1922 – National Golf Links

USA 8 – 4 GB&I

August 28-29, 1922
The National Golf Links of America, Long Island, New York 
6,591 yards / Par 73

Captains: William Fownes Jr (USA) and Robert Harris (GB&I)

Day 1 Foursomes (USA players first) 
Jesse Guilford / Francis Ouimet beat Cyril Tolley / Bernard Darwin 8&7
Charles Evans Jr / Robert Gardner lost to Roger Wethered / Colin Aylmer 5&4
Bobby Jones Jr / Jess Sweetser beat Bill Torrance / Chubby Hooman 3&2
Max Marston / William Fownes Jr beat John Caven / Willis Mackenzie 2&1
USA 3 – GB&I 1

Day 2 Singles
Jesse Guilford beat Cyril Tolley 2&1
Bobby Jones Jr beat Roger Wethered 3&2
Charles Evans Jr beat John Caven 5&4
Francis Ouimet beat Colin Aylmer 8&7
Robert Gardner beat Bill Torrance 7&5
Max Marston lost to Willis Mackenzie 6&5
William Fownes Jr lost to Bernard Darwin 3&1
Jess Sweetser lost to Chubby Hooman 37th
USA 5 – GB&I 3

Match Result: USA 8 – GB&I 4

Series Result: USA 1 – GB&I 0 (after Match 1)

The 1922 Walker Cup Teams (© Fownes Family)

Click here to watch some brief highlights of the 1922 Walker Cup match courtesy of F.I.L.M. Archives, Inc.

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Match Notes

Given the costs of travelling across the Atlantic matches were originally scheduled adjacent to the Amateur and U.S. Amateur Championships.

The R&A sought donations from British golf clubs to fund the team’s trip to Long Island in 1922. In the end 166 clubs and several individuals donated £973 towards the c.£1,600 total cost. The deficit would have been even greater if the American’s hadn’t been generous with their hospitality.

Four Scottish and four English players made up the first 8 man Walker Cup team.

GB&I’s nominated reserve was 45 year old Bernard Darwin. He had reached the semi-final of the 1921 Amateur Championship and was travelling as the golf correspondent of The Times. On the voyage over playing captain Robert Harris fell ill and Darwin was called upon both as a player and stand-in captain. To his credit Darwin won his Day 2 Singles game against USA’s captain William Fownes Jr.

The final Singles game in 1922 between Jess Sweetser and Chubby Hooman is the only one in the history of the Walker Cup to go to extra holes. With no officials still on the course, the match having already been won by the USA, the two players decided to carry on. Hooman won on the first extra hole after Sweetser, going for the green on what was then a short par 4, drove out of bounds. Bernard Darwin later commented “When two men have halved a 36 hole match in the Walker Cup, they have earned an immediate drink with no further demands on them.”

The remoteness of Southampton in the 1920s and heavy rain preceding the contest led to a modest attendance with Jess Sweetser later estimating a figure of “no more than 2,000”.

The adoption of permanent homes for the Walker Cup matches was briefly considered by the USGA and The R&A at the outset – The National Golf Links of America in USA and The Old Course, St. Andrews for Great Britain. Thankfully it was ultimately decided to move the match around the respective countries.

Before it was christened the ‘Walker Cup’ the contest was initially called the ‘British-American International Team Match’ as can be seen on these player mementos handed out by The National Golf Links of America.

1922 Walker Cup Player Goblets (© Golden Age Golf Auctions)

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