James Ashfield – Walker Cup

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.

ME.

146. The R&A Announce A 19 Player Squad For The 2023 Walker Cup

16th December 2022

The R&A have announced an initial squad of 19 players for the Great Britain and Ireland (GB&I) team to play the USA in the 49th Walker Cup match.

Here is a list of the players with their ages, golf clubs, nationalities and current world rankings (in alphabetical order): –

James ASHFIELD (21) – Delamere Forest, Wales
– SPWAR #204 / WAGR #195 *

Josh BERRY (17) – Doncaster, England
– SPWAR #199 / WAGR #960

Barclay BROWN (21) – Hallamshire / Stanford University – England
– SPWAR #80 / WAGR #34

Archie DAVIES (21) – Carlisle / East Tennessee State University – Wales
– SPWAR #64 / WAGR #65

Arron EDWARDS-HILL (23) – Chelmsford – England
– SPWAR #37 / WAGR #135

Hugh FOLEY (25) – Royal Dublin – Ireland
– SPWAR #62 / WAGR #142

John GOUGH (24) – Beaconsfield – England
– SPWAR #25 / WAGR #20

Connor GRAHAM (16) – Blairgowrie – Scotland
– SPWAR #146 / WAGR #249

Josh HILL (18) – Trump International Dubai – England
– SPWAR #322 / WAGR #55

Frank KENNEDY (17) – Trump National Jupiter – England
– SPWAR #274 / WAGR #127

Matthew MCCLEAN (29) – Malone – Ireland
– SPWAR #53 / WAGR #75

Robert MORAN (23) – Castle – Ireland
– SPWAR #70 / WAGR #101

Liam NOLAN (22) – Galway – Ireland
– SPWAR #135 / WAGR #335

Peter O’KEEFFE (41) – Douglas – Ireland
– SPWAR #155 / WAGR #298

Mark POWER (22) – Kilkenny / Wake Forest University – Ireland
– SPWAR #233 / WAGR #125

Calum SCOTT (19) – Nairn / Texas Tech. University – Scotland
– SPWAR #49 / WAGR #59

Dylan SHAW-RADFORD (17) – Huddersfield – England
– SPWAR #318 / WAGR #360

Harley SMITH (17) – The Rayleigh Club – England
– SPWAR #154 / WAGR #255

Tyler WEAVER (17) – Bury St Edmunds – England
– SPWAR #309 / WAGR #477

* Amateur rankings as at 16th December 2022.

Nine players from England, six from Ireland and two each from Scotland and Wales have been selected.

Barclay Brown and Mark Power are both aiming to play in their second Walker Cup having previously been selected at Seminole in 2021.

The final ten-man GB&I team will be announced in August just a few weeks before the match starts.

Whilst there are no major surprises in this squad announcement players who may consider themselves unlucky not to be included, assuming they haven’t unbeknown to me expressed an intention to turn pro shortly, include (in alphabetical order):-

Jack BIGHAM (ENG) – SPWAR #339 / WAGR #308

Jack BROOKS (ENG) – SPWAR #124 / WAGR #423

Paul CONROY (IRL) – SPWAR #162 / WAGR #724

Charlie CROCKETT (ENG) – SPWAR #161 / WAGR #421

Sam EASTERBROOK (ENG) – SPWAR #259 / WAGR #907

Will HOPKINS (ENG) – SPWAR #217 / WAGR #625

Alex MAGUIRE (IRL) – SPWAR #137 / WAGR #486

Gregor TAIT (SCO) – SPWAR #179 / WAGR #763

GB&I captain Stuart Wilson said, “We have selected a talented group of players who are key to our preparations for the Walker Cup and share our determination to win back the trophy from the United States of America.”

“We will be getting together in St Andrews so that the players can really get to grips with the Old Course, understand its subtleties and learn from those individuals who have vast experience of the links.”

