Alex Maguire’s selection on the Britain and Ireland team for next week’s 49th Walker Cup match against the United States over the Old Course at St Andrews is proof, if needed, that you can always let your clubs do the talking.
Omitted from the original squad of potential players when it was announced last year, Maguire — a 22-year-old from Laytown and Bettystown Golf Club who is on a scholarship to Florida Atlantic University — played his way into the 10-man team named yesterday after a season in which he won the prestigious St Andrews Links Trophy and successfully defended his East of Ireland championship.
Maguire is one of four Irish players to make the team for the match on September 2nd-3rd, along with Galway’s Liam Nolan (a winner of the Brabazon Trophy, the English Open strokeplay), Malone’s Matt McClean (last year’s US Mid Amateur winner) and Kilkenny’s Mark Power.
Of the quartet, only Power — who performed so well at Seminole in 2021, when he won 3½ points from a possible four — has already featured in the Walker Cup.
The full team is: Maguire, Power, McClean, Nolan (Ireland), James Ashfield (Wales), Jack Bigham, Barclay Brown, John Gough (England) and Calum Scott, Connor Graham (Scotland).
Meanwhile, three Irish golfers — Jack Murphy (Douglas), Donnacha Cleary (Tipperary) and Seán Keeling (Roganstown) — have been named on the Britain and Ireland team to face the continent of Europe in the Jacques Léglise Trophy at Chantilly in France this weekend.
Decision time has come for Suzann Pettersen, who will complete her team for next month’s Solheim Cup at Finca Cortesín in the south of Spain by announcing her four “wild card” picks (live on Sky Sports at 4pm).
Europe will be seeking a historic third straight win over the United States in the competition with eight players — Celine Boutier, Maja Stark, Charley Hull, Leona Maguire, Georgia Hall, Linn Grant, Carlota Cignada and Anna Nordqvist, who will also serve as a vice-captain — already qualified through the automatic process which concluded with the ISPS Handa World Invitational.
“We have never had such a strong group of players in terms of world rankings, the European players have been playing well this year and putting in strong performances across the board,” said Pettersen ahead of making her four selections.
All eight of those automatically qualified are inside the top 40 on the Rolex world rankings, with five players inside the top 20.
As for the wild cards? Expect to see Scotland’s Gemma Dryburgh and England’s Jodi Ewart Shadoff get two of them. And after that? Well, that’s going to be Pettersen’s call.
Word of Mouth
“I’m never satisfied with how my score is at the end of the day. Viktor is probably pretty happy with a 61, but if you ask him I’m sure he left one shot out there somewhere. Perfection is unattainable in this game, and that’s something I guess we’re always striving for but we always seem to fall short” — Scottie Scheffler on imperfection.
By the Numbers: 18,000,000
That’s the amount — in US dollars — that the winner of the Tour Championship and by extension the FedEx Cup will get following the PGA Tour’s season finale at East Lake in Atlanta this weekend.
On this day: August 22nd, 1993
In his early swashbuckling days on tour, when he was a birdie machine and played with no fear, Phil Mickelson was tailor-made for an event like The International which was annually held at Castle Pines Golf Club south of Denver in Colorado.
The altitude played a factor in allowing players to high unusually long drives and Mickelson — then 23 years of age — was the dominant player in recording a third career win on the PGA Tour, shooting 45 points in the modified Stableford format.
Lefty had rounds of 11-7-11-16 for 45 which gave him an eight-point winning margin over Mark Calcavecchia.
Under the modified format, players were rewarded for aggressive play: eight points for an albatross, five for an eagle, two for a birdie and none for a par. Bogeys were minus-one and double bogeys and worse minus-three. The International was the only PGA Tour event to feature the system and was played as part of the tour schedule from 1986 to 2006.
The significance of Mickelson’s win was that it moved him into the top 100 on the official world rankings for the first time in his career, only dropping out of that number last year after taking a break and on his move to LIV. His runner-up finish at the Masters in April enabled him return to the top 100, jumping from 425th to 72nd. He is now 95th.
Twitter Twaddle
An honour to be selected for this year’s Walker Cup and even more special that it’s at the home of golf. Thank you to everyone for their support. Can’t wait to get started next week. — Alex Maguire ready for another major milestone having played in the 151st Open at Hoylake last month.
Thanks for all the nice messages! Felt good to be back out competing and not playing like a complete turnip. Off to Prague next. — Eddie Pepperell, who bounced back from successive missed cuts to claim a season’s best third-place finish in the ISPS Handa World Invitational.
Viktor just keeps getting better and better; 28 on the back nine on a major-style golf course to shoot 61!! Are you kidding me!! — Luke Donald, rather glad that Viktor Hovland is on his Ryder Cup team.
In the Bag
Viktor Hovland — BMW Championship
Driver — Ping G425 LST (9 degrees).
3-wood —TaylorMade Stealth Plus (15 degrees).
Irons —Titleist U505 (3), Ping i210 (4-PW).
Wedges — Ping Glide 4.0 (50, 56 degrees), Ping Glide 2.0 (60 degrees).
Putter — Ping PLD DS 72 prototype.
Ball — Titleist ProV1.
Know the Rules
Q A player’s ball lies close to a bush, so they break off part of a branch that is interfering with the area of their intended swing. What is the ruling?
A The player gets a two-strokes penalty. This situation is covered by Rule 8.1a which includes such an action that “a player must not … move, bend or break away any growing or attached object” and, as such, the player must incur the penalty for their actions.
