Last weekend, the United States defeated Great Britain & Ireland 17-9 at Cypress Point Club in the 50th Walker Cup. It remains one of the most iconic and pure events in golf, and we were lucky enough to spend some time out at Cypress Point to watch it all unfold.
The Walker Cup serves as a fantastic time capsule before some of the greats embark on a career in professional golf, but also a reminder that amateur golf is in a great place. Tron, Soly and D.J. sat together to recap their time right after, but with all the unreal photos and anecdotes, we were left with a few more questions. So, we roped them into writing a little Walker Cup diary (and threw in some screensaver-worthy scenics).
Q: Soly, you said Cypress Point finally made sense once you watched the Walker Cup. What match, shot or hole can you credit with your "aha!" moment?
Soly: Honestly, as soon as I saw Cypress with just a little bit of that USGA brown mixed in around the greens, everything about the place made just a little bit more sense. Every green looked that much more diabolical, every pin made sense in terms of the question that was being asked, and it became about a lot more than just the views. Saturday morning in the foursomes matches, the pin was back middle on the short 15th. It looked like a green light pin from the tee, but when I got up to the green and saw the small ridge the hole sat on, my eyebrows raised a bit. If the green was soft, it wouldn’t have really mattered, as players could have flied balls to the back shelf and held the green easily. But with the greens playing firm and the shot playing a bit downwind, it was that much tougher of a shot. The best shots actually landed a smidge below the ridge and skipped up, yet needed to be played without too much spin to make sure it rose far enough to stay on top. It took an incredibly precise shot, because landing up on top of the ridge was going to result in the ball bouncing over the green. It was like this on repeat for all 18 holes, and I’m a touch embarrassed that I didn’t have full appreciation for this when I played the course back in 2023.
Q: D.J., how does this generation of men’s amateur golfers compare to those you’ve witnessed over the years?
D.J.: It’s hard for me to say – I don’t get to watch enough of it in person, and you never know when your memory is playing tricks on you. But I’ll say this: I think it’s really easy to paint The Younger Generation as a group that bombs it, flips wedges, and figures it out from there. And certainly that exists out there. But watching the cream of the crop at the Walker Cup was a good reminder of what it still takes to stand out and separate yourself from the rest of the pack. I wish we had gotten more wind to really separate good shots from great shots, but even with the benign conditions we had (and with the firmness of the golf course), there was still so much shot-making on display that it’s no wonder so many of these guys slot right into pro golf.
Q: Tron, you seemed to really enjoy your first Walker Cup. As a spectator, where does it rank versus other match play events?
Tron: The intimacy of the crowd and the setting, combined with the competition mattering just enough, was a perfect combo. At the Solheim and Ryder Cups, the competition outweighs everything else and is the lens you view the entire experience. Everything else feels secondary. The Walker Cup is great because it’s clearly a very serious match, but it’s also not sucking the oxygen out of everything. If you want to lock in on a match, you can follow for all 18 holes, or you can hang out on a hole and compare and contrast the various approaches to playing the hole, or you can sit and drink beers and talk to people who are deeply into golf and enjoy the views. It’s refreshing that a few of the guys playing are probably going to win majors one day, that a few of them don’t have any professional golf future, and it just feels vintage and classic. Everything is in proportion. Did it help that it was at Cypress? Absolutely. But I can’t imagine the gist of this being any different at Lahinch, Bandon, Chicago Golf or Pine Valley. I need to get to a Curtis Cup - I imagine it’s a similar feeling, and timing up a trip to L.A. or Scotland to coincide with Bel-Air or Royal Dornoch feels like it’s in the forecast.
Q: Also, any Ad Astra recs?
Tron: Truly, cannot go wrong. I usually get the salmon sandwich with shaved fennel and caper slaw on sesame stirato as a non-negotiable and then add a more sweet or savory item in there to complement it like a babka, kouign aman, or cardamon bun. The ham and cheese pastry is not to be missed, as well. Their bread is not for everyone - some feel it’s burnt and crispy, but that’s my preference with the crust. I like the texture.
Closing Thoughts
1) Is alt-shot and singles the only way to conduct a match-play event? Soly: I wouldn’t say it’s the only way. Four-ball can be a bit of a drag, but on a strategic course like Cypress, I would have loved to see a few more balls in play with some differing strategies on some of the risk/reward holes.
Tron: One session of four-ball would’ve been awesome for the reasons Soly mentioned above and to draw out some more aggressive play on a handful of holes. That said, I loved the two-day format with singles each afternoon - compact, not overly drawn out. Refreshing when compared to the four-day Presidents Cup slog.
D.J.: With the courses this event goes to, there is a part of you that does want to see more golf balls in play and more risk and strategy on display, like you could get in four-balls. But I’m also kind of a sucker for the tradition of this event and the format that comes with it. The two-day competition is so much fun for fans (easy to remember exactly what’s already happened and keep that context in your head). And it flies! Which makes each point feel really massive.
2) With such a lopsided all-time record, does it still make sense for this to be U.S. vs. GB&I?
Soly: It does not. I’m sure there’s something I don’t understand about it, but the talent gap is immense, as is the population gap. It’s time to bring in at least a couple of Europeans.
Tron: As I understand it, the R&A doesn’t have oversight over continental European golf - the French Golf Association rules amateur golf in France, Spanish Golf Association, etc. So it’s as much a governance thing as a competitive consideration. All that said, they need to do something.
D.J.: Wolfie sold me on the idea that GB&I is tradition and that tradition is good. If they were trying to make this some massive entertainment product/commercial success, that would be one thing. But as an event that is basically a celebration of the game’s history and venues, the recent lopsidedness doesn’t bother me as much as it seems like it should. Keep in mind that, even though the U.S. has now won five in a row, it’s 12-7 in my lifetime. And imagine the next time GB&I breaks through!
3) Anything you'd change about the Walker Cup?
Soly: Like the Ryder Cup...play it every year.
Tron: I vehemently disagree with the every year stuff. The wait makes the build-up even better, and it feels like a special event when you're there. Every year dilutes it.
D.J.: It seems like making the team selection process a little more transparent would be a good thing. The cloak-and-dagger committee selections feel a little outdated. And definitely DON’T play it every year.
4) What's worse: Logo bingo or big letter hats?
Soly: Big letter hats.
Tron: Big letter hats. Not even a question.
D.J.: BLH at the end of the day. But don’t sleep on how horrible double or tripling up on one logo can be.