Weekend Wrap - Restored Faith Edition

As you've likely noticed, your humble bloggers has been short on blogging motivation recently, perhaps that phenomenon known in the trade as Blogger Burnout.  But, underneath the laziness is a profoundly diminished interest in the game as it's presented.  I mean, if you've seen Wyndham Clark improve his lie once, you're good for the long term....

The majors are still great and there are all those Cups, a ridiculous three in a four-week stretch.  But this weekend was quite the breath of fresh air, with the first (and perhaps best) of those Cups featured at one of my favorite places in golf, Lahinch.  The first thing you'll notice about Lahinch, or rather the first thing I noticed, is it's design credit, Old Tom Morris and Dr. Alister MacKenzie, two of the most storied names in our game, but names that rarely appear together (I did find two additional citations of course they both worked on, but neither obviously of this class.

I love that credit, but what I love most is that the Good Doctor knew what to leave alone, as per this AI slop:

Old Tom Morris laid out the original links in 1894 and created famous holes like the Klondyke and the Dell. Dr. Alister MacKenzie remodeled the course in 1927, though he left Morris's iconic 4th and 5th holes untouched.

Before we get into the dramatic Walker Cup, let me share this absurd photo I took of my TV screen.  This spectacular aerial came up as I was watching Sunday's action on tape, and I wanted to remind Theresa of these golf holes (from a 2007 trip).  Finding it later would have been a hassle, so I just grabbed a sort-of screenshot.

It's been photographed twice, so you'll have to trust me that it's dramatically flattened, those dunes being much more dramatic than they seem here (in fact, the largest dunes in links golf are found right here, on Ireland's Wild Atlantic Coast).  

The tee for the fourth hole, Klondyke, is on the water just under USA on the top left.  The hole plays directly inland (downwind) through that narrow corridor between the dunes.  It's quite a narrow fairway, though the dunes tend to kick near misses down.  Where it gets interesting is that perpendicular line of dunes, over which you play to that geeen at the bottom-middle, tucked right against Liscannor Road.  There's often a traffic cop at the top of that dune, because those shots to the green are played over the 18th hole walking path.  

Then the players turn back to the sea, facing a one-shotter unlike any other in golf.  It's called Dell, and Old Tom had them playing gutta perchas to that green nestled between two massive dunes, with a white stone placed on the fronting dune to indicate hole location.  Here's an image of the green that I grabbed:

Like the Road Hole, these are holes that couldn't be built today, but I just love that MacKenzie knew to leave it be.

I hope you watched some of it, because it was quite the thing.  It so happened that Sunday was my planned day of rest during the long holiday weekend, and that was fortunate for sure.  Golf Channel shocked me by expanding the TV window from the usual two hours per day to, well, all of it, and placed it on a weekend that has become a sports desert.

So, how did it go?

Is the Walker Cup golf’s greatest team event? It’s been making the case

They don't look like they're enjoying the event at all, so they?

The lede of that piece does dispel some of the myths:

Did you watch this Walker Cup at Lahinch, in Ireland? Maybe you were one of the 8,000 or so people on hand, watching up close. (Single-day tickets were about $50; kids were free.) Maybe you were watching on Golf Channel, with the American Curtis Cup star Emilia Migliaccio Doran and the former GB&I Walker Cup player Paul McGinley presiding. Poor McGinley, about the most refreshing voice in golf broadcasting today and an Irishman’s Irishman. He must be worn out. He was wearing his big heart on his green sleeve as he practically begged the home 10 to scratch out this half-point or that one.

In the end, his prayers were answered. In this 51st edition of the Walker Cup, the two-day event that unfolds with stunning speed, Great Britain and Ireland defeated a stacked American team, 13.5 to 12.5. Sunday afternoon, in the decisive singles play, GB&I won seven matches, halved two and lost one. GB&I won the event for the first time since 2015. It was amazing.

People will say that the GB&I golfers have more experience playing links golf. That might be true, but seven of the fellas play college golf in the U.S. In other words, they play a lot of their golf shots in the air, often hot, humid and still air, to soft and watered greens. People will say that the GB&I golfers have more experience playing alternate shot. Hmm. Nobody has much experience playing alternate shot.

I didn't actually look at the byline before posting that header, but I instinctively knew who it was form this bit, thoughts that you'd have heard from your favorite blogger:

This was golf at its best.

In case you’re groggy:

THIS WAS GOLF AT ITS BEST!

Men’s professional golf, for many years and decades, was one of the coolest things on the world’s sporting stage because the golfers really, really seemed as if this most difficult and cerebral game meant more to them than the money they earned (not discounting that as a motivation). In recent years, a small group of elite male pros have disabused us of that notion. For years and decades, the Ryder Cup, featuring the best American pros playing the best European pros, was the biggest TV show in golf — until the players, the captains, the broadcast partners and the media in general started emphasizing all the wrong things, and the heart of the matter — match-play golf — got trampled.

In its place: the rise and rise of Walker Cup golf.

