158. Lahinch G.C. To Host The 2026 Walker Cup Match

10th July 2023

The R&A have announced that Lahinch Golf Club, located on the west coast of Ireland, will host the 51st Walker Cup match on 5th-6th September 2026.

The biennial match is moving to even years from 2026 so that it is not held in the same year as the World Amateur Team Championships. It will therefore follow on quickly from the 2025 contest being played at Cypress Point G.C. in California.

It will be the third occasion that the match has been played in Ireland with Lahinch following in the footsteps of Portmarnock (1991) and Royal County Down (2007).

The choice of Lahinch by the R&A ties in nicely with the rumours surrounding Paul McGinley as a likely future GB&I Walker Cup captain.

Lahinch Golf Club (Photo: Lahinch G.C.)

The famous links course was originally laid out by Old Tom Morris before Dr. Alistair Mackenzie re-designed it solely in the sandhills in 1926/27. Dr. Matin Hawtree completed a sympathetic restoration in the early 2000’s to bring it fully up to date.

Lahinch is the long standing home of the South of Ireland Amateur Championship which has been played annually since 1895. As such it is well known to the Irish amateur golfing community.

More recently it hosted the Dubai Duty Free Irish Open in 2019, an event won by Spain’s John Rahm. This Championship was hosted for the DP World Tour by McGinley.

As a precursor the 2024 Arnold Palmer Cup match between a mixed team of International and USA collegiate golfers is also being played at Lahinch.

Phil Anderton, Chief Development Officer at The R&A, said, “Lahinch is widely regarded as being one of the finest links courses in Ireland and so there will be great excitement at the prospect of the Walker Cup being played there for the very first time. 

“Whenever we have staged a championship or international match on the island of Ireland, we have always been fortunate to have Irish fans turn out in great numbers to support the competing golfers and generate a fantastic atmosphere.

“We look forward to enjoying another special occasion in 2026 when many of the world’s best men’s amateur golfers will represent Great Britain and Ireland and the United States of America to compete for this historic trophy.” 

Click here to read The R&A Announcement – ‘The 51st Walker Cup Match to be played at Lahinch in 2026’

ME.

Copyright © 2015-2023, Mark Eley. All rights reserved.

126. The 2021 R&A Men’s Home Internationals Are To Be Played In April

17th December 2020

The R&A have announced that the Men’s Home Internationals will now be played at Royal Dornoch G.C. in Scotland on 14-16 April 2021.

The decision has been made to assist Great Britain and Ireland’s (GB&I) preparations for the Walker Cup match against USA on 8-9 May 2021.

It now seems likely that the GB&I team will be selected immediately following the tournament and announced publically on Monday 19th April.

Royal Dornoch G.C. Championship Course (Photo: Royal Dornoch G.C.)

The R&A will be running the Men’s Home Internationals for the first time next year. They will be taking over from the four home golf unions that participate and have hosted it in turn since 1932.

The 2020 Home Internationals were scheduled to be played at Royal Dornoch G.C. on 9-11 September but were cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The 2021 event was due to be played at Hankley Common G.C. in England on 8-10 September but it appears they will now have to wait until 2022 for their turn.

The Home Internationals are contested by 11-man teams from England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales with the four countries playing each other over three successive days. Each match involves 5 foursomes and 10 singles, all played over 18 holes.

Ireland were champions four times between 2014-17 with England winning the title in 2018 and 2019.

It’s mid-September date in the amateur calendar has always been a surprise given it’s prestige and excellent basis for GB&I team selection. Mid-June to mid-August would be the ideal time for the Home Internationals to be staged as this would allow most of our U.S. college players to also participate.

It is worth noting that 7 of the recently announced 15 man 2021 GB&I Walker Cup Squad are studying in the United States. Their Spring seasons will be heading towards their NCAA Championship climax so these players won’t be able to participate in these ‘trials’.

An informal GB&I squad gathering will probably take place around the Jones Cup Invitational which is been played between 4-7 February 2021 and may involve a trip to Seminole GC.

The Raymond Trophy (Photo: Ayrshire Golf Blog)

ME.

Copyright © Mark Eley. All rights reserved.

97. Conor Purcell Wins The 2019 Australian Amateur Championship

20th January 2019

Ireland’s Conor PURCELL has won the Australian Men’s Amateur at Woodlands G.C. in Victoria.

Conor Purcell (© Golf Australia)

He beat Nathan BARBIERI on the 37th hole of an exciting championship match after the Australian pulled an approach into the par 4 1st’s green and was unable to get up and down.

