Walker Cup 2025 – Walker Cup

175. Tickets & Schedule For The 2025 Walker Cup Match

24th January 2025

The USGA has announced that ticketing for the 50th Walker Cup Match, which is to be played on 5th-7th September 2025, will be limited and as a result expensive.

The coastal terrain and attractiveness of Cypress Point Club, coupled with the limited amount of competitive play on course at any one time, means that daily attendances will be “capped to an appropriate and manageable number.”

It has been rumoured that the number of tickets released may be as low as 3,000 / day.

The USGA said “to equitably address the demand for tickets and ensure fair distribution, all single day public tickets will be sold in advance through a random selection process, after receipt of an online application which will be made available in the spring.”

It will clearly be very difficult to attend the whole match and as a result it is hard to see many GB&I supporters making the effort to travel to California.

The ticket prices, which are before any applicable taxes and fees, and match schedule were also released: –

Friday 5th September – Practice Day – $100 / ticket

8am: Official Team Practice Rounds
5pm: Flag-Raising Ceremony

Saturday 6th September – Match Day 1 – $200 / ticket

8am: Four foursome matches
1:45pm: Eight singles matches

Sunday 7th September – Match Day 2 – $200 / ticket

8am: Four foursome matches
1:30pm: Ten singles matches
7pm: Closing Ceremony

Each adult applicant will have the option to apply for one complimentary junior (17 years old and under) ticket per day, which will also be determined via random selection.

More ticket information can be found on the USGA’s Walker Cup Webpage

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173. USGA Announce 2025 Walker Cup USA Practice Squad

4th November 2024

The USGA’s International Team Selection (ITS) Working Group has invited 16 players to attend a Walker Cup practice session on 14th-16th December 2024.

The players will practice at McArthur Golf Club, Seminole Golf Club and The Bear’s Club in Jupiter, Florida.

The following players will be in attendance: –

Evan BECK (34) of Virginia Beach, Virginia. (Mid-Amateur)
Parker BELL (20) of Tallahassee, Florida. (Florida – junior)
Blades BROWN (17) of Nashville, Tennessee. (High School – 2026) *
Luke CLANTON (20) of Hialeah, Florida. (Florida State – junior)
Ethan FANG (19) of Plano, Texas (Oklahoma State – sophomore)
Stewart HAGESTAD (33) of Newport Beach, California (Mid-Amateur)
Max HERENDEEN (19) of Bellevue, Washington. (Illinois – sophomore)
Ben JAMES (21) of Milford, Connecticut. (Virginia – junior)
Noah KENT (20) of Naples, Florida. (Iowa – sophomore)
Jackson KOIVUN (19) of Chapel Hill, N. Carolina. (Auburn – sophomore)
Michael LA SASSO (20) of Raleigh, N. Carolina (Ole Miss – junior)
Bryan LEE (20) of Fairfax, Virginia. (Virginia – junior)
Tommy MORRISON (20) of Dallas, Texas (Texas – junior)
Jase SUMMY (20) of Keller, Texas (Oklahoma – junior)
Brendan VALDES (21) of Orlando, Florida. (Auburn – senior)
Jackson VAN PARIS (21) of Pinehurst, N. Carolina. (Vanderbilt – senior)

* Blades Brown (17) decided to forego college and turn pro in December 2024. He was replaced at the practice session by Auburn senior Carson Bacha.

Luke Clanton, the 2024 McCormack Medal winner and current No. 1-ranked amateur, highlights the group of invites.

Stewart Hagestad (2017, 2019, 2021, 2023) and Ben James (2023) are the two players with previous Walker Cup experience in the Squad.

“This serves as another step in the process of team selection and is an opportunity for all involved to become more familiar with each other and begin to build team camaraderie,” said John Bodenhamer, USGA chief championships officer. “These decorated amateurs represent a talented group of potential team members, but we expect others will also be considered as the selection process moves toward its conclusion.”

Whilst attendance in Florida is no guarantee of a place on the final team it has proven to be a strong indicator in recent years. Seven of the 16 players from the December 2022 USA Walker Cup practice session competed on the 2023 team. All ten of the 16 players from the December 2020 Walker Cup practice session made the 2021 USA team.

2025 USA Captain Nathan Smith said “The amateur golf talent in this country is impressive, and I’m thrilled to gather with this group for a practice session next month,” said Smith. “We have a strong list of young men attending; a mixture of seasoned veterans as well as up-and-comers of the game. I’m excited to spend more time with this group.”

The 50th Match will be played at the Cypress Point Club in Pebble Beach, California on 6th-7th September 2025.

10 Great Britain & Ireland players visited Cypress Point last week with Captain Dean Robertson to begin their preparation for the match.

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172. GB&I Lose The 2024 St. Andrews Trophy Match

7th August 2024

The 34th St. Andrews Trophy match between Great Britain & Ireland (GB&I) and Continent of Europe was played at Royal Porthcawl G.C. on 25th-26th July 2024.

This biennial men’s match has been traditionally played in alternate years to GB&I’s Walker Cup match against USA.

Continent of Europe beat GB&I by 16.0-9.0. To put this in context it was only Europe’s sixth win, just their second away one and their biggest ever surpassing their 15.5-9.5 triumph in Finland in 2018.

Unusually when compared with recent years Europe were able to field a strong team and their comfortable victory does not bode well for GB&I heading into next year’s Walker Cup match.

New GB&I captain Dean ROBERTSON said “The result obviously didn’t go our way but I couldn’t have asked any more from my team in terms of preparation. On the week we were just beaten by a team that played better.”

Continent of Europe (Photo: Cameron Smith / R&A / R&A via Getty Images)

The R&A Selection Committee, including Scottish Captain Robertson announced their nine man team for the match on 8th July 2024.