I realize this next part will seem to be sacrilegious to many, many golf purists. But the Walker Cup — which will be played in even-numbered years going forward, with Bandon Dunes next in 2028 — is in a great spot to become the greatest team event in all of golf. Because the Walker Cup is all about the golfers, the golf they play, the courses where they play it.

Sure, though the Walker Cup has always been big.  It's just that the pictures Tour got small.... What Mike Bamberger is describing is that which has had your humble blogger rooting for the Euros at the last few Ryder Cups.

But, let me ask you, how can Mikey get the diagnosis so correct, yet be so off base on the treatment protocol?

This is the part some people will despise: In the name of competitive balance and some other things, the GB&I team could be expanded to include amateurs from Continental Europe, just as the GB&I Ryder Cup team became the European Ryder Cup team in 1979. The lovely and quaint custom by which Walker Cup captains are amateur golfers themselves could be lifted, too. This year’s GB&I captain, Dean Robertson, is a professional golfer, but he was never a household name as a touring pro, to say the least. The Americans have generally had lifelong amateurs as captains, including Bob Jones and Fred Ridley, as well as the late Jay Sigel, who later turned pro.

But can you imagine Tiger Woods as an American Walker Cup captain? Or Rory McIlroy as a European Walker Cup captain? With the event at Pine Valley or Bandon Dunes or Portrush or St. Andrews? With a few months of buildup on Golf Channel and in golf publications so we can get to know these players before they enter the fray?

How good could that all be?

As good as this 2026 Walker Cup at Lahinch.

Mike, if I understand you, the solution is to take the folks who ruined professional golf for you and turn them loose on the amateur game?  Ummm, put me down as a hard NO!

More importantly, can you imagine that Tiger Woods guy driving on Liscannar Road? 

As you can imagine, Geoff has a detail-rich post on the event, though his thoughts on the venue are unfortunately behind his paywall.  Here's some of recitation of the Sunday drama:

Just the way Captain Dean Robertson chalked it up in his backpack of tricks.

America, Foursomes specialists.

Great Britain & Ireland, Singles slayers.

In what instantly became GB&I’s greatest Walker Cup comeback and the most shocking turnaround in match history, the George Herbert Walker’s game-growing gift will remain on this

side of the Atlantic for the first time since 2015.

A devastating 4-0 morning Foursomes loss in what’s normally USA’s format nemesis left GB&I three points behind heading into Singles, where they’ve been 49 points worse since 2005.

With USA leading 9.5 to 6.5 at lunchtime, GB&I needed seven of ten points on offer to prevent the Americans from taking the Walker Cup home.

Geoff inadvertently ruined the suspense for me, although it was of course my own damn fault.  I checked my e-mail while watching the singles, never dreaming he'd have a post up that quickly.  Though, it provided a different slant on things.  I saw the outcome just as the Americans began their late push back, and listened to the commentators assuring us that the Yanks had a lock on matters....Admittedly, even knowing the end result, i was hard to see where the pints would come from on the scoreboard.

Robertson frontloaded his afternoon lineup in a desperate bid to put blue on the few boards around Lahinch.

Home country favorite Stuart Grehan opened slowly before closing strong just as he had in all of his matches.

“I was nearly asleep after [the morning session],” Grehan said. “I was so deflated. I have to say the lads came in -- in fairness, I think Tyler might have said, we're still in this. Once the tunes got going, I was like F it.”

Luke Poulter was next, holding off a resurgent Ethan Fang 3&1 in the second contest.

Jack Whaley, the U.S. Amateur champion, then smoked William Jennings in an 8&7 shocker given how well the impressive American played up to that point.

Tyler Weaver then knocked off Western Amateur champion and U.S. Amateur runner-up Jay Leng 4&3.

With GB&I’s Conner Graham trailing the steady American phenom Miles Russell and the final two matches featuring an injured Ben Bolton and struggling Sam Easterbrook, the focus turned to Eliot Baker leading a persistent Stewart Hagestad, Josh Hill up in his match against Tyler Watts, and Niall Sheils Donegan in the fifth match out against Kihei Akino.

Grehan was amazing, a Mid-Am holding off the best amateur player on the planet.  And it got crazy at the end, ultimately decided by a bunker shot on a par with Matt Fitzpatrik or Bryson:

With Hill in the front right bunker in two and Watts facing an 18-footer for birdie, both Captains

descended on their players. Nathan Smith, USA’s easy-going leader, typically shies away from intervening.

“I just didn’t want him to be out there on an island by himself,” Smith said. “I think that can be pretty engulfing when you feel like you’re out there by yourself and 10,000 people surround you.”

Robertson also approached Hill, who knew they were still in the match.

“Dean came up to me by the bunker, and I asked him, do I need a half point or a full point? He said a full point, so I was like, ‘all right, let’s step up and hit a golf shot, and I hit a golf shot.’”

Hill said he wouldn’t have played the shot any differently regardless of Robertson’s answer.

“I was walking through the crowd hoping that it was good, but it obviously wasn’t, but it was nice to hole the putt and have that winning moment.”

Have I mentioned that I've met Nathan Smith?

That's him shaking hands with Kent St. Charles, our old friend from Willow Ridge, in U.S. Open qualifying.  He was just the complete gentleman.

