Dreams will come true this weekend at Seminole Golf Club in Florida where the 48th Walker Cup is being played.  You can be sure that the twenty players teeing it up and representing their respective countries will have snuggled into bed thousands of times during their adolescent years with thoughts of this moment on their minds.  And now it’s about to happen for the first time for sixteen of those twenty young men.  There are three returning members for the United States team and one for the Great Britain and Ireland side, Alex Fitzpatrick, younger brother of Walker and Ryder Cup player Matt.

In case you’re wondering, the Walker Cup, the pinnacle of men’s amateur golf, is a biennial match between teams of ten players from the States and Great Britain and Ireland.  It’s a bit of a throwback in that it is only a two-day match with foursomes and singles each day, no fourballs in sight.  In the modern era players tend to move quickly on to the paid ranks and so it’s rare to have a player making his third appearance in the match, as is happening this year for America’s Stewart Hagestad.  Long gone are the days when Ireland’s Joe Carr and America’s Jay Sigel played on ten and nine sides respectively.

This, however, is a Walker Cup with a difference and no amount of dreaming or daydreaming as youngsters could have conjured up the realities of this (hopefully) post-pandemic match.  Attendance at the venue is severely restricted with a Covid testing system in place in the lead up to, and for the duration of, the match.  Testing will continue after the event for all those based in, and returning to, Great Britain and Ireland.  It’s a logistical challenge which has resulted in fewer than 1850 people allowed on site each day – and that includes teams, captains, media, members of Seminole, past players, USGA and R&A officials, as well as all the outdoor and indoor course and clubhouse staff.  Alas, to my knowledge, there is no room for Mums, Dads, siblings, proud families, coaches, trainers and the myriad support networks of the players who have climbed this particular Everest.  With no dispensation allowing for travel from these shores to the States, it must be heartbreaking to be unable to attend the proudest moment of your son’s golfing career to date.

That is the lot of Eileen Rose and Eddie Power, parents of Kilkenny’s Mark Power.  Both Mum and Dad know what it takes to be a golf champion, having won three Irish titles apiece and Eileen Rose played in the Curtis Cup (the women’s equivalent of the Walker Cup) back in the early 1990s.  It looks as though they’ll have to be glued to the telly this weekend rather than following their son round the iconic Seminole golf course.  I know I’d have been devastated if my Mum and Dad had not been able to attend the Curtis Cup I played in – they were so pivotal to everything I achieved and they walked every step of the way with me, metaphorically, if not physically.  It’s all too easy to overlook the decades of effort parents put in to their children and their chosen sports and hobbies.  Whatever the outcome, what a proud moment it is for the whole family and for the families of all the players.

The Americans are overwhelming favourites this year, with all but one of their number inside the top seventeen of the world rankings and, of course, they have home advantage.  Also, their captain, Nathaniel Crosby is a member of Seminole and well acquainted with its demanding traits and subtleties.  The US players  have also played much more competitive golf than some of our players during lockdown.  Our American-based players didn’t fare too badly but the last fourteen months have been tough going for those based on this side of the Atlantic.

Remember, though, this is matchplay golf over two days and anything can happen.  The matches may appear unbalanced on paper but let’s wait and see – and fingers crossed there are no Covid hiccoughs to disrupt the week of a lifetime for these young men.

Many of today’s top ranked players have a Walker Cup cap tucked away in their treasure chest of prized possessions.  Back in 1997 when Justin Rose played in the match as a 17 year old he was, at the time, the youngest player to do so.  Despite all his accomplishments since then the Walker Cup holds a special place in his heart and I’m sure (as with all past players) he’ll be keeping a weather eye on proceedings at Seminole.

He’ll also be paying close attention to matters on this side of the Atlantic where the second edition of the Rose Ladies’ Series got underway last week.  The 2020 brainchild of professional Liz Young, which was so ably expanded and backed by Justin and his wife Kate, has expanded this year into eleven one-day events, the first two of which are already in the books.  Gabs Cowley pocketed a cool £10,000 for winning at West Lancs golf course last week and yesterday, fittingly, was the turn of the inspiration behind the series, Liz Young, at Woburn over the Duchess course.

The aim of the series is to provide much-needed competitive play and plug some gaps in the Ladies’ European Tour schedule and the Roses have personally financed getting this venture off the ground.  The effect of having someone of Justin’s stature recognise the value of women’s professional golf and step in to help can’t be underestimated.  We’re lucky to have him.

That 1997 Walker Cup was the platform for a remarkable career and an important experience in making the man we all know today.  I wonder if when watching the twenty players in the Walker Cup this weekend we will be witnessing someone take the first steps on the road to a Justin Rose-like career?  Now, that would be fun.

