Walker Cup 2023 – Walker Cup

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

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.

157. USA’s Three 2023 WAGR Picks Are Confirmed

21st June 2023

In line with the USGA’s International Team Selection Working Group’s (ITS) guidance provided in May we now know the first three members of USA’s 2023 Walker Cup team.

David Ford, Gordon Sargent & Michael Thorbjornsen (Photo: USGA)

The three highest ranked American players in the World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR) on 21st June 2023, namely Gordon SARGENT (20) #1, Michael THORBJORNSEN (21) #2 and David FORD (20) #3, have all secured automatic selections.

All three play in the U.S. college system. Next season Sargent will be a junior at Vanderbilt, Thorbjornsen a senior at Stanford and Ford a junior at University of North Carolina.

Sargent who currently has 16 PGA TOUR University Accelerated points will gain 2 more when he represents USA at the Walker Cup. When a player reaches 20 points and has completed their junior season (as a minimum) they become eligible for a full PGA Tour card for the rest of that season and the one after that. With other amateur and pro events coming up this summer ahead of his September trip to St. Andrews Sargent looks very likely to become the first player to complete this route to the Tour.

The three selectees all attended the USA’s Squad practice session in Jupiter, Florida in December 2022.

The ITS will name a second set of additional players to the 10-man team in late July and then round things off following the completion of the U.S. Amateur Championship on 20th August 2023.

WAGR Top 10 21st June 2023 Release (Graphic: WAGR)

Whilst the match is never played on paper USA players currently occupy nine places in the latest WAGR top 10 and fifteen in the top 20.

Click here to view the current – WAGR Men’s Ranking

Click here to view my earlier article – ‘155. USGA Provides 2023 Walker Cup USA Team Selection Timetable’

ME.

154. GB&I Squad Practice At St. Andrews

31st March 2023

10 Great British & Irish (GB&I) players met in St Andrews on Thursday 30th and Friday 31st March for a two day practice session on the Old Course.

From the original squad, announced in December 2022, Josh BERRY (ENG), Hugh FOLEY (IRL), John GOUGH (ENG), Connor GRAHAM (SCO), Liam NOLAN (IRL), Peter O’KEEFFE (IRL), Dylan SHAW-RADFORD (ENG), Harley SMITH (ENG) and Tyler WEAVER (ENG) all attended.

Gregor TAIT (SCO), who performed well in Australia and South Africa in early 2023, has been added to the squad and was also invited to Fife by Captain Stuart Wilson.

Gregor Tait Practices at St. Andrews (Photo: The R&A)

10 members of the original squad were unable to attend.

Thanks to the Faldo Series James ASHFIELD (WAL), Arron EDWARDS-HILL (ENG) and Robert MORAN (IRL) have all been playing on the Challenge Tour in India over the last two weeks. Edwards-Hill encouragingly made the cut in both events.

Barclay BROWN (ENG), Archie DAVIES (WAL), Josh HILL (ENG), Mark POWER (IRL) and Calum SCOTT (SCO) continue to represent their colleges in the United States. They will return to these shores in June.

Frank KENNEDY (ENG) lives in Florida and U.S. Mid-Amateur champion Matt MCCLEAN (IRL) is also over in the States preparing for his Masters appearance next week.

Captain Wilson said “It’s a good opportunity for us to get together, bond and gel as a team. The majority of the guys know one another but it’s a different dynamic coming together as a team. It’s about trying to foster all the good relationships and team spirit.”

“It’s also giving them familiarisation with St Andrews, the golf course and the places we might eat at during the week. We also had some local caddies to give us some more insight into how they might play the Old.”

“I think in any sport, whether it is football, golf, rugby, home advantage is something you would always like to have. We’re delighted it’s here at St Andrews and I would think the GB&I support will be pretty strong. Hopefully the guys feel comfortable playing in their own backyard.”

The final ten-man team will be announced in mid-August.

ME.