Purcell had led the Final 4 Up with 10 holes to play so having been pegged back will have been delighted to finally get the job done. His brother Gary, a tennis coach in Australia, caddied for him making it a family affair.

His victory comes with two nice playing exemptions; the ISPS Handa Vic Open (7-10 February) and the Emirates Australian Open (5-8 December).

In a nice gesture by Woodlands G.C. Conor was also awarded honorary membership of the host course at the prize giving.

Having chosen to leave the University of North Carolina, Charlotte after his sophomore year in 2018 this represents a superb start to the new season for the man from Malahide, near Dublin.

In my opinion he has now assured himself, even at this early stage, of a place in the 2019 Great Britain and Ireland 10-man Walker Cup team.

A win in 2019, a strong match play track record and a high ranking in the SPWAR tick the three main boxes I would be looking at as a selector.

Scratch Players World Amateur Ranking 20/01/19 – Conor Purcell

As you can see from the above table this victory lifted Conor to a career high of 20th in the Scratch Players World Amateur Ranking.

Having also reached the Semi-Finals of the 2018 Amateur Championship and Irish Amateur Close and enjoyed a winning record in last year’s Men’s Home internationals no one can question his match play credentials.

With some of the pressure now off him I expect Conor to continue to perform well this year. He can also look forward to the 2019 Amateur Championship, the most important event on the path to Walker Cup selection, being staged at his home club Portmarnock G.C. in June.

ME.

Copyright © Mark Eley. All rights reserved.

74. Ireland Win The 2017 Men’s Home Internationals

18th August 2017

The Men’s Home Internationals came to a dramatic conclusion this afternoon at Moortown Golf Club in Leeds.

The Raymond Trophy was won by IRELAND. They drew the deciding match with ENGLAND 7.5 – 7.5 but in doing so pipped the home nation by a half point in total match points earned, 26.5 against 26.0.

Ireland (Photo: Leaderboard Photography) 

This was Ireland’s fourth consecutive victory in the event, a national record for them in the long history of this competition.

For the second year running Colm CAMPBELL found himself in the all important  final Singles game. Once again he delivered. His half, having been 5 Down after 6 holes, against Jake BURNAGE pushed Ireland up to 7.5 points which they had known at the start of play would be enough for them to secure the title. 

Here is the final Points Table with the ‘Countback’ information at the bottom: –

Points Table (Photo: England Golf Event Microsite)

Click here to view the detailed – Men’s Home Internationals Results

With the Great Britain & Ireland (GB&I) Walker Cup squad due to be announced on Monday this was the final opportunity for many of our players to stake their claim.

Here is my Individual Performance analysis which is based on the Scratch Players World Amateur Ranking (SPWAR) approach to Team events: –

Clearly the big winners were Jack DAVIDSON (WAL) and Paul MCBRIDE (IRE) who certainly did themselves no harm with very strong individual performances.

ME.

Copyright © Mark Eley. All rights reserved.

65. England Win Silver At The European Men’s Amateur Team Championship

16th July 2017

The European Men’s Amateur Team Championship concluded yesterday at the Diamond CC in Austria. Spain were victorious beating England 4-3 in the Final.

ENGLAND came 2nd, SCOTLAND 5th, IRELAND 7th and WALES 16th.

So what does this mean from a Walker Cup perspective ?

Here’s my assessment of the individual performances of the 24 Great Britain & Ireland (GB&I) players who were competing. I have tried to take into account stroke play qualifying scores, match play results, singles or foursomes games played and the quality of the opposition faced.

For more information on this event please take a look at my GolfBible article – European Men’s Amateur Team Championship – 2017 Preview, Results & Reports (15/07/17)

There are now just 36 days until the GB&I team is announced, assuming this will take place on 21st August, the day after the US Amateur finishes.

In conclusion events in Austria largely confirmed my initial thoughts on our team selection with most of the players previously listed doing well.

Unfortunately those on the periphery, save for Scott GREGORY, largely failed to take advantage of the opportunity this Championship gave them to state their cases more forcibly. England’s Gian-Marco PETROZZI also showed that his Walker Cup race may not yet be run with two singles wins.

