Amateurs have a talent

Amateur golf’s premier team tournaments have been overshadowed to an extent by the success enjoyed by the Ryder Cup and Solheim Cup teams in recent years.

But the Walker Cup and Curtis Cup remain fertile breeding grounds for Great Britain & Ireland’s leading amateurs, not least the Scots.

Hence the importance placed on these biennial matches against the United States by the game’s ruling body, the R&A.

The one-sided history of the Walker Cup might lead one to suggest that it is a losing and largely pointless battle, given the United States have won 39 and lost only nine of the previous 49 matches.

That is perhaps hardly surprising, given the respective populations and amateur golf structure.

The US college system provides a structured pathway to the pro game which means few consider turning pro until they are at least 22, whereas players on this side of the pond do not have that option.

But for all that GB&I face overwhelming odds, the contest has become significantly more competitive since 1989.

GB&I have in fact won seven of the past 18 matches over the past 35 years compared to just two victories and one halved match in the first 31 stagings of golf’s oldest international, which predates the Ryder Cup by five years.

No fewer than 94 Scots have featured in the Walker

Cup since its inception in 1922, with Calum Scott and Connor Graham the most recent recipients of the honour last September.

Nairn’s Scott and Blairgowrie’s Graham ended up on the losing side, by dint of a 14.5-11.5 points defeat at the Old Course.

But it was the closest the home side have come to upsetting the odds since their most recent success in 2015 when subsequent DP World Tour champions Ewen Ferguson and Grant Forrest played pivotal roles in a record 16.5-9.5 triumph at Royal Lytham.

They followed in the footsteps of fellow Tour winners Colin Montgomerie, twice, Stephen Gallacher and Richie Ramsay.

Oban’s Bob MacIntyre

CENTENARY SUCCESS: The USA celebrate their win last year at St Andrews.