PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. — The 50th Walker Cup is in the books.
Team USA dominated Sunday Singles, picking up 8½ of the 10 available points, to win its fifth straight match, 17-9. GB&I led 3-1 after Saturday morning foursomes, but the hosts took control the next three sessions and cruised to victory in a thick fog on Sunday evening.
It was an incredible week at Cypress Point, one of the greatest venues in the sport. And fans won’t have to wait long for the 51st edition, which will be held next September at Lahinch in Ireland. The competition is moving to even years to give it separation from the Ryder Cup in the future.
Here are a few parting thoughts from the Walker Cup, starting with …
Cypress Point is magical
There’s not much I can put into words about the impeccable piece of land that is Cypress Point. The Alister Mackenzie design is one of the best in the world for a reason. It’s a stunning meeting of land and sea on the Monterey Peninsula. Natural sand dunes rise and create dramatic images throughout the property.
Even down to the bunkers, which are unique and strategic, and greens, which this week were firm, past and penalizing to shots not going where they needed to go, Cypress Point was a perfect fit for a Walker Cup. Forget that it played just over 6,600 yards, which is plenty short in this day and age of high-level amateur golf. The USGA and club did an excellent job of setting up the course and making it challenging. It was a rare chance for fans to get on property at one of the most exclusive clubs in the world.
And for those who couldn’t watch, drone shots and TV coverage did a great job or portraying just how magnificent the property is. Whether it was drone shots over the ocean looking back toward the ocean holes or different camera views showing elevation changes, slopes in fairways and undulating greens, Cypress Point was perfect this weekend.
Mason Howell is a star
Outside of those who follow junior golf, Mason Howell was pretty unknown three months ago. Now, he’s a U.S. Amateur champion, a Walker Cup winner and there’s no questioning it now: he’s a star.
Howell went 2-0-1 this week and had plenty of memorable moments, whether it was his albatross in a practice round or holing out for eagle to clinch his foursomes match Sunday morning. The youngest player on the U.S. team provided a flair and passion that makes these team events compelling to viewers and fans. Had he not won the U.S. Amateur, Howell likely would not have been on the Walker Cup team. Instead, he became a fan favorite and proved he’s the real deal.
“I couldn’t even tell you what’s been going on these last two months,” Howell said. “It’s been so much fun, and to do it with my family by my side the whole way, yeah, I look forward to keep going up, bring another USA victory in Singapore coming up, and I’m just — so much to look forward to next year, and just keep working hard, keep getting better, and hopefully some good results will keep coming.”
The 18-year-old high school senior will also represent the USA in the World Amateur Team Championship next month in Singapore, where he looks to continue his hot form.
Howell’s arrival has been grand, and his amateur career is just starting. Who knows how high his ceiling can be, but he’s got IT.
Nathan Smith’s moment
The trembling in his voice started nearly as soon as he got on the microphone and turned toward his team.
Nathan Smith is a perfect symbol of the relationship between the USGA and amateur golf. The 47-year-old has won four U.S. Mid-Am titles, been on three Walker Cup teams and was the perfect selection to lead the U.S. team at Cypress Point, a place he has called his favorite venue in the world for a long time.
But as Smith turned to his 10 players in the closing ceremony Sunday night, the quiver in his voice shook even the thick fog blanketing the course.
“It’s just an emotion I’ve never had in anything. It’s hard to describe until you do it,” he said. “Really, I think the only thing I can say, I was just so honored to be their captain. Not only how they played on the course, how they gelled as a team, how they bonded, what everyone brought to the team. It was a level of professionalism, how they conducted themselves, how they went about getting ready to play. I’m just honored. I’m so lucky.”
Smith’s captaincy has been nearly a decade in the making, and he was the perfect choice for the 50th edition of the biennial bash. Even better, Smith gets to do it all over again next September at Lahinch. But this week at Cypress Point will be at the front of his memory bank for the rest of his life.
Does GB&I team need to combine with all of Europe?
Another year has come and gone, and the U.S. has added to its significant lead in the all-time series at the Walker Cup (40-9-1). As the USA tallied point after point after point in singles, didn’t take long for the conversation to become whether Great Britain & Ireland needed to join with the rest of Continental Europe for the Walker Cup, similar to the Ryder Cup.
It’s not that simple. This U.S. team has the top-six players in the World Amateur Golf Ranking and seven ranked higher than GB&I’s highest, No. 10 Tyler Weaver, who went 1-3 this week playing against world No. 1 Jackson Koivun in every session (more on him in a bit). Adding Continental European players would definitely add a couple more pieces to the opposing roster, but would it even matter?