Jack SINGH BRAR chose to make himself unavailable for England last week, preferring to travel to New York to try and qualify for the US Amateur. A potentially high risk strategy but one that in the end paid off. He won the qualifier at Paramount CC by 4 shots with two rounds of 66. Results

So if I had to pick the GB&I Walker Cup team today this is who I would go for (in order): –

1. Matthew JORDAN (ENG)
2. Connor SYME (SCO)
3. Jack SINGH BRAR (ENG)
4. Liam JOHNSTON (SCO)
5. Craig HOWIE (SCO)
6. Robert MACINTYRE (SCO)
7. Alfie PLANT (ENG)
8. Harry ELLIS (ENG) *
9. David BOOTE (WAL)
10. Paul MCBRIDE (IRE)

* Selection supposedly confirmed following Amateur Championship win.

I think the first eight, probably nine, in the above list are increasingly secure based on 2017 results and current form. With there being four each from both England and Scotland one would hope foursomes pairings could be found fairly easily amongst them too.

David BOOTE continues to be a consistent performer with a number of solid results this season. When you add in his four years experience of playing in the US at Stanford – let’s not forget the 2017 match is an AWAY one – you have to say his exclusion from our 2017 team would be a big surprise. With Jack DAVIDSON having lost a bit of form in recent weeks the potential all Welsh foursomes partnership appears to be drifting away from his case though. Nevertheless I am sure there will be a list of team mates delighted to have him as their partner in Los Angeles.

Paul MCBRIDE qualified well in Austria (-3 / Tied 2nd) but will have been disappointed to lose all three of his singles games, albeit these were all tight affairs – two were by 1 hole and the other on the 19th. McBride has played very well since returning home from the US and what gives him the edge for me at the moment is his three years of US College experience. McBride will be a Senior at Wake Forest next Autumn. Interestingly one of his teammates, Will Zalatoris, has a good chances of making the US team too. It was also interesting to read this morning that McBride has been granted a place in the European Tour’s Porsche European Open in Hamburg in two week’s time. If he can make the cut there then that would certainly be a huge boost to his chances.

Whilst by no means the primary concern, which is of course selecting the best team to win, BOOTE and McBRIDE also enable a full house to be delivered, i.e. a representative from all four of the GB&I nations to be included. This hasn’t happened that often in recent years but would no doubt be beneficial for the profile of the match on our side of the Atlantic.

After this week it is probably Scott GREGORY now, rather than Jack DAVIDSON, Robin DAWSON or John Ross GALBRAITH, who is pushing hardest for inclusion. Whilst he was only the tied 10th best GB&I stroke play qualifier Scott once again showed what a tough match player he is in the later stages.

So what events are left that can move the GB&I Walker Cup dial over the next four weeks ?

First up are the closed English, Scottish and Welsh Amateur Championships which are all being played at the start of August. The Irish Amateur continues to be played in late August, starting this year on 22nd. In a Walker Cup year this is a huge scheduling error and one that could prove costly in a tight selection race, particularly as things stand for Paul MCBRIDE. *

*The South of Ireland Championship starts on 26th July and whilst not as prestigious as the Irish Amateur in fact may be more important this year.

The US Amateur (14-20 August) is of course the big one but I anticipate that will have a relatively limited GB&I field with no more than 8 of our players competing.

The Men’s Home Internationals (16-18 August) will also be an important event but as it is scheduled against the US Amateur some of it’s value to the selectors will inevitably be lost.

ME.

Copyright © Mark Eley. All rights reserved.

35. Look Who’s In The 2016/17 Home Nation Squads

4th December 2016

Over the last few weeks each of the home nations has announced their 2016/17 national men’s squads.

England have selected 16 players, Ireland 24, Scotland 11 and Wales 7.

Given that these 58 players will receive most of the funding and best coaching it is very likely that the majority of our 2017 Walker Cup squad will come from within their ranks.

Of course a number of high quality players are playing in the US College system and in some cases they have not been selected by their national unions. Sam Horsfield, David Wicks, Billy McKenzie and Euan Walker fall into this group.

Here is the complete list of 58 selections (with rankings as at 4th December): –England
Dan Brown 22 (Masham) – SPWAR 167 / WAGR 124
Scott Gregory 22 (Corhampton) – SPWAR 49 / WAGR 6
Harry Hall 19 (West Cornwall) – SPWAR 243 / WAGR 242
Josh Hilleard 21 (Farrington Park) – SPWAR 189 / WAGR 505
Bradley Moore 19 (Keddleston Park) – SPWAR 174 / WAGR 46
Marco Penge 18 (Golf at Goodwood) – SPWAR 122 / WAGR 81
Alfie Plant 24 (Sundridge Park) – SPWAR 48 / WAGR 48
Sean Towndrow 25 (Southport & Ainsdale) – SPWAR 1,122 / WAGR 746

