John Gough – Walker Cup

16th August 2023

In line with The R&A’s stated selection policy John GOUGH (ENG), 24, and Barclay BROWN (ENG), 22, have today been confirmed as the first members of the 2023 Great Britain & Ireland (GB&I) team.

The R&A’s Selection Policy (Graphic: R&A Walker Cup Website Page)

John Gough is ranked 11th and Barclay Brown 25th in today’s World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR) making them eligible for the two WAGR-related automatic selections.

John follows in the footsteps of his younger brother Conor, 20, who represented GB&I in the 2019 match at Royal Liverpool G.C.

Nobody would question these selections as the two players are seasoned GB&I and England internationals with plenty of Championship experience. Both represented GB&I in last year’s St. Andrews Trophy match and were in The R&A’s initial 2023 Walker Cup squad.

Whilst both fully deserve their places in the team they will both arrive in St. Andrews with some question marks against them.

John Gough

Gough has enjoyed an outstanding last 18 months winning the Spanish Amateur, Lytham Trophy, the Australian Master of the Amateurs and the Irish Amateur Open.

However, since the Irish win in mid-May he has struggled to reach these heights and will need to regain his top form quickly if he is to play the leading role everyone has expected of him at St. Andrews for some time.

Barclay Brown

Brown, a rising 5th year senior at Stanford University in California, enjoyed a fairly uninspiring 4th season in U.S. collegiate golf. His 2022/23 performances were ranked 108th in the GolfWeek Sagarin ranking and 81st in the GolfStat ranking.

To his credit Barclay peaked superbly in late May and early June finishing tied 14th in his NCAA Regional, tied 4th in the NCAA Championship Stroke Play and then qualifying for this year’s U.S. Open Championship at Los Angeles C.C.

He hasn’t played that much over the summer and when he has his form has been a little bit patchy. It is also a little concerning that he has only played two competitive rounds of links golf in the last 12 months – a 78 and 73 (+7) for tied 60th in The Open Championship’s Final Qualifying event at West Lancashire G.C.

Brown’s 2023/24 Collegiate Record (Graphic: Stanford University)

The other GB&I players ranked in the latest WAGR top 100 are Calum SCOTT (SCO) 35th, Matt MCCLEAN (IRL) 52nd, Caolan RAFFERTY (IRL) 60th, James ASHFIELD (WAL) 71st, Max KENNEDY (IRL) 79th, Jack BIGHAM (ENG) 88th and Mark POWER (IRL) 94th.

The full GB&I team is expected to be announced next Monday (21st August) following the completion of the U.S. Amateur Championship and the R&A Boys’ Amateur Championship.

ME.

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.

Tag: John Gough

161. Gough and Brown Earn GB&I WAGR-Based Selection

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