While the Amgen Irish Open at The K Club might be dominating the headlines at home, over 8,000 kilometres away, two Irishmen are preparing for the battle of their lives as they get set to face the United States in the 50th staging of the Walker Cup.
Cypress Point, regularly ranked among the top 10 golf courses on the planet and as high as number one with some, is the venue, as Great Britain and Ireland hope to end the United States’ quest to win five-in-a-row.
The history of the Walker Cup
Although this is the 50th official edition, it’s the 51st time that a team of the best U.S. amateurs has competed against a British or British and Irish side. That’s because, in 1921, a U.S. side travelled to Hoylake, intent on taking the Amateur Championship trophy back across the Atlantic for the first time since Walter Travis won in 1904, and as a prelude to the main event, a match was organised between the eight-strong U.S. panel and British counterparts. The U.S. team may have prevailed 9-3, but Scotland’s Willie Hunter, not one of the British players who contested the curtain-raiser, left Royal Liverpool with the most coveted piece of silverware.
Nevertheless, the seed had been planted and the first official Walker Cup match was held the following year at National Golf Links of America on New York’s Long Island, with the second edition held at St Andrews the following year and then a return to the United States in 2024 before becoming a biennial contest from then on.
The Cup is named after George Herbert Walker, then president of the USGA, and grandfather to George Herbert Walker Bush and great-grandfather to George Walker Bush, the 41st and 43rd Presidents of the United States.
Jess Sweetzer became the second American to win The Amateur Championship in 1926, but by then, the Americans already had a stranglehold on the Walker Cup, winning two closely-fought matches at St Andrews and two comprehensive victories in the United States, and would win nine in total before GB&I stemmed the tide with a 7.5-4.5 win at the Old Course in 1938 with Jimmy Bruen and Cecil Ewing among the home stars.
The post-WWII years
The Second World War put the event on hold for almost a decade, but when it was resurrected in 1947, normal service was resumed and the U.S. embarked on a 12-in-a-row streak, punctuated by a GB&I win in 1971, again at the Old Course, and then another eight-in-a-row before losing for the first time on home soil at Peachtree Golf Club in Georgia in 1989 to a side that included Garth McGimpsey from Bangor and Cork’s Eoghan O’Connell.
The first successful defence for GB&I came at Ocean Forest on Sea Island in Georgia in 2001 – which remains the last time that a GB&I side won away – when Graeme McDowell and Michael Hoey went two-for-two as a foursomes pairing, after Warrenpoint’s Paddy Gribben helped win the Cup back at Nairn in 1999, and then Colm Moriarty and Noel Fox were part of the three-in-a-row side at Ganton in North Yorkshire in 2003.
The last time the Americans tasted defeat came at Royal Lytham & St Annes in 2015 when the ‘Famous Five’ of Paul Dunne, Cormac Sharvin, Jack Hume, Gary Hurley and Gavin Moynihan all played starring roles, but of the 49 previous encounters, the U.S. have won 39, GB&I nine, and one tie which came in Baltimore in when the Americans overturned a 10-5 deficit going into the final afternoon’s singles to retain the trophy.
The 2025 Walker Cup at Cypress Point
This year, Stuart Grehan and Gavin Tiernan – two County Louth members – are among the GB&I team members, along with Luke Poulter – son of European Ryder Cup legend, Ian – Tyler Weaver, Dominic Clemens, Charlie Forster and Eliot Baker of England, and Niall Shiels Donegan, Conor Graham and Cameron Adam from Scotland.
Grehan, who regained his amateur status after six years as a pro, had set his sights on playing in the 2026 edition – it’s switching to even years to avoid clashing with the biennial Eisenhower Trophy (The World Amateur Team Championships) which will be held in odd years due to the Olympics – at Lahinch, but his remarkable success on home soil – winning the Irish Amateur Open and the Irish Close Championship – was enough to earn him a captain’s pick a year ahead of schedule.
Tiernan, who is a student at East Tennessee State University, caught the eye with an incredible run at the Amateur Championship where he eventually lost out to the USA’s Ethan Fang who birdied the 36th hole to snatch victory.
But, in addition to the weight of history being against them, the GB&I side face an uphill battle with the top six in the World Amateur Golf Rankings all among the opposing ranks this week.
Jackson Koivun is the world number one, and he’s joined by Ben James, Fang, Preston Stout, Jase Summy and Tommy Morrison, with legendary mid-amateur Stewart Hagestad set to make his fifth Walker Cup appearance, and U.S. Amateur champion Mason Howell, MichaelLa Sasso and Jacob Modleski completing their line-up.
Where can you watch?
Sky Sports will broadcast extensive live coverage from California, featuring two sessions daily on both Saturday, September 6, and Sunday, September 7, on Sky Sports Golf.
Three hours of foursomes golf will air from 5:30pm on both Saturday and Sunday, after the Amgen Irish Open concludes, with singles matches starting at midnight on both days.
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