England A
George Bloor 21 (Cavendish) – SPWAR 260 / WAGR 633
Jake Burnage 21 (Saunton) – SPWAR 434 / WAGR 591
Tom Gandy 24 (Rowany) – SPWAR 599 / WAGR 550
Matthew Jordan 20 (Royal Liverpool) – SPWAR 472 / WAGR 440
Josh McMahon 21 (Wallasey) – SPWAR 461/ WAGR 901
Gian-Marco Petrozzi 19 (Trentham) – SPWAR 221 / WAGR 307
Will Whiteoak 22 (Shipley) – SPWAR 982 / WAGR 770
Jack Yule 22 (Middleton Hall) – SPWAR 242 / WAGR 273

Ireland – National Panel
Colm Campbell (Warrenpoint) – SPWAR 107 / WAGR 148
Robin Dawson (Tremor) – SPWAR 164 / WAGR 326
Colin Fairweather (Knock) – SPWAR 671 / WAGR 365
John Ross Galbraith (Whitehead) – SPWAR 112 / WAGR 208
Alex Gleeson (Castle) – SPWAR 147 / WAGR 156
Stuart Grehan (Tullamore) – SPWAR 103 / WAGR 58
Rowan Lester (Hermitage) – SPWAR 523 / WAGR 518
Paul McBride (The Island) – SPWAR 79 / WAGR 127
Tiarnán McLarnon (Massereene) – SPWAR 409 / WAGR 679
Conor O’Rourke (Naas) – SPWAR 238 / WAGR 235
Conor Purcell (Portmarnock) – SPWAR 568 / WAGR 298
Jonathan Yates (Naas) – SPWAR 729/ WAGR 486
Sean Flanagan (County Sligo) – SPWAR 419 / WAGR 797
Jordan Hood (Galgorm Castle) – SPWAR 486 / WAGR 911
Daniel Holland (Castle) – SPWAR 1,053 / WAGR 783
Mark Power (Kilkenny) – SPWAR 827 / WAGR 2,137
Kevin Le Blanc (The Island) – SPWAR 581 / WAGR 615

Ireland – Development Panel
Cathal Butler (Kinsale) – SPWAR 2,059 / WAGR 1,668
Peter Kerr (Royal Portrush) – SPWAR 1,229 / WAGR 1,577
Neil McKinstry (Cairndhu) – SPWAR 1,653 / WAGR 1,699
Ronan Mullarney (Galway) – SPWAR 470 / WAGR 754
John Murphy (Kinsale) – SPWAR 1,085 / WAGR 1,510
Caolan Rafferty (Dundalk) – SPWAR 741 / WAGR 418
Jake Whelan (Newlands) – SPWAR 671 / WAGR 2,221

Scotland
Matthew Clark 7/11/81 (Kilmacolm) – SPWAR 356 / WAGR 352
Calum Fyfe 28/05/97 (Cawder) – SPWAR 119 / WAGR 266
Craig Howie 27/08/94 (Peebles) – SPWAR 73 / WAGR 65
Barry Hume 30/01/82 (Haggs Castle) – SPWAR 216 / WAGR 102
Liam Johnston 01/01/93 (Dumfries & County) – SPWAR 127 / WAGR 212
Robert MacIntyre 03/08/96 (Glencruitten) – SPWAR 23 / WAGR 11
Graeme Robertson 20/06/88 (Glenbervie) – SPWAR 416 / WAGR 100
Euan McIntosh 24/02/69 (Turnhouse) – SPWAR 353 / WAGR 87
Craig Ross 08/02/93 (Kirkhill) – SPWAR 81 / WAGR 47
Sandy Scott 28/06/88 (Nairn) – SPWAR 106 / WAGR 149
Connor Syme 11/07/95 (Drumoig) – SPWAR 14 / WAGR 21

Wales
Ben Chamberlain 18 (Padeswood and Buckley) – SPWAR 1,321 / WAGR 883
Jack Davidson 18 (Llanwern) – SPWAR 568 / WAGR 407
Joshua Davies 19 (Celtic Manor) – SPWAR 370 / WAGR 449
Owen Edwards 23 (Llanwern) – SPWAR 309 / WAGR 182
Evan Griffith 21 (Conwy) – SPWAR 830/ WAGR 377
David Boote 22 (Walton Heath) – SPWAR 21 / WAGR 28
Tom Williams 18 (Wrexham) – SPWAR 764 / WAGR 523

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Copyright © Mark Eley. All rights reserved.