Walker Cup captain Dean Robertson is happy to lean on the team expertise of Paul McGinley at Lahinch as the data tells him what matters the most in golf’s biggest amateur competition – winning the singles matches.
The Ryder Cup splits the points totals in favour of team matches, with 16 points awarded in fourballs and foursomes, and 12 points for singles matches. For the Walker Cup, it is eight points for team matches and 18 points for singles.
McGinley, Edoardo Molinari and others have led the data revolution that has seen Europe win six of the last eight Ryder Cups, focusing on optimising team pairings and how they complement each other’s strengths.
Robertson says McGinley, who he knows from his European Tour playing days, will be “hanging around behind the scenes”. They have spoken and have done extensive research into how Lahinch plays, using data from the 2019 Irish Open, which McGinley hosted. The Dubliner is also a former winner of the South of Ireland and a former Walker Cup participant.
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“The data helps create some strength in partnerships, it can give you a good platform,” the Scotsman says. “But the singles are massive.”
Last year at Cypress Point, GB&I won 5-3 in the team matches, but still lost the match comfortably, 17-9. The USA have been dominant in the Walker Cup, winning the last five matches, with GB&I’s last win coming in 2015, but this is arguably the strongest team GB&I have fielded since then.
In a two-day training session at Lahinch before the South of Ireland Championship in July, Robertson organised for short six-hole matches between players to inspire an attacking mindset for singles play, which he hopes is the key to victory.
“We need to be better at singles,” Robertson says. “[From the Ryder Cup] they talk about stats all the time. Getting an early lead, so focus on that. Apply early pressure and get up early in a game and you’re more likely to win.
“It doesn’t mean getting overly aggressive. Finding rhythm early, feeling comfortable, applying game pressure. We’re working on that.”
Ireland’s representative Stuart Grehan was a part of that training session and says the team is focused on improving that singles record. The team needs leaders and they’ve got one in Grehan, says Robertson.
“I coached Stuart at the 2016 Arnold Palmer Cup when he was an amateur. I knew him when he was at Maynooth years ago. I’ve got a brilliant relationship with him,” he says.
“To have the Amateur champion from Ireland, it’s a huge statement. Stuart’s victory at Hoylake was terrific and a great shot in the arm for the team.”
The US team is “littered with superstars”, says Robertson, with Miles Russell, Preston Stout and Ethan Fang among their star players.
“They have got such a depth and talent of young golfers. But Lahinch is not America. The course and weather will play a big part,” he says.
“We’re on links and most of our championships are on links.”
The 56-year-old captain is best known in his professional years for winning the 1999 Italian Open and he played in the Walker Cup himself in 1993 in a team that included Pádraig Harrington.
He last played on the European Tour in 2007, changing his focus to coaching, and he is now high-performance golf coach at the University of Stirling. He has captained Europe’s team in the Arnold Palmer Cup and GB&I’s team in the St Andrews Trophy, before being named the Walker Cup captain in 2024, becoming the first professional captain since its inception in 1922.
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Robertson embraced his week at the South of Ireland at Lahinch, hoping for an Irish player to force his way into the team with victory. David Howard tried his best by reaching the semi-finals, while Thomas Higgins beat Walker Cup player Connor Graham 2&1 in the round of 16.
After an impressive summer of leading Ireland to European Team Championship glory and winning the Irish Close the week before the decision was made, Higgins was unfortunately usurped by the unexpected victory of Jack Whaley in the US Amateur at Merion, forcing Robertson’s hand.
Higgins and Howard are reserves; Tyler Weaver has been nursing a back injury through the summer, but is expected to play, so Grehan is the sole home player at Lahinch.
Robertson is calling for the sold-out Irish crowd to get involved, as 8,000 people are expected each day with an opportunity to walk down the fairways.
“We’re gonna have an eleventh player in the team next week, the Irish crowd. Lahinch starts in the town, it’s got a unique atmosphere and the Irish are passionate about their sport in general, but especially for their golf.”
Five Walker Cup players to watch
Stuart Grehan (GB&I)
The only Irish player in the squad, Grehan won the Amateur Championship at Hoylake in fine fashion in June as well as multiple Irish championships in the past 18 months. From Tullamore but living and working in Co Louth, Grehan was once a professional on the Challenge Tour, but was reinstated as an amateur in 2024.
Miles Russell (USA)
The next big thing in US golf, the 17-year-old finished 20th on the Korn Ferry Tour when he was just 15 and made the cut at the US Open this year. A left-hander, he was a prolific winner at junior ranks and surpassed Tiger Woods as the youngest golfer to win AJGA Player of the Year.
Luke Poulter (GB&I)
The son of Ian, the Ryder Cup stalwart, Poulter grew up in the United States but represents England. He impressed recently in the Palmer Cup in Tralee where the best collegiate players compete, showing a flair for match play like his old man.
Preston Stout (USA)
Winner of the Mark McCormack Medal for the world’s top amateur, the Texan has won several events at collegiate level for Oklahoma State and finished tied 15th at the John Deere Classic this summer on the PGA Tour.
Niall Sheils Donegan (GB&I)
Donegan is the son of Lawrence, the former Guardian golf correspondent and regular Second Captains contributor, and like Poulter lives in the US but represents his father’s Scotland. He made headlines last year when he made the semi-finals of the US Amateur at Olympic Club in San Francisco, cheered on by home crowds.