In other years, maybe. Not this year, however. This U.S. team was special and deep. When Howell is essentially the last person on the roster and he doesn’t lose a match, that’s proof in the pudding. Sure, adding a couple more top-50 players could help the GB&I get another point or two, but at the end of the competition, the U.S. wins by six points instead of eight.
“We still firmly believed that we had it in us to win, but hats off to Nathan Smith and the U.S. team because they were outstanding this afternoon in the singles,” GB&I captain Dean Robertson said. “In fact, they were outstanding both days in the singles, and that really has been the difference.”
While making Europe the opponent instead of just GB&I could make it a bit more competitive, would it really make a difference at the end of the day? The Walker Cup has more than 100 years of history, and it’s unlikely a format change is coming anytime soon.
Stewart Hagestad’s impact
It felt fitting that it was Stew who earned the retaining point to help the USA earn its fifth straight win in the competition. A common theme of those five teams? Stewart Hagestad has been on all five of them and had a hand in the clinching/retaining point for the three home Walker Cups.
Similar to Smith, Stew has made a name for himself at USGA events as a mid-amateur. He’s a three-time U.S. Mid-Amateur champion. He’s now 5-0 at the Walker Cup, including a ridiculous 7-1 mark in singles. Teammate Tommy Morrison, who at 6-foot-9 is one of the only golfers taller than the 6-foot-5 Hagestad, embraced the 34-year-old and told him “not too bad, unc” after his birdie putt on the par-3 15th to end his match. Others joked with him and called him “old man.” But the truth is, Stew has become an icon in the Walker Cup and someone who rises in this team competition.
I wrote about Hagestad on Sunday night, but it’s worth bringing up his relationship with captain Smith. Here’s what Smith said Sunday night about Hagestad: “I think Stew and I, we’ve had a relationship, a great relationship for years. I think with some of the things that he’s done with some Mid-Ams, playing in majors, I think that that’s brought us together a little bit. He’s asked me questions. I think we’ve bonded kind of through that. Then I totally love his game, respect his game, and really just couldn’t imagine being a captain on a Walker Cup team and him not being on my team. He played incredibly this summer. He went after it. I think his level of play and what he’s done, winning so many Walker Cups, and his record just speaks for itself.”
Barring another Mid-Amateur making a charge over the next year, don’t be surprised to see Stew make his SIXTH appearance at the Walker Cup next September. And similar to Smith, he’s certainly a shoo-in to be a future captain. And like Smith, he’ll be a perfect match for the job.
Jackson Koivun’s future
The world No. 1 showed up big for the U.S. this week. Koivun went 3-1, leading off every single session. He went 2-0 in singles and went 1-1 in foursomes with Tommy Morrison, including a clutch par putt to win their Sunday match 1 up. And in Smith’s eyes, there was never a question who would lead off for the red, white and blue this week.
“I think we’ve all watched Jackson all year, all summer, how incredible he’s played, and when he closed out his match, I said, ‘Thank you for playing.’ It was just an honor for me to have him on my team. I think in any sport, if you’re a coach or captain, when your best player is your hardest working player and sets the tone for the team and just brings the level of professionalism, we got in the cart after his match and he jumped in and he was going to drive the cart. I said, ‘Yeah, go drive the cart, you’ve been driving it all week. I’m just going to ride along in the passenger side.’ That sums it up.”
Added Koivun: “I was honored to go out first. I like going out early, like going out there and trying to get a point for the team and then going to cheer the guys on. I felt like I was right where I needed to be, and just happy that I could go get the job done and then watch some great, great golf from my teammates coming down the stretch.”
As far as his accomplishments in the amateur game, Koivun has accomplished nearly everything you can. He is a McCormack Medal winner. He swept every collegiate postseason award at Auburn after his freshman year. Now, as a junior and with a PGA Tour card in his back pocket, what else does he want to accomplish in the amateur game?
“I don’t know. I still haven’t won a national championship. That’s one of my kind of shining goals. I just want to keep getting better, keep learning the game, playing on teams like this. There’s just so much I can learn from Captain, learn from Stew. His golf game, it’s very, very good, but I really admire his mental game. He doesn’t really make a lot of mistakes. I think that’s what makes him so good in singles is he’s just not going to give you anything.
“Just little things like that. I just want to keep learning, just keep learning all I can.”
Read the full article here