Shall we sample from the Tour Confidential gang?

Great Britain & Ireland won the 51st Walker Cup Sunday at Lahinch in Ireland, storming back to take seven of 10 points in Sunday singles to stun the Americans, win 13.5-12.5 and

claim their first victory in the event for the first time in the last six meetings. How in the world did they pull this off?

Zephyr Melton: Momentum is a hell of a thing. Winning the first four points of the singles session (in fairly dominant fashion) was huge for their self-belief. From there, they rode the momentum and energy from the home crowd to one heck of a victory.

Josh Schrock: Zeph nailed it. They grabbed “Uncle Mo,” thanks to big wins by Stuart Grehan, Jack Whaley, Luke Poulter and Tyler Weaver, got the home crowd into it and made the Americans press. Everything had to go their way, and it did. Sports!

Jack Hirsh: They flipped the script. In recent history, the Americans have dominated in singles while the GB&I team has been extremely successful in foursomes, the only team format the Walker Cup uses. This week, it was the opposite. On the strength of the foursomes sweep Sunday morning, the American team won the eight foursomes matches for the week for the first time since 2019. But GB&I were able to halve Saturday’s singles session and then pull ahead with the impressive 7-3 run Sunday afternoon.

Truly the Bizarro Walker Cup, with the U.S. sweeping foursomes and getting crushed in singles.  Love the chaos... Grehan was amazing in how he held off Preston Stout, the top-ranked amateur in the world.  I'd put it up there with Brian Barnes beating Nicklaus in two consecutive singles matches in the Ryder Cup.

GB&I held a 6.5-5.5 lead after Day 1, although the Americans won all four Sunday foursomes matches to take a 9.5-6.5 lead into singles. With the Americans winning the last five Walker Cups, did you think it was over heading into Sunday singles? What was the biggest turning point on Sunday?

Melton: It was hard not to think the Americans were on their way to yet another win. With a clean sweep in the morning, it looked as though the Walker Cup would be coming back to the States yet again. That is, to everyone except those in the GB&I team room. What a comeback from the lads.

Schrock: After the Sunday morning sweep, I thought it was over, especially with Preston Stout and Ethan Fang going out early. Even if they lost, Miles Russell, Tyler Watts and Ryder Cowan looked like an unbreakable firewall in the back. That was wrong.

Hirsh: Because of the past dominance in singles, it’s usually a safe bet

Heck, the Americans had it won with only a few matches left on the course Sunday afternoon.  They ended it as they began it Saturday morning, by losing the 18th hole time after time.  In those last two matches on the course, they needed only one halve on No. 18 to fly home with the hardware.

Hasn't this already been asked and answered?

And your 2026 Walker Cup MVP is…

Melton: Give me Stuart Grehan. He was matched up against top-ranked amateur Preston Stout in all four sessions, and came away with 2.5 points — including victories in both singles matches. That’s some heady stuff.

Schrock: It’s Grehan by a mile.

Hirsh: Can’t even debate this, Grehan. Only mid-am. Only Irishman. Goes toe-to-toe with the No. 1 amateur. This is the stuff amateur players dream of.

But, much as I agree, good luck with this:

The Walker Cup visited places like Cypress Point, St. Andrews and Seminole ahead of this year’s meeting at Lahinch, and in two years it’s heading to Bandon Dunes in Oregon. Does the Walker Cup have the best course collection of venues among all of golf’s premier events? And what could a certain organization that’s beginning to iron out details for a new, reinvented match-play postseason come 2028 learn from the Walker Cup?

Melton: Venues matter! I was at the 2021 Walker Cup at Seminole and it was one of my favorite events I’ve ever covered. When fans get a glimpse at some of golf’s most hallowed grounds, it only elevates the interest in the event. As far as the best collection of courses goes, the only event that can compete is the Curtis Cup, whose future venues include Royal Dornoch(!), NGLA(!!), Pine Valley(!!!), Cypress Point(!!!!) and Seminole(!!!!!). There are no events that can stack up with a list like that.

Schrock: Yes and the Walker Cup’s secret sauce is not caring about infrastructure or big crowds and going to small, historic venues that we don’t ever get to see and won’t host big PGA Tour events or majors. Best event in golf.

Hirsh: Agree with my colleagues here. It’s amazing how nobody seems to care what par is in a match play event. No one cared that the last two hosts are under 7,000 yards from the tips when it’s match play, despite the fact that the players on the teams are some of the longest in golf. Just take it to a great golf course and let the golf take care of itself. Nothing else. And as Zephyr brings up Royal Dornoch — a course notably shorter than 6800 yards — hosting the Curtis Cup, I would love to see it added to the Walker Cup rota, with the R&A only having selected one future venue.

The venues have been crazy great, a hug home run. 

However, a bit of cold water is called for.  The organization to whom the questioner is speaking is about to take a Prez Cup to dreary Medinah.   Draw your own conclusions...

There's always more to cover, but we have some issues here at the house that I need to jump on.  I'll wish you a great week and we'll catch up as life allows.