Great Britain and Ireland Walker Cup captain Dean Robertson had a glint in his eye when asked if he was happy with the weather conditions that Lahinch was promising this weekend. His answer was almost inaudible due to the noise of the rattling media tent courtesy of the 60km/h gusts that greeted the GB&I and USA players on the eve of the 51st contest.
But you could tell he was chuffed.
“In terms of the weather and the wind, am I happy about it? I’m very happy about it,” said the Scot who is captaining the side for the second successive year.
In fact, Robertson was quite bullish about his sides chances of arresting a run of five USA victories in a row. The winds of change may give Great Britain and Ireland their best chance of halting American dominance in the contest and landing just their tenth win overall.
GB&I will tee off on Saturday morning with their strongest side since winning in 2015 where the Irish ‘Famous Five’ were pivotal in Royal Lytham. This is the first time that the home players have had the Amateur and US Amateur champions since 2013.
It is also the first time they have all been ranked inside the top-100 on the World Amateur Golf Rankings since 2017 and an average ranking of 41 brings them much closer to the 8 of Team USA who boast nine of the world’s top-12 as they continue their dominance in the rankings.
Robertson’s preparation to avenge the 17-9 away defeat of twelve months ago has been diligent with an emphasis on the singles matches while also building on the learnings of the extended panel training camp at Lahinch’s South of Ireland in July where conditions were quite tame.
So rather than see the weather as an equaliser, he feels it might blow the momentum of the contest in his team’s favour as they tackle a southerly wind for the first time this week.
“I think when you come to Lahinch, you’re always going to expect it to be blowing. Getting here in July for the South was fantastic, and they had unusual winds blowing there that came from the north, which we haven’t seen. But the wind is going to change tomorrow and it’s going to come from the south, and that’s not a wind that we have seen at any time during the South or during the practice this week. That’s going to bring entire new challenges.
“Going out on the golf course the wind is going to change direction tomorrow. It could be strong throughout the weekend, but it’s perfectly playable. You have to adapt. You have to improvise. You have to be able to control the ball flight in these very difficult conditions, and it’s exceptionally tiring to play in these conditions, but we were good to go.”
The final practice session was light with Team GB&I on the course early and off just before 10am as they preserve energy with the opening ceremony to come on Friday evening ahead of the first foursomes and singles sessions on Saturday.
“We’ve staggered, we’ve prepared well and thoroughly, and we were ready to go last night,” said Robertson who also cleared Tyler Weaver fit to play despite not playing since April due to a back injury.
“So today was always going to be something where the players could really choose themselves as to what they required as a last-minute touch-up to any area or learn a few different parts of the golf course.
“We’re good to go.”
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