Match Play On The Old Course!
Match Play On The Old Course!
For the first time since 1975, the Walker Cup will highlight elements and create new dramatics lost to stroke play.
It’s been way too long since pure team match play has been over the Old Course at St Andrews. The Dunhill Cup was a splendid event from 1985 to 2000, but the format consisted of three-man teams in stroke match play. That’s as absurd as starting a professional tournament with the leading player ten-under-par.
The Ryder Cup?
Never been to St Andrews in the 96 years since those matches between professionals were established.
The Walker Cup?
Eight times at the Old Course but not since 1975.
How long ago was that? They played in May and the GB&I team had been announced a full seven months ahead of the matches, prematurely ruling out Nick Faldo. That meant Great Britain and Ireland sent out its Gordon’s, Hugh’s and Ian’s against a USA squad featuring Curtis Strange, Jerry Pate, Craig Stadler, Gary Koch, George Burns and three all-time amateur greats: Vinny Giles, William Campbell and Dick Siderowf. But at least they played matches and GB&I kept it close the first day before USA pulled away for a 15.5 to 8.5 win.
Other than The Amateur twenty years ago (won by this week’s GB&I captain Stuart Wilson), the Old Course has been awash in events all played at a storke play format too often prone to negate its most brilliant, cerebral and downright juicy qualities.
In a card and pencil world, many of its pesky half-par holes featuring nearby boundary lines force safe plays out to the center of the out-and-back links. In recent championships, holes have been cut in spots so incongruous to making birdies, even risk-takers have found themselves unable to enjoy the rewards of flirting with the 110 bunkers or perilous Old Course boundaries.
Merely turning loose ten elite amateurs from each side and playing foursomes in the morning, singles in the afternoon each day, should alone make this weekend’s Walker Cup fascinating. If the wind surprises forecasters and really blows, a fourth protagonist will only make the proceedings better. The energy should be dynamite as well, with galleries walking the fairways and standing immediately next to greens as opposed to being held back farther back.
To genuinely shine, the Old Course needs a setup befitting the format and architecture. Unlike the Ryder Cup, where home team shenanigans are part of the fun—especially when they backfire—the goal here is neutrality. In recent Ryder Cups we’ve seen injury thick rough in Europe (Le Golf Nationale) and center-green pins in America (Hazeltine so our boys don’t have think too hard). Both course strategies were seen as beneficial.
The Walker Cup aims for a more neutral approach on either side of the Atlantic. Local caddies are assigned to each side after a blind draw. Holes, tees, grass lines and speeds are designed to accent the courses features. And the Old Course will be presented differently than an Open setup.
The task this weekend falls on R&A Rules Manager Conor Finlay and team working in conjunction with the St Andrews Links Trust agronomy team.