“Our aim is to select a team which will give us the best chance of winning the match next year. In that regard, we will continue to monitor the players’ performances in amateur events over the coming months and provide them with support and advice. There is also still time for golfers not included in the squad to play their way into our plans and we will be keeping a close eye on their results too.”

The 2023 match is scheduled to be played on the Old Course in St. Andrews on the weekend of 2nd – 3rd September.

The second Walker Cup match, and first in Great Britain, was played on the Old Course on 18th and 19th May 1923 so the forthcoming fixture will mark the anniversary of this occasion.

ME.

142. GB&I Win The 2022 St. Andrews Trophy Match

25th July 2022

The 33rd St. Andrews Trophy match was played on Thursday 21st and Friday 22nd July at Penati Golf Resort in Slovakia.

The St. Andrews Trophy is played biennially in alternate years to the Walker Cup and like it’s ‘big brother’ consists of match play foursomes and singles games contested over two days in a team format.

Great Britain and Ireland (GB&I) beat Continent of Europe 14.5-10.5, regaining the trophy that had been lost in 2018.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic the 2020 match was cancelled with Royal Porthcawl G.C deferring it’s hosting until July 2024.

Arron EDWARDS-HILL (ENG), Mark POWER (IRL) and Calum SCOTT (SCO) were all unbeaten for GB&I in Slovakia.

Whilst all GB&I team victories should be valued and enjoyed it is important to put this one in context. Sadly the European Golf Association again struggled to attract their very best players to the match and therefore the opposition was far from top draw. None of this year’s team were in the SPWAR’s Continent of Europe top 10 and surprisingly just four were in the current top 30.

Great Britain & Ireland Team (Photo: EGA / The R&A)

The R&A Selection Committee, including Non-Playing Captain Stuart WILSON, announced GB&I’s nine man team for the match on 12th July.

With just over 400 days to go until the next Walker Cup this gives players – and interested observers – a strong indication of where they stand and how the potential GB&I team is shaping up.

Here is a list of the selected players, their current Scratch Players World Amateur Ranking (SPWAR) and their GB&I regional position in this ranking.

Sam BAIRSTOW (aged 24) – England #3 (1st)

Barclay BROWN (21) – England #54 (5th)

Archie DAVIES (21) – Wales #72 (7th)

John GOUGH (24) – England #13 (2nd)

Arron EDWARDS-HILL (23) – England #42 (3rd)

Matthew MCCLEAN (29) – Ireland #59 (6th)

Robert MORAN (23) – Ireland #52 (4th)

Mark POWER (22) – Ireland #193 (20th)

Calum SCOTT (19) – Scotland #74 (8th)

The Non-Travelling Reserves were James ASHFIELD (21) – Wales #175 (19th) and Olly HUGGINS (24) – England #126 (15th).

There were again no surprises in the selection and I would have picked the same nine players myself.

Captain Wilson’s foursomes pairings were a little surprising on both days as he chose to mix up the nations. The GB&I norm is for players from the same country to play together. John Gough (ENG) played with Rob Moran (IRL) on Day 1 and then Archie Davies (WAL) on Day 2. Sam Bairstow (ENG) & Matthew McClean (IRL), Mark Power (IRL) & Barclay Brown (ENG) and Arron Edwards-Hill (ENG) & Calum Scott (SCO) were paired on both days. Whilst GB&I were fortunate to come out of the first foursomes series with a 1.5-1.5 result they comfortably won the second one 3-1 so the choices were a success overall.

It will be interesting to see how many of these players are still amateur in a year’s time and, if they are, whether they have maintained their form sufficiently to be selected for our 2023 Walker Cup team at St. Andrews.

Conor Purcell (IRL) was the only player to play in both the 2018 St. Andrew Trophy and 2019 Walker Cup matches. Six of the former team turned professional before the end of 2018 thus ruling themselves out of the Walker Cup match at Royal Liverpool G.C. in the following September.

For more detail on thIS St. Andrews Trophy match please take a look at my preview and report on GolfBible – The St. Andrews Trophy Match – 2022 Preview & Results

ME.