1924 – Garden City

USA 9 – 3 GB&I

September 12-13, 1924
The Garden City Golf Club, Garden City, New York
6,417 yards / Par 73

Captains: Robert Gardner (USA) and Cyril Tolley (GB&I)

Day 1 Foursomes (USA players first)
Max Marston / Robert Gardner beat Eustace Storey / William Murray 3&1
Jesse Guilford / Francis Ouimet beat Cyril Tolley / Maj. Charles Hezlet 2&1
Bobby Jones Jr / William Fownes Jr lost to Hon. Michael Scott / Robert Scott Jr 1 hole
Jess Sweetser / Harrison Johnston beat Tony Torrance / Orme Bristowe 4&3
USA 3 – GB&I 1

Day 2 Singles
Max Marston lost to Cyril Tolley 1 hole
Bobby Jones Jr beat Maj. Charles Hezlet 4&3
Charles Evans Jr beat William Murray 2&1
Francis Ouimet beat Eustace Storey 1 hole
Jess Sweetser lost to Hon. Michael Scott 7&6
Robert Gardner beat William Hope 3&2
Jesse Guilford beat Tony Torrance 2&1
Dr. Oscar Willing beat Denys Kyle 3&2
USA 6 – GB&I 2

Match Result: USA 9 – GB&I 3

Series Results: USA 3 – GB&I 0 (after Match 3)

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Match Notes

On 31st May 1924 the Championship Committee of The R&A issued a Walker Cup selection statement. They announced that they had asked 15 players – Orme Bristowe, John Caven, Robert Harris, Major Chalres Hezlet, Ernest Holderness, William Hope, Denys Kyle, Dr. John MacCormack, William Murray, Robert Scott, Hon. Michael Scott, Eustace Storey, Cyril Tolley, Tony Torrance and Roger Wethered – whether they would travel to USA if they were selected for the final 10-man team.

Dr. John MacCormack, the Irish Amateur Close champion in both 1923 and 1924, was unable to persuade his employers, the Irish Department of Health, to release him for the long trip. This was particularly sad given MacCormack had been badly injured in World War I and paralysed from the waist down for 5 years. He eventually recovered in 1922 after he had been forced to wear a rubber lined steel corset for over 12 months and amazingly recovered all of his golfing skills shortly thereafter.

Ernest Holderness, an Assistant Secretary in the Home Office, had been unable to travel in 1922 for the first match so was also considered doubtful.

As a result of MacCormack withdrawing Charles Hezlet became the first Irishman to represent GB&I in the match.

In the Day 1 Foursomes Bobby Jones was dealt his only defeat in the Walker Cup. Hon. Michael Scott and Robert Scott Jr, who were 3Down at lunch, fought back to beat Jones and his partner William Fownes Jr by 1 Hole. Fownes was dropped from the U.S.A’s Day 2 Singles line up, albeit so was Robert Scott Jr on the GB&I side.

The first three Walker Cup matches in 1922, 1923 and 1924 were played annually. Garden City represented the last in the sequence before a move to a biennial approach starting in 1926.

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