If north-east Scotland had not been buffeted by strong winds
and rain squalls at the week-end, might the US have won the Walker Cup again?
The question is relevant following Great Britain and Ireland’s narrow victory
in a thrilling match at the stunning Royal Aberdeen golf club because winds
gusting up to 30mph and intense rain squalls were certainly less familiar to
the visitors than to the home team.
The answer to the question though is that Great Britain and
Ireland confounded all known form, including the current world amateur golf
rankings not to mention almost all the pre-match predictions and were so ably
led by Nigel Edwards that they won this biennial contest for only the eighth
time. They probably would have won under calmer conditions. But it is also true
that luck favoured Edwards. Had the wind dropped on Sunday morning so that the
second day could have been played in a calm, when the Americans improved, then
matters might have been different. In fact, perhaps it was Edwards’s performance that tipped it
for Britain and Ireland. The third Welshman to captain Great Britain and
Ireland, Edwards, 43, became the second to win, after Clive Brown’s victorious
captaincy at Royal Porthcawl in 1995.
Edwards stands comparison with Colin Montgomerie in last
year’s Ryder Cup in the way he coaxed and cajoled his men to victory. Just as
Montgomerie looked into every detail, even the smallest and least significant,
so Edwards did much of the same. His self assurance, his eye for detail, his
elaborate preparation and his knowledge of the competition as well as his
passion for it, simply overwhelmed Jim Holtgrieve, the eminent American golfer. Holtgrieve is a sturdy man from the mid West, a superb and
successful amateur and a less successful professional who returned to the
amateur ranks. But he is 63 and his rather casual style of captaincy and the
age gap between him and the rest of his team made him look out of touch at
times. His captaincy also highlighted an obvious question: why is the United
States Golf Association in the business of giving captaincy of this competition
to former players as a reward?
The 43rd Walker Cup was rather like an old Ryder Cup. Holtgrieve
gave the impression of leaving much of it to his players, believing he had the
best amateurs in the world who were sufficiently experienced to be able to look
after themselves. Edwards, by contrast, could not do enough for his men, from
taking them twice to Aberdeen for practice week-ends, to showing motivational
films and continually making sure that he was in the right place when he needed
to be. Most of all, he was able to speak from the experience of winning and
losing in Walker Cups because he had played in two winning teams as well as two
that narrowly lost. In this he was rather reminiscent of Bernhard Langer at
Oakland Hills in the 2004 Ryder Cup. While Hal Sutton progressed around while
wearing a cowboy hat that, frankly, made him look rather silly, Langer
concentrated on popping up on the tee of every short hole, always ready to give
advice and pass on information.
Edwards looked as though he knew precisely what he was doing
at all time; Holtgrieve didn’t. Edwards looked on top of his job; Holtgrieve
didn’t. Edwards is certain to be asked to captain GB and I at the National Golf
Links on Long Island, New York in two years. Holtgrieve probably will be asked
because the convention among American teams is that captains are given a home
and an away match, but he may not actually deserve it.
You make your own luck. “Prepare properly and you get your
just rewards” Edwards said. He did and he and his team won. Holtgrieve didn’t
and so he and his team lost.
Posted by John Hopkins
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