Walker Cup captaincy an issue for R&A
THE 2023 Walker Cup will be played at St. Andrews, but despite reports, it is highly unlikely that Jody Fanagan will be asked to take the captaincy for the 49th staging on the Old Course.
Golfweek reported this week that Great Britain and Ireland is running out of captaincy candidates in an era when so many top amateurs immediately turn professional and that Fanagan, who played in the winning team at Royal Porthcawl in 1995, or Stuart Wilson, the 2004 British Amateur champion, would be in line to do the job,
According to Golfweek, former R&A chief executive Peter Dawson has considered using tour pros who had played in the match, such as Colin Montgomerie, Paul McGinley and Padraig Harrington.
“We have a problem going forward since so few Walker Cup players remain amateur,” Dawson told Golfweek.
Whatever about their desire to do the job, Harrington and McGinley would not have the time to attend the many amateur events in the course of a two or four-year term.
As for Milltown stalwart Fanagan, it would be an enormous surprise if the Dubliner’s considerable business and family commitments made that possible.
Scotland’s Craig Watson will captain the team at Royal Liverpool in 2019 after giving up the 2017 captaincy due to a family illness. He’s also likely to do the traditional second stint in the job at Seminole in 2021.
What happens going forward is anyone’s guess but with McGinley proving that a captain does not necessarily have to have major-winning credentials to do an effective job, the R&A may find that appointing a person who has not played in the Walker Cup could still prove a success.
Ireland hasn’t had a Walker Cup captain since Garth McGimpsey in 2005 but finding a candidate with enough time on his hands to watch golf in this day and age may require dipping into the pool of those employed by the amateur bodies as national coaches or directors of golf.