Where are the men of 1991?

Britain & Ireland 10pts

Andrew Coltart

The Scot turned professional after the Walker Cup in Portmarnock, won his tour card in 1993 and has retained it every season since then. His first win as a professional came in the Scottish PGA in 1994 (which was part of the Challenge Tour) and his two wins on the European Tour came in the 1998 Qatar Masters and the 2001 Great North Open. He played Ryder Cup in 1999, losing to Tiger Woods in the singles at Brookline.

Gary Evans

Evans didn't waste time turning to life on tour, winning his European Tour card at the first time of asking in 1991. He became a journeyman professional, failing to win a tournament but retaining his card every season until 2005, when he sustained a back injury that has led him to retire from professional golf and seek out a career in broadcasting.

Padraig Harrington

One of three major winners to feature at Portmarnock - the other two being the Americans Phil Mickelson and David Duval - the Dubliner took his time moving to the paid ranks, playing a further two Walker Cup matches, in 1993 and 1995, before becoming a professional. His win in the British Open at Carnoustie in July is the highlight so far of a career that has seen him play on three winning Ryder Cup teams and top the European Tour order of merit in 2006.

Garry Hay

Then 32 and a reinstated amateur at the time of the Walker Cup, having previously sought in vain to pursue a professional career, the Scottish international finished playing international team golf in 1992 but has continued competing in championships, including the British Mid-Amateur, and still plays county golf with Angus in Scotland.

Garth McGimpsey

A career amateur who played international golf for Ireland for 21 consecutive years, McGimpsey - who works in the golf retail business - resisted the temptation to turn professional.

He was part of the first Britain & Ireland team to win on American soil, at Peachtree in 1989, and would go on to serve as Walker Cup captain in 2003 (at Ganton) and in 2005 (in Chicago).

Paul McGinley

McGinley turned professional after the Walker Cup at Portmarnock, immediately impacting in his new life as a professional when winning the European Under-25 Championship. It was a mere foretaste of what was to follow, as McGinley chalked up wins in the World Cup (with Padraig Harrington in 1997) and famously holed the winning putt in the Ryder Cup at the Belfry in 2002, the first of three winning appearances on the European team for the Dubliner.

Jim Milligan

Milligan had provided some of the heroics in Britain & Ireland's first ever win in the Walker Cup on American soil at Peachtree in 1989 and made his second appearance in the competition at Portmarnock . . . but the lure of business rather than life on tour appealed more and he now has his own successful construction company.

Jim Payne

Considered by many at the time to be the player most likely to succeed on tour, Payne turned professional after the Walker Cup and was "Rookie of the Year" on the PGA European Tour in 1992. That prognosis seemed accurate when he won the Balearic Open in 1993 and added the Italian Open in 1996, but he was plagued by serious back injury, which necessitated a spinal-fusion operation, and hasn't played full time on tour since 2000.

He is now the club professional at Southport and Ainsdale Golf Club.

Liam White

With a mother from Offaly and a father from Tipperary, making the 1991 Walker Cup team was the unquestioned high point of White's amateur career. He subsequently turned professional, securing a tour card at the first time of asking at tour school that November. But he failed to retain his card, and moved - with little success - from Challenge Tour to European Tour over the following few seasons, before dropping down to the mini-tours.

Ricky Willison

Willison gave up his job as a printer after the Walker Cup in an attempt to carve out a life on the European Tour. He was 32. It proved to be a tough ask, but he made a decent fist of it and won his tour card via the Challenge Tour in 1995 when he included a win in Tunisia en route to a top-10 finish.

He retained his tour card for the 1996, but lost it in 1997 and, after spending a couple of years assisting Peter McEvoy in the golf design business, he is now the resident professional at Ealing Golf Club.

United States 14pts

Allen Doyle

Doyle didn't turn professional until he was 46. But it was a good move. He won three times on the Nike Tour, the PGA Tour's second tier, and became eligible in July 1998 (when he turned 50) for the Champions Tour, where he has won 11 times, including successfully defending his US Seniors Open title in 2006. He has amassed over €8 million in career earnings on the Champions Tour.

David Duval

Duval's move to the professional ranks brought the anticipated honours, including reaching world number one in 1999 (after shooting a 59 in the Bob Hope Classic), and saw him claim an elusive major success with victory in the 2001 British Open. However, a series of injuries - including back problems - have hampered his career of late and he has not played on the US Tour at all this season.

David Eger

Perhaps encouraged by Allen Doyle's success, Eger - who had worked as a paid administrator with the PGA Tour - decided to seek his playing rights for the Champions Tour in 2001 and was rewarded with a card.

He has since won twice on tour, the 2003 MasterCard Classic and the 2005 Greater Seattle Open. He is currently 19th on the 2007 Champions Tour standings.

Franklin Langham

Langham became a journeyman professional and has played mainly on the Nationwide Tour with some success. He did have a full US Tour card in 1996, from 1998 to 2002 and again in 2005 but has - so far - failed to win on the main circuit, recording four runner-up finishes.

Tom Scherrer

Scherrer turned professional after the Walker Cup, and has enjoyed mixed fortunes on tour: the high point was winning the Kemper Open in 2000 (having earned his full card via the Nationwide Tour) but the native New Yorker is now back on the Nationwide Tour, where he won this season's Price Cutter Championship and is currently 20th on the money list.

Bob May

Turned professional after the Walker Cup and won his US Tour card in 1994, but has never managed to win a full tour event.

His closest call came in the 2000 US PGA at Valhalla when he had an epic play-off duel with Tiger Woods, only to lose out.

It is one of three runner-up finishes that May has secured, although he did win the 1999 British Masters on the European Tour.

Has been plagued with a back injury in recent years.

Phil Mickelson

Unquestionably, the golden boy of that US Walker Cup team in 1991, Mickelson is also the one who has gone on to achieve most in the professional ranks. Mickelson has three major wins - two US Masters and one US PGA - to his roll of honour in a career that has seen him win 31 times on the PGA Tour and amass over €32 million in career earnings.

Mike Sposa

Another player who hot-footed it into the professional game. Sposa's only tournament win came in the 1998 Boise Open on the Nationwide Tour. He has generally yo-yoed between the Nationwide Tour and the US Tour but is currently undergoing a pretty dismal season on the Nationwide Tour, where he has made just three of seven cuts.

Mitch Voges

Overcame a bad back injury in his early amateur career to win the US Amateur at the age of 41 and win his place on the Walker Cup team. He remained an amateur afterwards, but found a niche in the golf industry: Voges founded Max Out Golf Labs in 1995, developing a state-of-the-art golf-performance laboratory utilising computerised technology aimed at helping players improve their performance.

Jay Sigel

Regarded as a career amateur, Sigel finally made the move into the professional game when he reached 50, sold his insurance business and in 1994 joined the Champions Tour, where he earned 14 top-10 finishes, including winning the GTE West Seniors Classic on the way to claiming "Rookie of the Year" honours. He has now amassed eight wins on the Champions Tour.