 U.S. Amateur, losing to Gavin Hall in the Round of 32. He was a member of the 2013 NCAA Division I National Championship-winning team at Alabama. He was named a firstteam All-American for the 2012-13 season, his third consecutive All-America honor, having earned second-team honors for the 2011-12 season and honorable mention in 2010-11, his freshman year.

Wyatt was selected for the 2013 Palmer Cup. He had a 3-0-1 record, earning 3.5 points for the victorious USA team. He was the stroke-play medalist at the 2012 U.S. Amateur with a 36-hole score of 9-under 132, which tied the record for lowest stroke-play score. He advanced to the Round of 16 in match play, losing to teammate Justin Thomas, 1 up. Wyatt first gained acclaim by shooting a 57 at the 2010 Alabama State Junior Championship.

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Great Britain and Ireland Walker Cup Team

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HE GB&I WALKER CUP TEAM is selected by The R&A Selection Committee. There are no predetermined criteria for selection to the GB&I Team, except that the Amateur champion and the U.S. Amateur champion, if eligible, are automatically selected. The Committee reviews a wealth of information before selections are made, including the World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR). The four members of the Selection Committee regularly attend national and international tournaments to observe players and constantly monitor their development. The Committee also takes into account the match venue and the performances of players in match play before selections are made.

MATTHEW FITZPATRICK

GAVIN MOYNIHAN

AGE: 18 • HOMETOWN: SHEFFIELD, YORKSHIRE, ENGLAND

AGE:18 • HOMETOWN: PORTRANE, CO. DUBLIN, IRELAND

Fitzpatrick won the Silver Medal as the leading amateur at the 2013 Open Championship at Muirfield. He became the first Englishman since 1911 to win the U.S. Amateur Championship with a 4-and-3 victory over Australian Oliver Goss in the 36-hole final. The 2012 Boys Amateur champion reached the final round of the English Amateur Championship, where he lost to Callum Shinkwin.

Fitzpatrick will play collegiate golf at Northwestern University in Chicago, Ill., starting in September.

NATHAN KIMSEY

MAX ORRIN

AGE: 20 • HOMETOWN: WOODHALL SPA, LINCOLNSHIRE, ENGLAND

AGE: 19 • HOMETOWN: BIRCHINGTON, KENT, ENGLAND

Kimsey represented England in the 2012 Men’s Home Internationals and became the first English player in 15 years to win all six matches. This year, he tied for third at the Brabazon Trophy, tied for second at the St. Andrews Links Trophy and also enjoyed top-10 finishes in the Scottish Stroke Play Championship and the Lytham Trophy. He was a member of the winning English Team at the European Men’s Team Championships in Denmark.

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Moynihan became the youngest player to compete in the Irish Open this past June. The 2012 Irish Amateur Open champion finished joint runner-up in this year’s event at Royal Dublin. The former Junior Ryder Cup player represented Ireland in the European Men’s Team Championships in Denmark. He also represented Ireland in the recent Men’s Home Internationals at Ganton Golf Club in North Yorkshire, England.

THE 44TH WALKER CUP MATCH

Orrin was a member of the winning England Team at the European Men’s Team Championships in Denmark in July. He reached the semifinal of the Amateur Championship at Royal Cinque Ports, where he is a member, and finished tied for second in the St. Andrews Links Trophy.

Orrin reached the second round of the recent U.S. Amateur Championship. He won the Titleist Footjoy Boys Order of Merit in 2012 as the leading English player.

KEVIN PHELAN

NEIL RAYMOND

AGE: 22 • HOMETOWN: WATERFORD, CO. WATERFORD, IRELAND

AGE: 27 • HOMETOWN: FAREHAM, HAMPSHIRE, ENGLAND

Phelan played in his second U.S. Open, held at Merion in June finishing tied for 62nd place. Phelan is currently studying at the University of North Florida in Jacksonville. He won his first collegiate tournament earlier this year and played on the Palmer Cup Team that lost to the USA at Wilmington Country Club in Delaware.

He represented Ireland in the recent Men’s Home Internationals at Ganton Golf Club in North Yorkshire, England.

Raymond won the St. Andrews Links Trophy this year over the Old and Jubilee courses at St. Andrews. He lost in the quarter finals of the Amateur Championship at Royal Cinque Ports to eventual champion Garrick Porteous. He performed well at the Brabazon and Lytham trophies, with top-20 finishes in both events, and he was runner-up in the Spanish Amateur Championship in Februar y. Raymond reached the quarter finals of the recent U.S. Amateur Championship in Brookline, Mass.

GARRICK PORTEOUS

CALLUM SHINKWIN

AGE: 23 • HOMETOWN: MORPETH, NORTHUMBERLAND, ENGLAND

AGE: 20 • HOMETOWN: WATFORD, HERTFORDSHIRE, ENGLAND

Porteous won the Amateur Championship at Royal Cinque Ports, Deal, in June and secured a place in The Open Championship at Muir field, a place in next year’s U.S. Open at Pinehurst (N.C.) Resort & Country Club and a traditional invitation to The Masters. This year, he won the Scottish Stroke Play Championship at Southerness and was runnerup at the Welsh Amateur Open Stroke Play Championship. He was sixth in the European Nations Cup.

Shinkwin won the English Amateur Championship at Frilford Heath in August with a victory over Matthew Fitzpatrick in the 36-hole final. He made his England debut against France last year and was a member of the winning English Team in the European Men’s Team Championships and the Men’s Home Internationals at Ganton Golf Club. Shinkwin won the South American Amateur Championship in Colombia in January and finished tied for second at the Scottish Stroke Play Championship.

RHYS PUGH

JORDAN SMITH

AGE: 19 • HOMETOWN: PONTYPRIDD, CARDIFF, WALES

AGE: 20 • HOMETOWN: CALNE, WILTSHIRE, ENGLAND

Pugh was a member of the victorious GB&I Walker Cup Team in 2011, where he won all three of his matches. The Welshman played in this year’s Open Championship at Muir field after securing a place by winning the 2012 European Amateur Championship in Dublin. Pugh also played in the Irish Open on the European Tour and won the Welsh Amateur Open Stroke Play Championship at Royal Porthcawl.

He played in the recent U.S. Amateur Championship, where he reached the first round of match play. In 2009, at the age of 15, he became the youngest player to represent Wales at the Men’s Home Internationals.

Smith won the Brabazon Trophy in June by four shots from Ireland’s Brian Casey. A good season has seen him finish eighth in the St. Andrews Links Trophy, tied for ninth in the French Amateur Championship, tied for fifth in the Spanish Amateur Championship and tied for seventh in the Por tuguese International Amateur Championships.

Smith is currently ranked 17th in the World Amateur Golf Rankings.

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,

SIR MICHAEL BONALLACK, O.B.E. Former Captain of The R&A Nine-time Walker Cup Match Competitor (GB&I) Two-time Walker Cup Match Captain (GB&I) Five-time British Amateur Champion Four-time English Stroke Play Champion Two-time Low Amateur in the Open Championship

WILLIAM D. CAMPBELL Former USGA President Former Member, USGA Executive Committee Former Captain of The R&A Eight-time Walker Cup Match Competitor (USA) Former Walker Cup Match Captain (USA) Recipient, Bob Jones Award (USGA) 1964 U.S. Amateur Champion

Win-Win

How a 1-point Victory 24 Years Ago Changed the Way British View the Walker Cup Match

by JOHN HOPKINS

Peachtree Golf Club that August afternoon in 1989. Even a quarter of a century later, his face twists into a wry smile at the memory.

It was the 1989 Walker Cup Match and Bonallack was looking at a scoreboard during the early afternoon of the second day’s play. Only a few hours earlier, Great Britain and Ireland had taken a handsome lead into lunch and needed only 1½ points from the afternoon singles to win the Walker Cup. It would be the GB&I Team’s third win ever against 28 for the Americans. Furthermore, a GB&I win would mark the team’s first-ever victory on U.S. soil. Perhaps most significantly, the venerable trophy would be taken eastward across the Atlantic back home and showcased alongside the Ryder Cup, the Curtis Cup and the Eisenhower Trophy, an incontrovertible statement about the resurgence of golf in the game’s birthplace. “At last,” thought Bonallack. “At last.”