One of my favourite weekends in the golfing calendar is coming up – the Walker Cup, the biennial match between the best male amateurs from Great Britain & Ireland and the best from the United States.  It is to be played this weekend at Royal Liverpool, a club and course rich with the heritage and history of the game.  Because of an overcrowded diary I won’t be there but I will be following with an interest that has flourished and grown over the past number of years.

Back in 2003 I was commentating for the BBC at Ganton when Northern Ireland’s Garth McGimpsey led the home side against a talented American team.  Two points adrift going into the final session of eight singles meant that a monumental effort was required by the GB&I team if they were to wrest the trophy from the visitors.  The required effort was delivered with a total of 5.5 points and the narrowest of victories was achieved.

The hero of the hour was Welshman Nigel Edwards who holed the winning putt and halved his match against Lee Williams ensuring he remained unbeaten in his four matches.  That rare beast nowadays, a career amateur, Edwards has overseen successful coaching and development programmes as performance director for England Golf and earlier this year he was appointed leader for Team GB golf in the Olympics in Tokyo next summer.  He’s achieved many firsts in his life but I’m sure he never expected to be the first Welshman to book his place in the Olympics!

The next home match, in 2007, was at Royal County Down, where the poster boy was Rory McIlroy.  It was the first opportunity many of us had to see at close quarters the jaunty young man who would command more media coverage and scrutiny than any other player – with the possible exception of one Mr Woods.  Running my eye down the teams at Newcastle, however, revealed a monumental amount of talent on both sides.  Consider these names, all of them instantly recognisable nowadays by golf fans:  Dustin Johnson, Ricky Fowler, Webb Simpson, Danny Willett, Billy Horschel and Kyle Stanley.  All proven winners, several of them with majors.

Royal Aberdeen in 2011 introduced us to a youngster called Jordan Spieth as well as the then No 1 amateur in the world Patrick Cantlay but I remember that match for another reason altogether.  That first morning I was making my way back to the TV compound after commentating on one of the opening foursomes matches when I heard my fellow commentator, Paul Eales, mention that one of the GB&I players, Jack Senior, had his brother, a professional, caddying for him.  My heart plummeted to my boots.

The previous evening I had read the conditions of competition prepared by the R&A and I knew that professionals were not allowed to caddy in the Walker Cup.  By the time I had reached the compound Jack Senior and his partner Andy Sullivan were just closing out their match on the 17th.  I informed our director who immediately got on to the R&A and there were a few hastily convened meetings during the turnaround between the morning and afternoon matches.  It was obvious that a clanger had been dropped in the normally meticulous R&A preparations.

The GB&I captain, Nigel Edwards, he of 2003 fame, had asked weeks earlier if Senior’s brother could caddy and had been told yes – yet here in black and white it stated that professional golfers could not caddy.  The severity of the situation was plain to see when the big chief of the R&A, Peter Dawson, came in front of camera to explain away the problem.

However, it was Jim Holtgrieve, the US captain, who saved the day and  ensured that all was smoothed over.  He refused to claim the match, which I believe would have been within his rights and graciously, and correctly, stated the match had been played in the best of spirits and he was happy for the result to stand as no advantage had been sought.  All the same, Jack Senior had to find another caddy for the remainder of the match.  And the final match score?  GB&I 14, USA 12.

The 2015 Walker Cup left me with a different memory.  There was a small knot of spectators gathered around a lone figure on the practice ground at Royal Lytham & St Anne’s on the final practice day.  This was my first sighting of Bryson DeChambeau, flat cap firmly in place and trademark high hands address position, reminiscent of the great Moe Norman’s action.  He was intense, focused and silent, not interacting with the friends and family around him.  I felt a little sorry for him.  His team mates were all on the course, yet here he was bashing balls on the range, trying to find some key, some trigger, I thought.  It’s tough to be at a big event and still be searching for your game at the eleventh hour, hence my sympathy.  Well, my sympathy was certainly misplaced and definitely not needed!  This was simply Bryson being Bryson, although at a slightly brisker pace in those days.  Even then he was ploughing his own furrow.

Yes, I’ll certainly miss being at Hoylake and having the opportunity to see these great amateurs.  It’s fun to speculate and wonder which, if any, of them will be a collector of titles, maybe even majors.  Perhaps at this point we can even still identify with them a little – they are club members after all, not touring pros and they don’t usually have huge bank balances – yet!  That’s in the future.  Enjoy them now and we’ll see where their talent and passion take them.

[Do you recognise the lads at the top of the page?  They’ve just helped win the Walker Cup at Royal Porthcawl.  Both Irish.  Jody Fanagan on the left with his mate Padraig Harrington, now Europe’s Ryder Cup captain.]