‘Spider’ opts for natives

US captain John “Spider” Miller has four players ranked in the world’s top 10 on his team, and five of his team are native Californians.

Miller came under fire for his captaincy decisions at Lytham when he left top-ranked Bryson Dechambeau out of two fourball series.

However, the US have abandoned their policy of automatic inclusion of two “mid-amateur” players and eight of their 10 players are 21 and under.

The matches are played over two days with four fourballs in morning sessions followed by 10 singles matches in the afternoon.

The US leads the series by a whopping 35 wins to nine, but since GB&I’s first win on US soil in 1989 the score is seven wins each.

“Length is more important around there than accuracy, I would imagine. It’s a good test of golf, definitely.”

Syme defeated the American team’s main man Maverick McNealy – the only survivor from Lytham on either team – in the US Amateur before losing narrowly to another US team member Doug Ghim in the last eight.

“I was really pleased to take him down, but he was an absolute gentleman,” he said of his win over the world No 2.

“There was total respect both ways and I think we both want another shot at each other in the Walker Cup.”

Syme has been consistent rather than spectacular this year but has maintained a top 10 world amateur ranking and there was no question he would be on the GB&I team. Similarly MacIntyre, beaten finalist in the Amateur Championship last year, is one of the three top ranked players on the GB&I side.

The team were shorn of a further presence when captain Craig Watson was forced to withdraw due to a serious family illness, with chairman of selectors Andy Ingram taking over the reins of the team.

GB&I have Alfie Plant, the Open Championship silver medallist and European Amateur champion, 2016 amateur champ Scott Gregory and current amateur champion Harry Ellis on the team.