The travails of GB&I in Walker Cup Match play are well known (coming into this week, the U.S. leads the series 34-8-1). Those downs and ups are familiar to Bonallack, who played in seven Walker Cup Matches and was the GB&I playing captain in two, one being But after lunch that day at Peachtree, the historic GB&I win at St. Andrews in 1971. everything started going wrong. Eight sin“We won for the first time in 33 years,” said gles matches were on the golf course, and Bonallack, who also captained The R&A from the U.S. was leading all eight, in several cases 1984 to 1999. “Captaining that ’71 team was by three holes. “I had played enough that I the biggest thrill of my golfing years. As I rehad seen the same thing happen again and call, I didn’t do much. I just let them get on again,” Bonallack said. “One team gets well with it. They did all right.”

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up, there’s a fight back, and it suddenly becomes very close. I knew that golf matches see-saw, but believe me, I was sweating it out. Victory had seemed so near only an hour or so ago.”

GB&I slowly regained the upper hand.

Andrew Hare, three down at the turn,

ABOVE: GETTY IMAGES LEFT: ANTHONY EDGEWORTH

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IR MICHAEL BONALLACK will never forget what he saw at

Above: Nearly a quarter-century after GB&I’s seminal Walker Cup Match win, Sir Michael Bonallack (left) still smiles.

played his last six holes in 3-under par to halve with his American opponent, Doug Martin. Eoghan O’Connell then halved with Phil Mickelson, who holed a devilish sidehill 8 footer to salvage the draw. With two halved matches in their pocket, GB&I needed only a half point to prevail. But the U.S. was holding steady. American stalwart Jay Sigel was 2 up on Jim Milligan after 15 holes. But what was about to happen would change the way both sides of the Atlantic would view the Walker Cup Match for decades to come.

Generations of European players— amateur and professional, male and female—had grown up believing that they were inferior to the U.S. There were numbers

to back up their complex: Between 1922 and 1988 there had been a combined total of 82 Walker Cups, Ryder Cups and Curtis Cups contested. The European Teams had won a total of five. While today, if most observers were asked to pinpoint a particular strength of the U.S. game, many would point to length, but in the technological darkness of the 1980s, the Americans were actually seen as having far superior short games. The 100yards-and-in game was so often cited as an American advantage that it became fact to a long line of vanquished Walker Cuppers— until the Sigel-Milligan match reached the 16th hole.

Sigel, an iconic figure in modern American amateur golf, botched a pitch shot, and Milligan answered with a birdie to close the lead to one. Both men erred on their approaches to the 17th green, but Milligan made amends by holing his downhill 30-

foot wedge. All even. On the 18th hole, both men missed the green with their seconds, but Milligan pitched safely, if nervously, to 2-putt territory while Sigel’s chip travelled only 5 yards, deserting him some 25 feet from the hole. His putt never had a chance.

GB&I had won the Walker Cup Match by just one point.

This was a historic victory. It was GB&I’s first win in the U.S. in 16 tries. It was their first win of any kind since that glorious conquest in St. Andrews 18 years earlier. Most importantly, for many on the GB&I side: The 1989 Walker Cup Match marked a turning point in the event’s history. Prior to Peachtree, GB&I players seemed to expect to lose as much as the Americans expected to win. But since 1989—and particularly since 1995—the Matches have been genuinely contested.

What changed? First was the quality of

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the players on the 1989 GB&I Team. “Every team needs a few inspirational players and GB&I had Russell Claydon,” Bonallack explained. “Russell was a seriously good amateur, even though he didn’t go on and do much as a professional. And Peter McEvoy was on that team, too.”

Fred Ridley, the American captain at Peachtree, also saw an evolution among the GB&I side in 1989. “They had maturity,” Ridley said. “They had that serious, strong look in their eyes when the bell rang. Sometimes British teams had wilted in the heat of battle, but not this one. They were much more accomplished than their predecessors.”

That began a sea change in the way GB&I players viewed the Matches. In the 1995 playing at Royal Porthcawl, the host team drubbed the U.S., Tiger Woods and all.

Although the Americans regained the Cup by a comfortable margin in 1997, the change in GB&I attitudes had taken hold. A raft of exceptionally talented and confident young amateurs from GB&I began to emerge. They were products of better instruction, and though it was not known at the time, they would go on and make their mark in the professional game. Just as the birth of Seve Ballesteros, Nick Faldo, Bernhard Langer, Sandy Lyle and Ian Woosnam within 11 months of one another in 1957-58 would lead to the re-establishment of European professional golf as a force to be reckoned with in the 1980s and ’90s, so did the rise of amateurs such as Luke Donald, Paul Casey and Graeme McDowell bolster GB&I in the Walker Cup Match. Ironically, it was these youngsters’ experience as collegiate golfers in the U.S. that underpinned GB&I’s victory in 1999 by a record six points. Casey had turned pro by the time the 2001 Match came around, but GB&I won by the same sixpoint margin. McDowell had joined the team, so had Nick Dougherty who would go on to become a star on the European Tour.

After 1991 and until 2007, during which time the U.S. did not win a match in Britain or Ireland, one of the greatest contributing factors was that a core of the GB&I Teams were men whose golf had been polished in the U.S. “I was always glad when I heard that players were going to the U.S.,”

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GB&I Teammates discuss strategy during the early going in the 1989 Walker Cup Match.

McEvoy said. “It’s a finishing school for them, and they nearly always came back much better players. In Donald and Casey, we (GB&I) had amateurs who were beating the Americans in the NCAA events. In 2001, our players were better than theirs. They were physically stronger, more experienced, better coached, and they travelled more.”

GB&I players had improved their short games, too. The message had got through: Be good from 100 yards in and you can be a match for anyone, even someone who outdrives you. Judy Bell noticed this as president of the United States Golf Association when she attended the 1996 Curtis Cup Match at Killarney. “I have been to 18 matches as a player or official, and there is no question that the GB&I repertoire of shot-making around the greens was superb,” Bell said. “I saw a lot of golf, believe me, and I’m in no doubt that GB&I took fewer putts. The game is on now and it’s terrific. I take my hat off to the British and Irish.”

It took more than good chipping and putting. Success bred success. Lottery money began to stream down from the government to golf authorities and with it elite player development programs were established.

Money was found for players to be coached

from an early age. Quad sessions were called, and coaches were employed in ways that amateur status rules in the U.S. disallowed.

The entire approach to and intensity around amateur golf in the region suddenly became much more professional.

The captaincy style of McEvoy cannot be underestimated, either. Beneath a depth of hair thick enough to thatch a Devon cottage lurks one of the shrewdest brains in golf, and he contributed significantly to the fact that GB&I did not lose a home match between 1991 and 2007. McEvoy was a very good manager, known for introducing motivational videos to his teams. “I knew when I was picking teams that there would be those candidates who had won stroke-play events and those that had won match-play events and there would be some who might not have won many of either but were winners. They were the ones I wanted, winners or warriors.

Players who could somehow get me a point, even if it wasn’t pretty. The last thing I wanted was brave losers. We’d had plenty of those in British teams in the past.”

As a demonstration of his management style, consider McEvoy’s preparation of his 2001 team for the heat of August in coastal Georgia. One month prior to his team’s arrival at Ocean Forest, McEvoy had the team prepare in the heat of Spain. Additionally the team received counseling from the English Golf Union’s fitness and health adviser, something that would never have been thought of 20 years earlier. This was all after these emerging amateurs were sent to gain experience under different conditions in different parts of the world. Dougherty, who debuted in Walker Cup play in 2001, had won competitions on four continents.

Michael Hoey, another team member, had won in Dubai and Argentina. Gary Wolstenholme had won events as far apart as China and Chile.

The players in Walker Cup Matches, certainly from GB&I, were changing, too. The famous figures in GB&I amateur golf, men like Bonallack, Rodney Foster, Joe Carr, Wolstenholme and even McEvoy himself, saw the Match as the pinnacle of their golfing careers and so did Nigel Edwards, the current GB&I captain. Soon however, they were replaced by

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ambitious young amateurs, men like Donald, Casey, Colin Montgomerie, McDowell and Dougherty who had their eyes on lucrative careers as touring professionals and saw the Walker Cup Match not as the pinnacle of an amateur career but as stepping stone to professional one. In fact, by 1993 it looked as though the Walker Cup Match had a limited lifespan in an increasingly professional world. It would continue to be played, but its importance would diminish Match by Match. It would become, McEvoy wrote in 2006, “little more than a preparatory school for young aspiring pros. It is already receiving less and less publicity and, squeezed by American colleges and agents, eventually the school will close down or just become boys’ golf.”

In fact, the Walker Cup Match is as strong in 2013 as it has ever been. Maybe stronger.

