Royal Porthcawl GC – Walker Cup

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.

22nd April 2020

The R&A and European Golf Association have announced the cancellation of the St Andrews Trophy due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The biennial international match between 9-man teams from Great Britain and Ireland and Continent of Europe was scheduled to take place at Royal Porthcawl on 23-24 July 2020.

The Continent of Europe were defending the St. Andrews Trophy having won it 15.5-9.5 at Linna Golf in Finland in 2018.

The match will next be played at Penati in Slovakia on 21-22 July 2022.

Royal Porthcawl G.C. (Photo: golfadvisor.com)

The cancellation, which had become inevitable in recent weeks, adds to the difficulties GB&I were already seeking to overcome in preparing for the 2021 Walker Cup match.

The Walker Cup is being contested next year at Seminole, Florida on 8-9 May so the GB&I selectors were faced with the prospect of having to choose a team without the normal benefit of having seen all of their players compete throughout the European amateur season.

The COVID-19 pandemic has now added to the challenge as it appears they are unexpectedly also going to lose out on evidence from a great deal of the 2020 season.

The copycat St. Andrews Trophy event, played in alternate years to the Walker Cup, provides an excellent early opportunity for GB&I to build team spirit and develop foursomes partnerships against top class opposition so represents a particular loss.

The 2020 St. Andrews Trophy match was also set to be Stuart Wilson’s first outing as GB&I men’s team captain.

ME.

Tag: Royal Porthcawl GC

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

118. The 2020 St. Andrews Trophy Match Is Cancelled