PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. — Stuart Grehan has waited eight years for this chance.
In 2017, Grehan was playing a game of soccer with some friends during a study break from college. A talented amateur golfer, he played on the St. Andrews Trophy team and International Palmer Cup squad in 2016, with 2017 lining up to be the year he make his Walker Cup debut at Los Angeles Country Club.
Grehan lept to head a ball, but his right foot caught the net. He landed on his elbow, breaking his radial head. It was an injury with numerous ramifications.
“I was out for 12 weeks,” Grehan said.
His golf never fully recovered that year. A near shoo-in to represent Great Britain & Ireland, Grehan missed the team because his game was in poor form.
Now, on Saturday at Cypress Point, he’ll finally make his Walker Cup debut as the mid-amateur representative got GB&I.
Grehan turned professional after his injury and just this year regained his amateur status. His goal was to make the 2026 squad for Lahinch. Instead, the 32-year-old is the oldest player in the GB&I team room and will be expected to lead a young group against a stout American bunch beginning Saturday morning at Cypress Point, ranked No. 1 on Golfweek’s Best list of Classic Courses in the U.S.
The feelings he has experienced this week, especially as the tension builds to the opening tee shot, is something he has waited eight years to experience.
“Being in a team atmosphere with a bunch of guys like this, it’s amazing,” Grehan said. “I can’t wait to get going and just relishing it all, to be honest.”
Eleven months ago, Grehan was playing professionally at the D+D Real Czech Challenge. He was 8 under after three rounds but trailed the leader by 14 shots. That night, he officially filled out his amateur form to regain status.
Had he finished top four that week, Grehan would’ve had to wait an entire year before gaining amateur status. He finished T-40, and the path to becoming an amateur again was set.
“I had a nice time as a professional. It just wasn’t for me,” Grehan said. “It wasn’t the lifestyle I really like. So to be here now is just amazing.”
Shortly after he regained amateur status in April, he won two amateur events in Ireland: the Irish Amateur Close and the Irish Open Amateur. Both vaulted him in the rankings and gave him a spot on the GB&I St. Andrews Trophy team for the first time in nine years.
More importantly, it put Grehan — who as a financial adviser at DFP Pension Investments in Dundalk, Ireland — back into the Walker Cup conversation.
“I didn’t think by the time, you know, this kind of rolled around, that I would had enough events to kind of get me into the kind of frame, but I played really well all kind of summer being able to balance work as well, which is nice,” Grehan said. “So, yeah, it’s amazing to be here.”
Grehan admits he will be nervous come his first tee shot Saturday, and those have been building as Saturday has comes closer and closer.
But now it’s here, and even with a formidable opponent on the other side, Grehan is ready for his Walker Cup chance.
“I’m loving it this week,” he said. “I just can’t wait to get out there to be honest. You know, obviously, up against a really strong US team, but we’re just gonna give it our best shot and see how we do.
“We’ve had some great fun, and just can’t wait for it to get going.”
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