Regardless, it will always hold a place in the golf purist’s heart. “The Walker Cup is increasingly a connection to the heritage of the game,” McEvoy said. “It is the single biggest connect to what has gone before.” Even the pros are watching. Before the 2011 Match, current GB&I captain Nigel Edwards received

letters of support and good wishes from José María Olazábal, Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano and the Molinari brothers. “None of these players ever took part in the Walker Cup,” says Edwards, “but they have an interest in it. They

Above: Once GB&I’s Jim Milligan (left) turned back heavy favorite Jay Sigel in the decisive match of the 32nd Walker Cup Match, everything changed. Bottom: The 1989 GB&I Team celebrates a historic win on American soil. The victory forever changed both perceptions and realities

amateurs that earns respect in this professional day and age. Not only that, but it still celebrates sportsmanship. It is virtually unimaginable in Ryder Cup play that a rule would be broken by one team and the other team would refuse to take advantage of it. But precisely that happened at Royal Aberdeen last year when the U.S. declined to make anything of the fact that a GB&I player had used a professional caddie, which was not allowed under the Match agreement.

The British golf writer Mark Reason described the 2005 Walker Cup Match as follows: “The greatest show in golf last Sunday was not the thunderous but utterly wet PGA Championship. It was the Walker Cup Match between the amateurs of the U.S. and Great Britain and Ireland. The PGA had bigger celebrities, bigger crowds, a bigger television audience and a bigger golf course. The Walker Cup had more. Much more.”

May it always.

WC

surrounding the Walker Cup Match.

connect to it. They want us to win. It’s special to them, too.”

It is an anomaly: a competition for

In April, John Hopkins, longtime golf correspondent for The Times of London, was honored with the PGA of America Lifetime Achievement Award.

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WHAT THE

Walker Cup ME A N S T O ME

Jack Nicklaus, Buddy Marucci and Downing Gray Reflect on the Match When did you first become aware of the Walker Cup Match?

JACK NICKLAUS (Player 1959, 1961): When I won the Trans-Mississippi Championship at the age of 18, people told me I might have a record strong enough to make the Walker Cup Team. That might have been the first time I truly understood the importance of the Walker Cup and set as a goal making the team.

BUDDY MARUCCI (Player 1995, 1997; Captain 2007, 2009): I had heard of it from a number of my friends in college, as well as guys like Vinny Giles and Jay Sigel. So I was aware of the Walker Cup, but never really got to know the real meaning of it until 1981. I had qualified for the Amateur that year (contested at The Olympic Club) and the Walker Cup matches were being played at Cypress Point. Jay was on that team, as was another guy from Pennsylvania named Dick von Tacky. I went out to Cypress and watched for two days, and I think that’s the first time I ever really latched on to it. I was 29 years old, it wasn’t like I was a kid… I certainly left there with the feeling that I don’t know how I’m going to do this, but I’m going to rearrange my priorities and maybe find a way to achieve this at some point. I was certainly sure when I left that Match that that’s what I wanted to do.

DOWNING GRAY (Player 1963, 1965,

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1967; Captain 1995, 1997): I read about it in the golf magazines. I used to read all the publications and I’d read about the Walker Cup, but never envisioned it as something I might do. Then in 1962, I lost to Labron Harris on the finals of the U.S. Amateur. I had no idea that there was a link between how you did in the Amateur and making a Walker Cup Team. It came as a bolt of lightning. I was out playing golf with our pro and some buddies, and a guy from the local paper came driving out in a golf cart. I remember it like it was yesterday. I didn’t know why he was driving out there, but he drove up and said, “Congratulations.” I honestly didn’t know if he was talking to me or one of the other guys. Then he looked at me and said, “You’ve been named to the 1963 United States Walker Cup Team.” You could have knocked me over with a feather. These days the Walker Cup is more prominent, and it’s a known goal for the younger players, far more so than it was for me. I’d caught lightning in a bottle in my first National Amateur by going to the finals, and that, in itself, was a prize larger than I ever envisioned. I was unaware of those processes. I knew the Wettlaufers and Nicklauses of the world were head and shoulders above me in terms of ability, and these were guys I’d read about in amateur golf circles who’d made Walker Cup Teams, but it wasn’t on my radar screen.

Buddy, you had some disappointments along the way.

MARUCCI: There were a lot of disappointments. I tried to pare the time out that I could. My physical skills were OK, they weren’t great. I kept working and got a little bit better, but it wasn’t until fast forward 14 years that I was walking out to the first tee with Tiger Woods at Newport in the finals of the 1995 U.S. Amateur that I really thought, “hmmm.” I had been knocking but had never really gotten over the hump. Back then especially, maybe more back then, your performance in USGA events was paramount for Walker Cup consideration. I’d never even played in a U.S. Open. But here I was at Newport in 1995—43 years old with 36 holes against Tiger Woods—and the Walker Cup Team selections were being made that morning. Here was an opportunity that maybe that week—which was magical for me—might launch me to the Walker Cup. And at the end of the day it did, but it was a long time getting there.

Jack, did your Walker Cup Match experience deepen your appreciation for the history of the game? It was your first trip to Scotland, if I am not mistaken.

NICKLAUS: It was a great experience for me.

I very much enjoyed it. I thought it was a lot of fun, and at the same time, a wonderful

For a 19-year-old Jack Nicklaus (top row, second from left), his Walker Cup Match experience was “a steppingstone.” His USA Teammates in the 1959 Match at Muirfield were, standing, left to right: Tommy Aaron, (Nicklaus), Ward Wettlaufer and Bill Hyndman; and seated, left to right: Harvie Ward, Deane

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Beman, Charlie Coe (captain), Billy Joe Patton and Frank Taylor.

learning experience. We had a great team. We had a significant number of older or veteran amateurs, such as Harvie Ward and our captain, Charlie Coe. I grew up a lot on that trip.

I thought that my teammates were terrific, and it was a tremendous honor representing my country—all the positive things that one might expect one would get from that kind of event. As a first-time player, it was something I will remember all my life. It was also my first visit to Scotland, and that is when my love affair began with the golf courses and the people of Scotland.

representing your country as a teenager?

NICKLAUS: It was truly a great honor. I have always had a deep sense of patriotism.

I have said many times that the U.S. Open is perhaps the most important major championship to me because it is the championship of my country. I am a very proud American, so whenever I’ve had the opportunity to represent my country, whether it’s as a 19 year old on the Walker Cup Team or as captain on the Ryder Cup or The Presidents Cup Teams, it’s a very special honor and one I don’t take lightly.

You were only 19 when you made the team. Can you describe the experience of

Was it also validation of your ability?

NICKLAUS: Certainly. I have said before

that I played all sports growing up, and some until I finished high school. My hands were probably too small to play football, and I was too short to play basketball, although I played through my senior year of high school. I ran track, played baseball when I was younger, and even played tennis. But, of course, I was most involved in the game of golf. Then when I began to compete in these national and international events, I began to

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What the Walker Cup Means to Me

The first time he ever attended a Walker Cup Match, Buddy Marucci set a goal of competing in it. He has since represented his country as both a player, shown here with the U.S. side in 1995 at Porthcawl, and as a captain (left). His 1995 teammates standing, left to right: Tiger Woods, Kris Cox, Trip Kuehne, Notah Begay III, Alan Bratton and John Harris; and seated, left to right: Jerry Courville Jr., Buddy Marucci, Downing Gray (captain), Tim Jackson and Chris Riley.

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realize that I could pursue a career in golf.

When I made the Walker Cup Team in 1959, I said to myself, “Hmm, perhaps I really am one of the best amateurs in the country.”

And then when I won the U.S. Amateur in ’59, it further validated what I was doing.

Really, from there, and perhaps not until then, my path was determined.

side, you just get ready to play. You don’t have any other issues, you’re told when to eat and where to eat and how to eat. Your travel arrangements are all made for you.

You’re the messenger, but the captain’s got a lot more on his plate, as well as the same emotions that the players have, at least in my instance it was, but it’s happily accepted and done.

Buddy and Downing, you have both played on and captained Walker Cup Match Teams. What is the difference?

GRAY: There’s a whole lot more responsibility on the captain’s side. On the player

As captain, do you wish you could get the clubs out and help?

GRAY: It’s a nail-biting thing. You can’t hit the drive, you can’t make the putt, you just have to stand there and watch. It’s tough.

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What is your biggest Walker Cup Match regret or favorite recollection?

MARUCCI: I’m having a tough time coming up with a regret.

