Defeating dominant U.S. Walker Cup team at Cypress Point an uphill climb – literally – for GB&I

PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. – The Great Britain and Ireland Walker Cup team’s journey to Cypress Point took them through Stanford University last Friday, where the 10 visiting players hit balls before continuing their drive down to the Monterey Peninsula. But about a half-hour into the two-hour final leg, the team bus broke down, leaving the squad stranded on the side of the road for nearly two hours.

“Something with the turbo just exploded,” Luke Poulter recounted. “We heard a pop, and then we turn this corner, and we have just this massive climb ahead of us.”

Perhaps no metaphor has been more apropos.

Entering this 50th Walker Cup, the U.S. has dominated the competition, leading the all-time series 39-9-1 while winning four straight and eight of the past 10 editions. At home, the Americans have been nearly unbeatable, falling only twice on U.S. soil– and most recently over two decades ago.

While Walker Cups aren’t necessarily won on paper, U.S. teams have certainly enjoyed a distinct rankings advantage. This year’s squad is no different, as the American team boasts world No. 1 Jackson Koivun and each of the top six players in the World Amateur Golf Ranking.

The GB&I team doesn’t even possess six in the top 50, with Tyler Weaver being its top-ranked player, at No. 10 in the world.

“In terms of legacy, we’re under no illusions as to just how challenging it is to come up against such a strong United States team and arguably on paper the strongest ever assembled,” said GB&I captain Dean Robertson, who experienced a drubbing of his own as a player, on the GB&I squad that suffered a record-breaking, 14-point defeat at Interlachen in 1993.

“But we’re looking forward to it.”

With just 26 points available over two days, both Robertson and U.S. captain Nathan Smith realize the importance of fast starts. While the U.S. has overcome not claiming a single opening foursomes session during this four-match win streak, the GB&I can’t afford to get down early, as it has never won an away Walker Cup when losing a foursomes session.

In both GB&I victories on American turf, in 1989 at Peachtree and 2001 at Ocean Forest, the visitors swept the foursomes, something Robertson is hoping to replicate by sending out Saturday morning his identical lineup from last month’s St. Andrews Trophy – same partners, same order from that dominant showing in Madrid in which GB&I won 7.5 out of a possible eight foursomes points against continental Europe.

“We’ve probably known the foursomes pairings for a good few weeks now,” Robertson said. “… The afternoon singles, not so much.”

Ah, the singles. In the past 10 Walker Cups, the GB&I have kept the foursomes ledger close, within one point, but in singles, they have gone 73.5-102.5 since 2005 at Chicago Golf Club.

Deep down, Smith knows that his group is considered the heavy favorites, but he’s still taking nothing for granted.

“Every team is different. … You have different captains, you have different players. It’s 0-0,” Smith said. “If you look at their team in the last couple years, they have a lot of guys, maybe nine out of 10 players that play college golf over here. … I think this is one of their best teams that I’ve seen in a while, and if you look at those matches, you’re talking about, all those matches were extremely close. Even St Andrews last year, they were up going into Sunday, and there were a couple matches that flipped on the back side or it would have gone their way.

“It’s going to be a big test for us this week.”

Saturday

FOURSOMES

8 a.m. PT – Tyler Weaver/Connor Graham vs. Jackson Koivun/Tommy Morrison
8:15 a.m. – Luke Poulter/Charlie Forster vs. Ben James/Stewart Hagestad
8:30 a.m. – Stuart Grehan/Eliot Baker vs. Preston Stout/Ethan Fang
8:45 a.m. – Cameron Adam/Dominic Clemons vs. Jase Summy/Michael La Sasso

SINGLES

1:45 p.m. PT – Tyler Weaver vs. Jackson Koivun
1:55 p.m. – Niall Shiels Donegan vs. Jacob Modleski
2:05 p.m. – Luke Poulter vs. Mason Howell
2:15 p.m. – Connor Graham vs. Ben James
2:25 p.m. – Gavin Tiernan vs. Stewart Hagestad
2:35 p.m. – Stuart Grehan vs. Ethan Fang
2:45 p.m. – Charlie Forster vs. Preston Stout
2:55 p.m. – Eliot Baker vs. Jase Summy