Amateur Scene: When Ireland's Noel Fox and Colm Moriarty line-up this week at Ganton Golf Club in the Walker Cup they will not be short of experience, if needed, from other members of the GB & Ireland team.
England's Gary Wolstenholme is playing on his fifth consecutive Walker Cup team. He has enjoyed team victories in 1995, 1999 and 2001, while Nigel Edwards was a member of the winning 2001 team.
Wolstenholme has also enjoyed plenty of success in his amateur career, including the 1991 and 2003 British Amateur titles, but maybe none as notable as his singles win over Tiger Woods in the 1995 Walker Cup match at Royal Porthcawl Golf Club in Wales - in the same competition Ireland's Jody Fanagan also took a point from Woods in the foursomes.
Wolstenholme, who was consistently out-driven by 75 yards, won the last hole to beat Woods one up in a singles match on the first afternoon. Woods came back to beat Wolstenholme the next afternoon, 4 and 3.
Never before has the GB & Ireland team won three-in-a-row against the US and the Irish pair can this weekend play an important part in creating another piece of golfing history at Ganton.
Moriarty has recovered from the illness that forced him to withdraw from the European Individual Championship at Nairn in Scotland last week. And the Athlone man will be looking to reprise the form that won him two titles in Australia, where he took victory in the New South Wales Medal and Matchplay Championships, earlier in the season.
Moriarty also finished runner-up in the South of Ireland Championship at Lahinch, was second in the prestigious Duncan Putter, enjoyed a high placing in the Lytham Trophy and eighth in the Irish Amateur Open.
Fox has been one of the stars of Irish amateur golf in recent years and again won the Willie Gill Order of Merit title after another success in the Irish Amateur Strokeplay Championship at Royal Dublin and finishing well up in the Lytham Trophy.
Team captain Garth McGimpsey, from Bangor, is also a proven winner, having played on the Walker Cup sides of 1985, the year he won the British Amateur title, 1989 and 1991.
The US team, however, can boast of the youngest and oldest players in this year's competition.
Casey Wittenberg (18), of Memphis, Tennessee, is the youngest USA Walker Cup player since Brian Montgomery was named in 1987, at 18 years and eight months (two months younger than Wittenberg).
At the other end of age spectrum is George Zahringer (50), of New York, the oldest USA player since Bill Campbell was selected at the age of 53 in 1975.
Play begins on Saturday with four foursomes in the morning followed by eight singles in the afternoon, with the same again on Sunday.
US captain Bob Lewis was runner-up at three USGA championships, including the 1980 US Amateur, where, at age 35, he lost to Hal Sutton at the Country Club of North Carolina, 9 and 8. He also was runner-up at the 1981 and 1983 US Mid-Amateur Championships. He has qualified for the last three USGA Senior Amateur championships (age 55 and older).
Captain McGimpsey will be seeking a repeat of two years ago when Luke Donald, Nick Dougherty and the then reigning British Amateur champion Michael Hoey each won twice on the last day to rally the Great Britain and Ireland team to a 15-9 win at Ocean Forest Golf Club in Sea Island.
GB & Ireland won six matches and halved another out of the eight singles matches on Sunday afternoon to pull away. GB&I had led by just 8½ to 7½ after the morning foursomes. The USA team led 6½ to 5½ after play on Saturday.
This year's venue is sure to bring out the best in both teams. Ganton Golf Club has a rich history that includes hosting many championships and having one of the finest ever golfers, Harry Vardon, as club professional for a time.
The British Amateur has been held at Ganton three times (1964, 1977 and 1991). The Ryder Cup was held at Ganton in 1949 and the Curtis Cup match was held there in 2000.
Harry Vardon, winner of six British Open titles between 1896 and 1914, was the head professional at Ganton from 1896 to 1903. He won three of his British Open titles and a US Open crown (1900) while working at Ganton.
Great Britain & Ireland
Nigel Edwards (35) Caerphilly, Wales
Noel Fox (29) Portmarnock, Ireland
Graham Gordon (23) Aberdeen, Scotland
David Inglis (21) Roslin, Scotland
Stuart Manley (24) Mountain Ashe, Wales
Colm Moriarty (24) Athlone, Ireland
Michael Skelton (19) Redcar, England
Oliver Wilson (22) Mansfield, England
Stuart Wilson (26) Forfar, Scotland
Gary Wolstenholme (43) Market Harborough, England
Captain: Garth McGimpsey (48) Bangor, N Ireland
United States
Bill Haas (25) Greer, South Carolina
Matt Hendrix (22) Aiken, South Carolina
Trip Kuehne (31) Dallas, Texas
Brock Mackenzie (21) Yakima, Washington
Ryan Moore (21) Puyallup, Washington
Chris Nallen (21) Hackettstown, New Jersey
Adam Rubinson (23) Fort Worth, Texas
Lee Williams (21) Alexander City, Alabama
Casey Wittenberg (18) Memphis, Tennessee
George Zahringer (50) New York
Captain: Bob Lewis (59) Pepper Pike, Ohio