My experience has been so good. I have to think about that. I don’t really have any regrets as captain. I guess I would have liked to have seen one older guy on one or another of my teams, but that wasn’t up to me; that was up to the selection committee. I gave them my suggestions and they did what they did. I don’t really think I have any regrets as a captain. As far as fondest memories, I think standing on the 18th green at Newport at 7 o’clock at night after having (then USGA President) Judy Bell come up to me and whisper in my ear and tell me, “We want you to represent the United States at Porthcawl in the Walker Cup.” That was probably my fondest memory. It’s still tough to talk about after all these years.

How about the 18th hole with Jonathan Moore at Royal County Down in 2007?

MARUCCI: That was a great one. I think of Jonathan all the time. I wish him well, because he’s a great kid. He hit a 4-iron from 217 yards. We had a discussion before he hit it. He was going to hit 5 and then he asked me, “What do you think I ought to hit?” I told him to hit the 4-iron. So he hits one of the most beautiful shots you’ve ever seen in your life and, of course, it rolls up to 4 feet.

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MARUCCI: In my mind, playing is easier than being a captain. Playing, you worry about your own golf game; they tell you what to do, you show up, you put the right clothes on, you play, you comb your hair and then you go to dinner.

Captaining is more about trying to—I played for Downing twice and learned a lot from him—captaining is more about demonstrating the real reason that we’re doing this.

As we started to walk up to the green, I didn’t want him thinking about anything. I knew he was turning pro soon, so I said, “Jon, what event are you going to play first?”

He said, “I’m going to play next week.”

“That’s great,” I said.

Now the crowd is rushing up to the green; there were a lot of people at County Down. Everybody’s rushing by and we’ve got a 200-yard walk up to the green, and I just don’t want this kid thinking about his 4-footer.

“What’s your girlfriend think?” I asked.

“Yeah, my girlfriend and I are gonna travel a little bit and see where it goes.”

We were just trying to find things to talk about, and now we’re about 10 yards from the front of the green, and I said, “Are you going turn pro tomorrow?”

“Yes, I am.”

“Well, then you have an opportunity to do something that not many people ever get a chance to do.”

“What’s that?” he asked.

I said, “The last shot you hit as an amateur is going to be to win the Walker Cup.” He turned around and smiled, then stepped up and holed it.

Jack, what is your warmest recollection as a Walker Cup Match player?

NICKLAUS: I don’t know whether it is a warm recollection, or one that I still fondly remember as amusing. I have told you the story before. In short, a line from Bernard Darwin, who was among the most famous and respected golf writers I’ve ever known.

During those 1959 Walker Cup matches, Harvie Ward came walking out in a big, broad-striped, burgundy and purple sweater. Let’s just say it was not a particularly good-looking sweater. Bernard took one look and said, “Oh, Harvie, my boy, per chance would those be your old college colors, or are they your own unfortunate choice?” I loved it!

Downing, a particular recollection?

GRAY: I don’t know if I have one. When I was a player we won twice, and we had the only tie in the history the other year. As a captain, I won one and lost one. Sure, I would love to have won both of them, but it’s not just about winning. I couldn’t tell you that I have a single regret, and as far as warm recollections, I have a boxful of warm memories. I could talk for half an hour about all the friendships and good times.

You said, “It’s not just about winning.”

That gets us to the importance of sportsmanship in this competition. Is sportsmanship still relevant in 2013?

“In my mind playing is easier than being a captain. Playing, you worry about your own golf game...

Captaining is more about demonstrating the real reason that we’re doing this.”

—BUDDY MARUCCI

MARUCCI: Absolutely. Obviously, the matches were founded to create international goodwill after World War I. When you sit down one-on-one with some of these (modern-day) kids, they don’t often have to deal with that kind of feeling, but at the end of the day, they get it and it does kind of relax the Match. I’m not saying that either side doesn’t want to win; obviously both sides want to win. They put a lot of time and effort into their games, and they’re proud of the way they play and they want to do their best, but the handshake at the end of the day is every bit as important. I felt very fortunate that the teams I played on felt that way, and I’m

certain the teams I captained felt that way. We were fortunate to win three of the four years I was associated, but at Porthcawl we got our butt kicked. We had Tiger on that team—we had a great team—and we just got our butt kicked. It was hard but it was OK. It was so great to be there. I’m not saying everybody gets it, but by and large they get it.

GRAY: In my mind sportsmanship is very much relevant today, and it was when I played. I spent a lot of time getting to know the guys on the other team. I’d sit and play cards with them at night, while all my guys were back in bed. I’d be playing cards with (Sir Michael) Bonallack and Joe Carr and the guys, and to me that was the essence of what this thing was all about.

Of course, you’re trying to beat the Dickens out of them the next day, but at the end of the day you’ve made 10 friends for life. I tried to instill that into my players when I was captaining. We lost that match in Wales in 1995, and I told them at the ceremony that there were no losers, there are 20 winners just for being there and representing their respective countries and upholding the honor and integrity of the game. I was the same way as a player. I did the best I could to instill those feeling in my guys. It was bitter to lose, but as I told them in the locker room and at the trophy ceremony: Ten guys walked away with the trophy, but everybody walked away with great friendships and memories.

Does that trickle down to the younger players of today?

GRAY: I hope it does. I’ll tell you what we did. It was Michael Bonallack’s idea in 1995 at Wales. Michael presented the idea to (GB&I Captain) Clive Brown and me. Usually the players show up, and you’re there for about a week, and the only time you see the players on the other teams is in passing or on the golf course. Then when the Matches are over there is a banquet and everybody

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What the Walker Cup Means to Me lets their hair down, and you spend some time together. That’s the way it always worked. Michael’s idea was to get the players together for a dinner early in the week. I said splendid. And so did Clive. So we had a dinner at some restaurant there on Tuesday night of Walker Cup week, and we put three guys from each team at every table. The next year when it was in the States we did it again, and to my knowledge they’ve done it every year since. That’s just part and parcel of how it ought to work. Has no bearing on how hard you’re going to play or how much you want to win, but it creates a camaraderie that ought to go along through the rest of the week, and that’s what it’s all about.

team. I was a big proponent of that. I think it really does represent the purest form of amateur golf. You have a life, you have a business, but your love of the game and the dedication required to reach that level and the sacrifices you make separate you from other people. It requires a lot to get to that point, and I think the “kids” respect that.

The ones I played with and captained did.

or the second-best player or the third-best player in the country? No. Some years you’re going to win and some years you’re going to lose, but that’s not the point. There’s 50 or 60 guys that could represent the United States and do a wonderful job, and so instead of winning 85 percent of the time, maybe we win 80 percent of the time. So what? It doesn’t matter.

GRAY: I think the Walker Cup is the crème de la crème of amateur golf. The ultimate honor is to be chosen as one of the 10 best amateurs in your country.

Clearly they’re not the 10 best in the country, but they’re certainly among the top 15 or 20.

You have guys that turn pro early and that’s fine; nowadays the tour is more of a road to riches and glory than it used to be, so you certainly don’t blame the young guys for pursuing that as a way to make a living.

But you have an equal or greater number that wait a year just to have a shot at the Walker Cup. I think that speaks volumes to the impact that the Walker Cup has on people.

“I think the Walker Cup is the crème de la crème of amateur golf. The ultimate honor is to be chosen as one of the 10 best amateurs in your country.”

Buddy, you were 43 years old when you finally made the team in 1995. Did arriving at an older age make it sweeter?

Were you a more valuable player?

MARUCCI: You would hope you would be more valuable. When I grew up, I looked up to people like Bill Hyndman, Billy Joe Patton, Vinny Giles and Downing Gray, and you go through all those teams… that was what I was trying to achieve as an amateur golfer/businessman. And reaching a level where you’re representing the United States, making the team at 43 years old validated my approach to amateur golf. It proved that I could be a reasonably successful businessman and still compete and that it could still be done. I demonstrated that even then, in 1995, it could still be done. There weren’t a lot of guys doing that. John Harris was one.

For me it was a validation that this creature still does exist, and to this day my friends who have not been fortunate enough to make the Walker Cup Team still cling to that.

It can be done. I’m always trying to push the 35-, 40-year-old guys to keep trying to do it.

That’s why I’m very happy to hear that the USGA is going with this philosophy of two mid-amateur players (over 35) on each

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— D O W N I N G G R AY

It’s just a balance, and I think that it’s a great representation of the game. And it helps the captain, too, because you have someone a little older, and you have some camaraderie there. The other thing I like about mids is that they help cultivate new captains, which you don’t always have with the younger kids.

Speaking of team formation, what do you look for in a player, the guy who may be the next PGA Tour idol or a committed, passionate competitor?

