It's September – and although there is no Ryder Cup this year, it's still very much the time for international team golf.
The Solheim Cup – the Ryder Cup of the women's game – is just a week away, and that is preceded this weekend on the west coast of Ireland, by the Walker Cup.
"It's the Ryder Cup for amateurs, says 19-year-old Ben Bolton, from Wombourne, one of two Midlanders in the 10-man team to take on the USA at stunning Lahinch, in County Clare.
There was a Midlander on the team the last time Great Britain and Ireland won this event at Royal Lytham & St Annes in 2015 – Shropshire's Ashley Chesters, who went unbeaten in his four matches that weekend, including a half in his memorable Saturday afternoon singles with a young future major winner, Bryson DeChambeau.
Could that be a good omen?
The Midlands has, after all, produced many a major winner. Shropshire pair Sandy Lyle and Ian Woosnam, dwarfed by Coventry-born Dame Laura Davies' four women's major wins and Birmingham's Alison Nicholas, the 1997 US Open champion.
"I'll be nervous, of course," added Bolton, the team's youngest member, who plays his golf at the much acclaimed Open regional qualifying course Enville. "I'm so excited just to be there – but to win it would be special.
"It's the pinnacle of amateur golf," he told BBC Midlands Today. "And it's been my goal all year. You can't really get much higher."
His fellow Midlander Sam Easterbrook, from Tamworth, almost did have a chance to get a bit higher when he appeared in the inaugural Open Last Chance Qualifier before Royal Birkdale in July.
He missed out then but now Easterbrook, who plays his domestic golf at Olton, near Solihull, has considerable compensation – to add to his current experience of being on a golf scholarship in the States, in Indiana.
"That has been the best experience of my life," he said. "I can't preach enough about how special it all is… the golf, the people… everything about the life out there."
And they are part of a team featuring two other well-known names – Luke Poulter, son of "The Postman", Ryder Cup legend Ian Poulter and Tyler Weaver, son of former classic-winning flat jockey Jason Weaver.
This year's GB & Ireland team
Non-playing captain: Dean Robertson
Eliot Baker (England), 23 (Played 2025)
Ben Bolton (England), 19 (Debut)
Sam Easterbrook (England), 21 (Debut)
Connor Graham (Scotland), 19 (Played 2023 & 2025)
Stuart Grehan (Republic of Ireland), 33 (Played 2025)
Josh Hill (England), 22 (Debut)
Luke Poulter (England), 22 (Played 2025)
Niall Sheils Donegan (Scotland), 21 (Played 2025)
Tyler Weaver (England), 21 (Played 2025)
Jack Whaley (England), 22 (Debut)
What's different about the Walker Cup?
The Walker Cup is usually biennial, but has been brought forward from now to be played in years with an even number, to avoid a clash in fixtures with the Americans' Eisenhower Trophy, which had been moved, due to the Olympic Games in 2028 in Los Angeles.
Unlike the Ryder Cup and Solheim Cup, the Walker Cup is played not over three days – just two.
And it is also not 12 per team, it is only 10.
Four foursomes on Saturday morning followed by eight singles in the afternoon.
Then four more foursomes on Sunday morning, followed by 10 singles in the afternoon.
So 26 points up for grabs, unlike the 28 in the Ryder.
The USA are the holders so would need only 13 points to retain the trophy they have dominated.
In the 50 events staged since it was first contested on Long Island, close to New York, in 1922, the Americans have won 40 and the British only nine, with one tied at Baltimore in 1965.
It has only been played in Ireland twice before – at Portmarnock in 1997 when future multiple major winners Padraig Harrington and Phil Mickelson were on opposite sides.
Then at Royal County Down in 2007 – when Dustin Johnson, Rickie Fowler and Webb Simpson played for America and an 18-year-old Rory McIlroy was joined on the GB&I team by fellow future major winner Danny Willett.
But the USA won on each occasion.
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