Each GB&I player’s nationality, WAGR as at 17th July 2024 and Selection Route is shown below: –

James ASHFIELD (23) – Wales, #27, WAGR Top 5

Jack BIGHAM (20) – England #37, WAGR Top 5

Seb CAVE (20) – England, #342, Captain’s Pick

Dominic CLEMONS (22) – England, #157, Captain’s Pick

Charlie FORSTER (21) – England, #262, Captain’s Pick

Connor GRAHAM (17) – Scotland, #149, Captain’s Pick

Gregor GRAHAM (20) – Scotland, #108, Captain’s Pick

Max KENNEDY (22) – Ireland, #30, WAGR Top 5

Caolan RAFFERTY (31) – Ireland, #53, WAGR Top 5

First Reserve
Will HOPKINS (24) – England, #63, Captain’s Pick

The R&A had stated in advance that the top 5 players in the World Amateur Golf Ranking as at 3rd July 2024 would be guaranteed selection.

Calum SCOTT from Scotland, #13, GB&I’s leading player and who would have been an Automatic WAGR Top 5 selection, made himself unavailable. One has to assume that Calum will be turning pro once he has completed his senior year at Texas Tech and will also not be available for selection at Cypress Point in September 2025.

The WAGR policy caught Captain Robertson out when the final list was released and Caolan RAFFERTY, who had not played in either the recent Amateur or European Amateur Championships due to work commitments, surprisingly jumped above Will HOPKINS to take the 5th slot. Having said that the Scotsman still had four selections available to him and still chose not to take Hopkins with him.

It will be interesting to see how transparent The R&A are, particularly with regards to WAGR, with their 2025 team selection policies.

Looking at the individual performance analysis below Dominic CLEMONS and Connor GRAHAM, and to a lesser degree James ASHFIELD and Jack BIGHAM, were the only GB&I players to leave Wales with their reputations at this level intact.

Given the forthcoming changes to the amateur golf calendar it is worth noting that this match will for the first time be played again before the next Walker Cup contest. Continent of Europe will defend the trophy at Puerta De Hierro in Madrid, Spain on 24th-25th July 2025, just five weeks before the Walker Cup starts in California.

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170. Dean Robertson Appointed GB&I Captain

15th February 2024

Dean Robertson has been appointed as the new Great Britain and Ireland (GB&I) Men’s Captain by The R&A.

Robertson, who was born in Canada on 11th July 1970, will begin his initial two-year term by captaining GB&I against the Continent of Europe in the St Andrews Trophy match being played at Royal Porthcawl G.C. on 25th-26th July 2024. He will then look forward to taking the reins at the 50th Walker Cup match at Cypress Point Club in California on 6th-7th September 2025.

“To have represented Great Britain and Ireland in the St Andrews Trophy and the Walker Cup was the pinnacle of my amateur career and an incredible privilege,” said Robertson.“Now to have the honour of captaining Great Britain and Ireland is something I could not have imagined but it is one that I am thrilled about. I very much look forward to working closely with the players for the matches ahead with an important focus on being well prepared and playing to win.”

Dean Robertson (Photo: University of Stirling)

Robertson, the long standing High Performance Golf Coach at the University of Stirling, has a wealth of experience and no doubt will be a popular appointment.

The 53 year old has run a hugely successful golf program at Stirling over the last 14 years and has become a highly regarded coach to a number of amateur and professional players.

He has also been Head Coach (2009) and Assistant Head Coach (2016) of the European Arnold Palmer Cup team winning both an away and home match against USA.

Robertson, as a Cochrane Castle member, enjoyed a notable amateur career with victories in the 1991 Scottish Youths, 1992 Scottish Amateur Stoke Play and 1993 Scottish Amateur Championships.

He earned a golf scholarship at Midland College in Texas which aided his development.

He was part of the victorious GB&I side in the St Andrews Trophy match at Royal Cinque Ports in 1992 contributing two singles wins, including one against future Ryder Cup player Niclas Fasth, and a foursomes success in his four outings.

The following year Robertson played in the 1993 Walker Cup match at Interlachen C.C. In a 19.0-5.0 defeat he picked up a 3&2 singles victory on the rain-affected opening day against American amateur great Jay Sigel.

He turned pro after his Walker Cup appearance and secured a European Tour card at the 1994 Q-School. The highlight of his 14 year professional career, which saw him win €1.9m in prize money, came in 1999 when he beat Padraig Harrington by 1-shot to win the Italian Open.

Following in the footsteps of compatriot Catriona Matthew, who is captaining the GB&I Curtis Cup team this year, Robertson, who will become the first GB&I men’s captain to have been a professional golfer*.

He succeeds fellow Scotsman Stuart Wilson and becomes the 17th Scottish captain and third consecutive Scotsman to take the role.

GB&I have lost the last four Walker Cup matches and no Scotsman has ever captained a winning Walker Cup team. If Robertson is to break these two runs he will require all of his coaching and man-management skills and above all the emergence of some genuine playing talent in the next 18 months.

On a side note The R&A announcement stated that the appointment was for a “two year term” which potentially still leaves the door ajar for Paul McGinley to take up the role when the 51st Walker Cup match is played at his beloved Lahinch G.C. in Ireland in 2026. McGinley had been strongly rumoured to be the ‘name in the frame’ for 2024 but perhaps stepped back from the position as lucrative US television commentating opportunities have recently opened up for him.

*Two USA captains to date were previously professionals. Jim Holtgrieve (2011, 2013) turned professional in 1998 aged 50 and played on the Champions Tour for a few years. His amateur status was re-instated by the USGA in 2007. Nathaniel Crosby (2019, 2021), was a professional golfer primarily on the European Tour between 1984-87.

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