MARUCCI: My feeling is that the last thing I wanted as a captain was some kid worried about signing his endorsement contract the night after or the morning after the Matches.

I wanted the kids and men that wanted to be there, because I knew how much it meant to me to be there, and I know how hard I worked to get there. So I don’t have lot of tolerance—and this is just me—for somebody who doesn’t want to be in the room, because there are so many people that want to be in the room. And at the end of the day, does it matter whether they’re the best player

What is your view of the Walker Cup Match returning to National Golf Links of America after 91 years?

MARUCCI: Of course, you’re always ultimately playing the golf course, but in match play you’re not posting scores.

National has character. It’s a wonderful golf course. A tee here or there will make it a little more demanding from a distance standpoint, but not affect the nature of playing the golf course. National, basically, is a shotmaker’s golf course. You have to think about each and every shot. Whether you’re trying driving off No. 2 with a driver or a hybrid doesn’t matter, you’re still going to have to hit it in a certain spot.

If you push it, you’re in bad shape, and if you pull it, you might hit the windmill. It’s not going to matter. On No. 3 you can only hit it so far up that hill. There are a lot of golf courses that don’t have as much character as National and so changes are

His deep Walker Cup Match experience as both a player and then captain significantly broadened young Downing Gray’s horizons. Gray is pictured here (fifth from top) as a member of the 1967 USA Team, captained by Jess Sweetser, who competed in the inaugural Walker Cup Match at National in 1922. Other 1968 teammates included Donald Allen, Bill Campbell, Ron Cerrudo, Bob Dickson, Marty Fleckman, James

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Grant, Jack Lewis Jr., Bob Murphy and Ed Tutwiler.

required, but not National. National is a brilliant design.

I think it’s always important to go back to the future, too. We’ve had these discussions about Merion and the Open.

It’s always important to go back to places that have been there for all these years and refresh everybody’s look. You don’t freshen the place, you freshen everybody’s look. You let the people in again, let them see how this all started, what C.B. Macdonald meant and the great stories. It brings back a lot of emotion. It gets to the heart of why we do what we do and the heart of the Matches themselves. So it’s pretty poignant, particularly in the world in which we live today.

GRAY: It’s all part and parcel of the history of the event and that wonderful club.

National just reeks of history from the minute you drive in there. That’s going to be compounded by the fact that you have these guys playing for the Walker Cup on those hallowed grounds. It’s so special.

And as match play golf courses go, they don’t get any better.

Is it safe to say that the Walker Cup changed your life?

MARUCCI: No question. No question. By far the greatest thing that ever happened to me in golf. It’s hard to say what’s the greatest thing that ever happened in your life— aside from your children and your wife—but that week in Newport changed my life. It certainly has changed my life and my attitudes toward everything, and it’s a wonderful fraternity to be in.

GRAY: It added such a dimension that never even in my wildest dreams did I envision.

Very, very special. A wonderful eye-opening experience to the many wonderful facets that the game offers.

NICKLAUS: It was a steppingstone—a significant steppingstone—in my growth and maturation as a player. It was one that really made me feel like I was part of what was going on in the landscape of golf, rather than just a young kid growing up and trying to play this game. All of a sudden, I became part of the fabric of amateur golf. I had the fortunate opportunity to meet everybody and play with some of the most accomplished amateurs of that era.

After that, I felt I wasn’t walking into the game cold. I felt a part of what was going on with everything.

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Victory Marks Four Out of Five Successful Homestands for GB&I

G

REAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND, bolstered by the undefeated records of Paul Cutler and Rhys Pugh, won the Walker Cup Match for the first time since 2003 at Royal Aberdeen Golf Club in Scotland with a 14-12 victory over the USA. Cutler, 22, of Northern Ireland, and the winner of the 2011 Irish Amateur, compiled a 3-0-1 mark. Welshman Pugh, at 17, the youngest competitor on either side and the winner of the 2011 Irish Amateur Open, was a perfect 3-0.

GB&I has now claimed four of the last five Walker Cup Matches played on home soil, dating to 1995 at Royal Porthcawl in Wales.

“I said to the boys at lunchtime that we haven’t done it yet,” said GB&I Captain Nigel

The victorious members of the winning GB&I Team of the 2011 Walker Cup Match at Royal Aberdeen Golf Club.

Bottom row, left to right: Tom Lewis, Michael Stewart, Stiggy Hodgson and Andy Sullivan; top row, left to right: Jack Senior, Paul Cutler, Alan Dunbar, Captain Nigel Edwards, James Byrne, Rhys Pugh and Steven Brown.

USGA/JOHN MUMMERT

Great Britain and Ireland Wins 2011 Walker Cup Match

Edwards. “We had to get on with it because the Americans are great players. I had a lot of faith in these boys, as I’ve said all week.

They are a great bunch. They want to win.

They have a lot of passion and desire.”

In the windiest conditions of the two-day biennial competition in Sunday morning’s foursomes (alternate-shot), GB&I won three matches and tied a fourth to increase its lead to 10½-5½. With winds gusting to 30-35 mph and the outward nine playing downwind, GB&I jumped out to substantial leads in three matches and gained 3½ points to just a half point for the USA, thanks to the victories of the tandems of Jack Senior and Andy Sullivan; Cutler and Alan Dunbar; and James Byrne and Pugh.

The lone USA half point came from Jordan Spieth and Patrick Rodgers. Spieth holed an 18-foot par putt at the 18th hole to halve the match against Tom Lewis and Michael Stewart.

Team USA won the first two matches of the afternoon singles sessions to cut into the GB&I lead, but Steven Brown’s halve with the USA’s Blayne Barber in the sixth match earned the necessary 13½ points to win the Match for the first time since GB&I prevailed at Ganton Golf Club in England in 2003.

The USA’s 6½-3½ margin in singles was its only victory among the four played. The Teams split eight singles matches on Saturday.

“Our preparation and the desire to be successful,” said Edwards of the keys to victory. “I told them they were very special people and they deserve to be here. And all they have to do is go out and perform and look after their ball because it’s not played on paper.”

2011 WALKER CUP MATCH RESULTS GREAT BRITAIN & IRELAND Captain: Nigel Edwards DAY ONE FOURSOMES Tom Lewis/Michael Stewart (2 and 1) Jack Senior/Andy Sullivan (2 and 1) Paul Cutler/Alan Dunbar (5 and 4) Steven Brown/Stiggy Hodgson

DAY ONE SINGLES Tom Lewis Jack Senior Andy Sullivan Rhys Pugh (2 and 1) Steven Brown (1 up) James Byrne (2 and 1) Paul Cutler (2 and 1) Michael Stewart

DAY TWO FOURSOMES Tom Lewis/Michael Stewart (halved) Jack Senior/Andy Sullivan (3 and 2) Paul Cutler/Alan Dunbar (2 and 1) James Byrne/Rhys Pugh (5 and 3)

DAY TWO SINGLES Tom Lewis Andy Sullivan Jack Senior (halved) Michael Stewart (3 and 2) Stiggy Hodgson Steven Brown (halved) Rhys Pugh (2 and 1) Alan Dunbar James Byrne Paul Cutler (halved)

The GB&I victory breaks a string of three consecutive wins by the U.S. in the Match.

“Oh, gosh, these guys, they played so hard, and with so much heart,” said USA Captain Jim Holtgrieve, himself a three-time Walker Cup Match participant. “They went out and did exactly why they got on this team; because they know exactly how to play in competition, and that’s what they showed this afternoon.”

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA Captain: Jim Holtgrieve GB&I 1 1 1 0 3

USA 0 0 0 1 1

Peter Uihlein (2 and 1) Jordan Spieth (3 and 2) Harris English (2 and 1) Patrick Rodgers Russell Henley Nathan Smith Kelly Kraft Patrick Cantlay (2 and 1) DAY 1 SINGLES DAY 1 TOTAL

0 0 0 1 1 1 1 0 4 7

1 1 1 0 0 0 0 1 4 5

Jordan Spieth/Patrick Rodgers (halved) Peter Uihlein/Harris English Kelly Kraft/Blayne Barber Patrick Cantlay/Chris Williams DAY 2 FOURSOMES

½ 1 1 1 3½

½ 0 0 0 ½

Russell Henley (4 and 2) Jordan Spieth (3 and 2) Nathan Smith (halved) Patrick Rodgers Peter Uihlein (2 and 1) Blayne Barber (halved) Kelly Kraft Chris Williams (1 up) Harris English (2 and 1) Patrick Cantlay (halved) DAY 2 SINGLES DAY 2 TOTAL

0 0 ½ 1 0 ½ 1 0 0 ½ 3½ 7

1 1 ½ 0 1 ½ 0 1 1 ½ 6½ 7

TOTAL

14

12

Peter Uihlein/Harris English Russell Henley/Kelly Kraft Nathan Smith/Blayne Barber Patrick Cantlay/Chris Williams (5 and 3) DAY 1 FOURSOMES

Peter Uihlein, the 2010 U.S. Amateur champion, improved to 4-0 in singles matches with his 2 and 1 win over Stiggy Hodgson, leaving the Oklahoma State AllAmerican just one win behind Bob Jones, who was 5-0-0. Spieth, a two-time U.S. Junior Amateur champion and the youngest member of the USA Team, was the top point-getter for the USA with a 2-0-1 mark.

To commemorate 10 years since the

tragic events of Sept. 11, 2001, the USA Team wore commemorative hats with the words “Never Forget” inscribed on the side, along with the years 2001 and 2011. Holtgrieve also read a letter prior to play from former President George W. Bush and a brief moment of silence was held at the closing ceremony.

USA now holds a 9-4 lead in Walker Cup Matches played in Scotland. USA still leads the overall series, 34-8-1.

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WALKER CUP

YEA R BY YEAR (USA LEADS SERIES 34-8-1)

1922 USA ........................................................................8 Great Britain and Ireland...........4 National Golf Links of America Southampton, New York

1923 USA ........................................................................6 GB&I ......................................................................5 Old Course at St. Andrews St. Andrews, Scotland

1924 USA ........................................................................9 GB&I ......................................................................3 Garden City Golf Club Garden City, New York

1926 USA ........................................................................6 GB&I ......................................................................5 Old Course at St. Andrews St. Andrews, Scotland

1928 USA ....................................................................11 GB&I ......................................................................1 Chicago Golf Club Wheaton, Illinois

1930 USA ....................................................................10 GB&I ......................................................................2 Royal St. George’s Golf Club Sandwich, England

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WALKER CUP MATCH RECORDS AGE Oldest Player (years/months/days) 55/8 Hon. Michael Scott (GB&I), Old Course at St. Andrews, Scotland, 1934 55/5/11 William Hyndman (USA), Old Course at St. Andrews, Scotland, 1971 52/0/23 William C. Campbell (USA), Old Course at St. Andrews, Scotland, 1975 Youngest GB&I Player 16/11 Oliver Fisher, Chicago Golf Club, Wheaton, Ill., 2005 17/0/10 Justin Rose, Quaker Ridge Golf Club, Scarsdale, N.Y., 1997 17/7/15 Ronan Rafferty, Cypress Point Club, Pebble Beach, Calif., 1981 Youngest USA Player 17 Roland MacKenzie, Old Course at St. Andrews, Scotland, 1926 18/2/8 Jordan Spieth, Royal Aberdeen Golf Club, Aberdeen, Scotland, 2011 18/6/25 Brian Harman, Chicago Golf Club, Wheaton, Ill., 2005

COMPETITIONS Most Times Competed for GB&I 10 Joseph B. Carr (1947, 1949, 1951, 1953, 1955, 1957, 1959, 1961, 1963, 1967) (named to team in 1965, but did not play) 8 Sir Michael Bonallack (1959, 1961, 1963, 1965, 1967, 1969, 1971, 1973) (named to team in 1957, but did not play) 6 Cyril Tolley (1922, 1923, 1924, 1926, 1930, 1934) 6 R. Cecil Ewing (1936, 1938, 1947, 1949, 1951, 1955) 6 Gary Wolstenholme (1995, 1997, 1999, 2001, 2003, 2005) Most Times Competed for USA 9 Jay Sigel (1977, 1979, 1981, 1983, 1985, 1987, 1989, 1991, 1993) 8 Francis D. Ouimet (1922, 1923, 1924, 1926, 1928, 1930, 1932, 1934) 7 William C. Campbell (1951, 1953, 1957, 1965, 1967, 1971, 1975) (named to team in 1955, but did not play)

USA ........................................................................8 GB&I ......................................................................1 The Country Club Brookline, Massachusetts

1934 USA ........................................................................9 GB&I ......................................................................2 Old Course at St. Andrews St. Andrews, Scotland

1936 USA ........................................................................9 GB&I ......................................................................0 Pine Valley Golf Club Clementon, New Jersey

1938 GB&I ....................................................................7 USA..........................................................................4 Old Course at St. Andrews St. Andrews, Scotland

With nine consecutive appearances on the USA Team (1977 though 1993), Jay Sigel holds the record for most competitions by an American. In Walker Cup history only Joe Carr of Ireland has more total appearances with 10.

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1947 USA ........................................................................8 GB&I ......................................................................4 Old Course at St. Andrews St. Andrews, Scotland

1949 USA ....................................................................10 GB&I ......................................................................2 Winged Foot Golf Club (West Course) Mamaroneck, New York

1951 USA ........................................................................6 GB&I ......................................................................3 Birkdale Golf Club Southport, England

1953 USA ........................................................................9 GB&I ......................................................................3 Kittansett Club Marion, Massachusetts

1955 USA ....................................................................10 GB&I ......................................................................2 Old Course at St. Andrews St. Andrews, Scotland

1957 2005 Walker Cup USA Team, kneeling (from left to right): Anthony Kim, Matt Every, Captain Bob Lewis; standing in second row: Brian Harman, Lee Williams and Kyle Reifers; standing in back row: Nick Thompson, Billy Hurley,

1959

Jeff Overton, John Holmes and Michael Putnam.

Most Years Between First and Last USA Selections 24 William C. Campbell (1951 and 1975) 21 Jack Westland (1932 and 1953) 19 Charles Kocsis (1938 and 1957)

Most Years Between First and Last GB&I Selections 20 Joseph B. Carr (1947 and 1967) 19 John B. Beck (1928 and 1947) 19 R. Cecil Ewing (1936 and 1955) 17 John D.A. Langley (1936 and 1953)

MATCH PLAY OPPOSITE: USGA MUSEUM/ROBERT SOMMERS ABOVE: USGA/JOHN MUMMERT

USA ........................................................................8 GB&I ......................................................................3 Minikahda Club Minneapolis, Minnesota

Largest Winning Margin, Singles (18-Hole Match) 9 and 7 Scott Hoch (USA) d. James Buckley Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers, Muirfield, Scotland, 1979 8 and 7 Doug Clarke (USA) d. John Davies Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers, Muirfield, Scotland, 1979 8 and 6 Cameron Tringale (USA) d. Luke Goddard, Merion Golf Club, Ardmore, Pa., 2009 Largest Winning Margin, Singles (36-Hole Match) 13 and 12 Robert T. Jones Jr. (USA) d. T. Philip Perkins, Chicago Golf Club, Wheaton, Ill., 1928 12 and 11 Robert T. Jones Jr. (USA) d. Cyril J.H. Tolley, Old Course at St. Andrews, Scotland, 1926 12 and 11 Marvin H. Ward (USA) d. J.J. Frank Pennick, Old Course at St. Andrews, Scotland, 1938 11 and 10 Watts Gunn (USA) d. Ronald Hardman, Chicago Golf Club, Wheaton, Ill., 1928 Largest Winning Margin, Foursomes (18-Hole Match) 7 and 6 Bob Lewis Jr. and Jim Holtgrieve (USA) d. Malcolm Lewis and Martin Thompson Royal Liverpool Golf Club, Hoylake, England, 1983 7 and 6 Bryce Molder and David Eger (USA) d. Steven O’Hara and Marc Warren Ocean Forest Golf Club, Sea Island, Ga., 2001 7 and 5 Marvin Giles III and Gary Koch (USA) d. Rodney Foster and Trevor Homer The Country Club, Brookline, Mass., 1973

USA ........................................................................9 GB&I ......................................................................3 Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers Muirfield, Scotland

1961 USA ....................................................................11 GB&I ......................................................................1 Seattle Golf Club Seattle, Washington

1963 USA ....................................................................12 GB&I ......................................................................8 Turnberry (Ailsa Course) Turnberry, Scotland

1965 USA ....................................................................11 GB&I ..................................................................11 Baltimore Country Club (Five Farms Old Course) Baltimore, Maryland

1967 USA ....................................................................13 GB&I ......................................................................7 Royal St. George’s Sandwich, England

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1969 USA ....................................................................10 GB&I ......................................................................8 Milwaukee Country Club Milwaukee, Wisconsin

1971 GB&I ..................................................................13 USA ....................................................................11 Old Course at St. Andrews St. Andrews, Scotland

1973 USA......................................................................14 GB&I ..................................................................10 The Country Club Brookline, Massachusetts

1975 USA ...............................................................15½ GB&I................................................................8½ Old Course at St. Andrews St. Andrews, Scotland

1977 USA ....................................................................16 GB&I ......................................................................8 Shinnecock Hills Golf Club Southampton, New York

1979 USA .............................................................15½ GB&I................................................................8½ Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers Muirfield, Scotland

1981 USA ....................................................................15 GB&I ......................................................................9 Cypress Point Club Pebble Beach, California

1983 USA .............................................................13½ GB&I............................................................10½ Royal Liverpool Golf Club (Hoylake) Merseyside, England

1985 USA ....................................................................13 GB&I ..................................................................11 Pine Valley Golf Club Pine Valley, New Jersey

1987 USA ...............................................................16½ GB&I................................................................7½ Sunningdale Golf Club Berkshire, England

1989 GB&I .............................................................12½ USA ...............................................................11½ Peachtree Golf Club Atlanta, Georgia

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Largest Winning Margin, Foursomes (36-Hole Match)

included: John Bohmann, Bruce Fleisher, Marvin Giles

9 and 8

III, William Hyndman III, Joseph Inman Jr.,

E. Harvie Ward Jr. and Jack Westland

(USA) d. John D.A. Langley and Arthur H. Perowne, Kittansett Club, Marion, Mass., 1953 9 and 8

William J. Patton and Charles R. Coe

Above: Members of the 1969 USA Walker Cup Team.

Steve Melnyk, Allen Miller III, Richard L. Siderowf, Dr. Edgar R. Updegraff, Lanny Wadkins and William J. Patton (captain).

(USA) d. Michael F. Bonallack and Arthur H. Perowne, Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers, Muirfield, Scotland, 1959 USA Highest Winning Percentage, Singles (minimum four matches) 1.000 Robert T. Jones Jr., USA (5-0-0) 1.000 Peter Uihlein, USA (4-0-0) .938 William C. Campbell, USA (7-0-1) .875 Phil Mickelson, USA (3-0-1) GB&I Highest Winning Percentage, Singles (minimum four matches) 1.000 Luke Donald, England (4-0-0) .800 Ronald J. White, England (4-1-0) .750 Allan Brodie, Scotland (3-1-0) .750 Rhys Davies, Wales (3-1-0) .750 Lloyd Saltman, Scotland (3-1-0) .750 Philip Walton, Ireland (3-1-0) USA Highest Winning Percentage, Foursomes (minimum four matches) 1.000 Max R. Marston, USA (4-0-0) 1.000 Rickie Fowler, USA (4-0) .885 Brian Harman, USA (3-0-1) .857 William J. Patton, USA (6-1-0) GB&I Highest Winning Percentage, Foursomes (minimum four matches) .800 Roger H. Wethered, England (4-1-0) .750 Luke Donald, England (3-1-0) .750 James W. Milligan, Scotland (3-1-0) .750 Philip Walton, Ireland (3-1-0) Most USA Victories, Combined Play 18 Jay Sigel, USA (1977, 1979, 1981, 1983, 1985, 1987, 1989, 1991, 1993)

11

11 10 10

William C. Campbell, USA (1951, 1953, 1955, 1957, 1965, 1967, 1971, 1975) William J. Patton, USA (1955, 1957, 1959, 1963, 1965) John Harris, USA (1993, 1995, 1997) Bob Lewis Jr. USA (1981, 1983, 1985, 1987)

Most GB&I Victories, Combined Play 10 Gary P. Wolstenholme, England (1995, 1997, 1999, 2001, 2003, 2005) 8 Sir Michael F. Bonallack, England (1957, 1959, 1961, 1963, 1965, 1967, 1969, 1971, 1973) 7 Luke Donald, England (1999, 2001) Most USA Matches Played, Combined 33 Jay Sigel (18-10-5) 18 William C. Campbell (11-4-3) 16 Francis Ouimet (9-5-2) Most GB&I Matches Played, Combined 25 Sir Michael Bonallack (8-14-3) 20 Joseph B. Carr (5-14-1) 19 Gary Wolstenholme (10-9) (all-time GB&I points leader) Undefeated in USA Singles Matches (minimum four matches) 5-0 Robert T. Jones Jr. 7-0-1 William C. Campbell 4-0 Peter Uihlein 3-0-1 Phil Mickelson

Undefeated in GB&I Singles Matches (minimum four matches) 4-0 Luke Donald Undefeated in USA Foursomes Matches (minimum four matches) 4-0 Max R. Marston 4-0 Rickie Fowler 3-0-1 Brian Harmon Undefeated in USA Foursomes and Singles Matches (minimum four matches) 6-0 E. Harvie Ward Jr. (3-0, 3-0) 5-0 Donald Cherry (2-0, 3-0) 4-0 Danny Edwards (2-0, 2-0) 4-0 Brad Elder (2-0, 2-0) 4-0 John Fought (2-0, 2-0) 4-0 Watts Gunn (2-0, 2-0) 4-0 Scott Hoch (2-0, 2-0) 4-0 Lindy Miller (2-0, 2-0) 4-0 Jack Nicklaus (2-0, 2-0) 4-0 Robert H. Riegel (2-0, 2-0) 4-0 Dr. Frank M. Taylor (2-0, 2-0) 4-0 Sam Urzetta (2-0, 2-0) 4-0 Dr. O.F. Willing (2-0, 2-0) Undefeated in GB&I Foursomes and Singles Matches (minimum four matches) 4-0 Paul Casey (2-0, 2-0) 4-0 Andrew Oldcorn (2-0, 2-0)

COURSE Longest Course 7,181 yards Royal County Down Golf Club, Newcastle, Northern Ireland, 2007

Shortest Course 6,417 yards Garden City Golf Club, Garden City, N.Y., 1924

1991

Most Times Host Site 8 Old Course at St. Andrews, Scotland (1923, 1926, 1934, 1938, 1947, 1955, 1971, 1975)

USA ....................................................................14 GB&I ..................................................................10 Portmarnock Golf Club Dublin, Ireland

MISCELLANEOUS

USA ....................................................................19 GB&I ......................................................................5 Interlachen Country Club Edina, Minnesota

Largest Winning Margin, Team 14 USA d. GB&I, 19-5, Interlachen Country Club, Edina, Minn., 1993 12 USA d. GB&I, 18-6, Quaker Ridge Golf Club, Scarsdale, N.Y., 1997 10 USA d. GB&I, 11-1, Chicago Golf Club, Wheaton, Ill., 1928 10 USA d. GB&I, 11-1, Seattle (Wash.)

Golf Club, 1961 Most Consecutive Matches Won 9 USA (1922 to 1936) 9 USA (1947 to 1963) 8 USA (1973 to 1987) 3 GB&I (1999 to 2003) 3 USA (2005 to 2009) Sisters and Brothers in Curtis Cup and Walker Cup Matches Terri and Griff Moody 1980 Curtis Cup; 1979 Walker Cup Kelli and Trip Kuehne 1996 Curtis Cup; 1995, 2003, 2007 Walker Cup Paige and Brock Mackenzie 2006 Curtis Cup; 2003 Walker Cup Alexis and Nick Thompson 2010 Curtis Cup; 2005 Walker Cup

1993

1995 GB&I ................................................................14 USA......................................................................10 Royal Porthcawl Golf Club Porthcawl, Wales

1997 USA ....................................................................18 GB&I ......................................................................6 Quaker Ridge Golf Club Scarsdale, New York

1999 GB&I ..................................................................15 USA ........................................................................9 Nairn Golf Club Nairn, Scotland

2001 GB&I ..................................................................15 USA ........................................................................9 Ocean Forest Golf Club Sea Island, Georgia

2003 GB&I .............................................................12½ USA .............................................................11½ Ganton Golf Club Ganton, England

2005 USA .................................................................12½ GB&I............................................................11½ Chicago Golf Club Wheaton, Illinois

2007 USA .......................................................................12 GB&I ................................................................11 Royal County Down Newcastle, County Down, Northern Ireland

2009 USA ...............................................................16½ GB&I................................................................9½ Merion Golf Club Ardmore, Pennsylvania

USGA MUSEUM (2)

2011 GB&I ..................................................................14 USA......................................................................12 Royal Aberdeen Golf Club Aberdeen, Scotland Michigan native Chuck Kocsis played a key role on three USA Walker Cup Teams (1938, ’49, ’57).

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About the USGA

T

HE USGA (United States Golf Association) has served as the national governing body of golf since its formation in 1894.

A nonprofit organization headquartered in Far Hills, N.J., the USGA sponsors programs that serve everyone who loves and respects the game of golf. These essential services benefit all golfers, whether they are amateurs or professionals, public- or private-

course players.

Today, the USGA is composed of an Executive Committee of 15 volunteers who lead the organization’s policy-making functions; a staff of 300 professionals who direct the Association’s day-to-day functions; a nationwide network of 1,200 dedicated volunteers; and more than 8,500 private and public courses, clubs and facilities.

In 1975, the Association formed the USGA Members Program to help support the game and the USGA. Today, more than 700,000 golfers around the nation are USGA Members.

The USGA supports and acts in cooperation with national, regional and local golf associations in areas of common interest. The Association also represents the United States in relations with golf associations around the world.

Based on a shared passion and respect for golf, the USGA is dedicated to preserving its past, fostering its future and championing its best interests for the good of the game.

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Conducting National Championships to Promote the Competitive Spirit of the Game The USGA conducts 13 national championships each year, drawing more than 35,000 entries from more than 80 countries. These include the U.S. Open, the U.S. Women’s Open and the U.S. Senior Open, along with 10 national amateur championships and the biennial State Team Championships. The USGA

also helps conduct four international competitions: the Walker Cup Match, the Curtis Cup Match and the Men’s and Women’s World Amateur Team Championships.

Writing and Interpreting the Rules of Golf to Protect the Integrity of the Game The USGA and The R&A in St. Andrews, Scotland, together govern the game worldwide, including joint administration of the Rules of Golf to safeguard the tradition and integrity of the game.

Regulating and Testing Equipment to Ensure Skill Determines Success in the Game The USGA continually tests golf equipment for conformance to the Rules of Golf.

Without such rigorous equipment testing and research programs, advances in technology could overtake skill as the major factor in success.

Maintaining Handicap and Course Rating Systems to Foster Fairness in the Game The USGA Handicap System™ helps to ensure that all golfers can compete on an equal basis. The USGA Course Rating System™ ensures that golf courses are rated in relation to all other courses. The USGA Slope System® adjusts a player’s USGA Handicap Index® according to the difficulty of a course. As a result, no matter whom golfers play with—or where they play—they can enjoy a fair game. These systems are used in more than 50 countries on six continents.

Advocating for a More Sustainable Game Since 1920, the USGA has been a global leader in funding research that benefits golf in the areas of turfgrass and resource management, sustainable development and environmental protection.

Celebrating and Preserving the History of the Game To help celebrate and preserve the game’s heritage, the USGA collects and displays golf artifacts, memorabilia, images, books and artwork at the USGA Museum and Arnold Palmer Center for Golf History at the USGA’s headquarters in Far Hills, N.J. WC FOR MORE INFORMATION VISIT USGA.ORG.

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About The R&A

T

HE R&A group of companies was formed by The Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews in 2004 as the club celebrated the 250th anniversary of its foundation. The club devolved its external responsibilities to The R&A. Based in St. Andrews, The R&A organizes The Open Championship, major amateur events and international matches. Together with the United States Golf Association, The R&A governs the game worldwide, jointly administering the Rules of Golf, Rules of Amateur Status, Equipment Standards and World Amateur Golf Rankings. The R&A’s working jurisdiction is global, excluding the United States and Mexico.

The R&A operates with the consent of 149 organizations from the amateur and professional game and on behalf of more than 30 million golfers in 135 countries. It is dedicated to serving the game of golf and supporting the development of the game around the world through its Working for Golf program.

Championships The Open Championship is golf ’s oldest major. As well as The Open, The R&A manages or jointly manages nine further championships. These include the Amateur Championship, the Boys Amateur Championship and the Walker Cup Match, which is run jointly with the USGA on a biennial basis.

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Rules The R&A and the USGA have jointly administered the Rules of Golf since 1952. Both bodies undertake a perpetual review process to ensure the Rules remain relevant to the needs of today’s players. The R&A’s Rules education team has delivered recent programmes in countries as diverse as Argentina, Brazil, China, Hong Kong, India, Laos and Thailand.

Rules of Amateur Status The R&A and the USGA jointly administer the Rules of Amateur Status, which maintain the distinction between amateur and professional golf. The first uniform, worldwide code for Amateur Status was introduced on Jan. 1, 2012.

Equipment Standards Working closely with the USGA, The R&A carries out a range of research on the mechanics of the golf swing through its dedicated Equipment Test Centre in St. Andrews. Last year, more than 2,000 golf clubs were submitted by equipment manufacturers to The R&A for testing for conformity to the Rules. More than 30,000 submitted clubs are now in the archive, which was first established in 1956.

World Amateur Golf Rankings Jointly administered by The R&A and the USGA, WAGR is a rapidly developing service used by national federations, tournament

administrators and professional tour organizers as they decide exemption criteria, select national teams and compile orders of merit.

More than 10,000 players now feature in the men’s and women’s rankings.

Golf Course Management As a supporter of the International Golf Federation’s statement on Sustainability, The R&A is committed to encouraging best practice in sustainability throughout all aspects of the game. In recent years, The R&A has invested more than £6 million in supporting sustainability in golf.

Working for Golf Thanks to the commercial success of The

Open Championship, The R&A invests up to £10 million per year in initiatives to promote participation in golf. Through supporting grassroots initiatives, coaching programs and the creation of more affordable, public golf facilities, The R&A works to encourage more boys and girls and men and women to take up golf. The R&A works with three Working for Golf Ambassadors to support and promote this activity: two-time Open champion Padraig Harrington, former LPGA champion Suzann Pettersen and leading Chinese player Liang Wen-Chong.

WC FOR MORE INFORMATION VISIT RANDA.ORG.

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NATIONAL GOLF LINkS of AMERICA wishes to thank the following organizations for their generous support of the

44Th WALkER CUP MATCh Travelers American Express Morgan Stanley AC Investment Management, LLC Amherst Securities Group Belvedere Property Management LLC The Chubb Corporation FTI Consulting, Inc. kinney Oil Company North Shore LIJ health System Rolex Silvercrest Asset Management LLC S3 Partners LLC Teneo holdings

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44Th WALkER CUP MATCh COMMITTEES S. Parker Gilbert, Honorary Chair Michael X. McBride, Co-Chair John S. Pyne, Co-Chair William R. Araskog • Robert F. Cummings, Jr. • Winston W. Hutchins • Bart A. Johnston James T. Lilly, Jr. • Richard E. Salomon • Gerard L. Smith • L. Edward Shaw ADMINISTRATIVE SERVICES S. Parker Gilbert Jr., Co-Chair Beth Ann McBride, Co-Chair William Brown Ann Connor Bob Connor Terri Kiernan

COURSE OPERATIONS John Sullivan, Co-Chair Joseph Fogg, Co-Chair Nathaniel Fogg Nick Leon Wes Roberts Baird Ryan

SCORING OPERATIONS Bart A. Johnston, Co-Chair Kevin Kenny, Jr., Co-Chair Robert Banker Joeseph Calaban Henry A. Wilmerding III George Simonson

CHAMPIONSHIP SERVICES Winston W. Hutchins, Chair Michael T. Bradley Dr. Frank Camissa Ecology Solutions North Shore LIJ Health System

HOSPITALITY SERVICES James G. Niven, Co-Chair Richard E. Salomon, Co-Chair Virginia McBride Irene Shaw SPECIAL APPRECIATION The Honorable Michael R. Bloomberg Stephen Green The Bridge The Creek Easthampton Golf Club Friar’s Head The Maidstone Club The Meadow Club Sebonack Golf Club Westhampton Country Club

NATIONAL GOLF LINKS OF AMERICA BOARD OF DIRECTORS John S. Pyne, President Michael X. McBride, Vice-President Gerard L. Smith, Treasurer L. Edward Shaw, Secretary William R. Aquavella • William R. Araskog • Robert F. Cummings, Jr. • R. Kelly Doherty Winston W. Hutchins • Bart A. Johnston • Kevin Kenny, Jr. • James T. Lilly, Jr. • James G. Niven Richard E. Salomon • R. Peter Sullivan III • Henry A. Wilmerding III

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“Is there any other place on earth like the National, That place Macdonald built down by the sea?

If there’s any other place on earth like the National, Then that little place will just suit me.”

REFRAIN FROM CLUB SONG, CIRCA 1920s — AUTHOR UNKNOWN —

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We’re proud to support history makers in the making.

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