Lighting The Fire Of The Walker Cup Debate

Never one to shy away from civil and uncivil debate, I shall take on all who voice opinions in support of or against my selections. The 2009 USA Walker Cup team is so difficult to choose, for the exact reason that Captain’s Picks for the USA Solheim Cup side were so hard to forecast: no one is winning! Nevertheless, I forge ahead, using consistency as my beacon. Without delay, I present my pre-US Amateur (big asterisk, to be explained at bottom) USA Walker Cup side:

Rickie Fowler…Is there any doubt?

Bud Cauley…won the Players Am, currently in semis of the toughest amateur event out there, the Western.

Nathan Smith…torpedoed my disdain for mid-ams with his performance at the Western. Made match play and won his first match. Qualifies not based on vintage, but on talent.

Dan Woltman…see above…also won Northeast Amateur.

Brendan Gielow…won Porter Cup…top 10s at Sunnehanna, Northeast, Jones Cup and Southern

Brian Harman…played in Walker Cup before…won Dogwood, second at Sunnehanna

Peter Uihlein…Dad runs Titleist (kidding, but he does)…top 20s at Sunnehanna, NCAAs and Northeast…top 10s at Southern and Porter Cup.

Adam Mitchell…tops 10s at Players, Dogwood, Jones Cup and Porter Cup

Mark Anderson…top 20s at Northeast and Sunnehanna…top 10s at Dogwood and Players.

and the final spot goes to…Sihwan Kim or Bo Hoag or Morgan Hoffman or Cameron Tringale or Mike Van Sickle. The US Amateur will decide their fate.

THE BIG ASTERISK: The US Amateur is the second most difficult amateur championship to win. One must survive 36 holes of medal qualifying, then win six matches against the most talented competition in the world. The most difficult is the Western, where you survive TWO medal cuts (36 and 72) then survive four matches, all in 5 days. The US Amateur is played just before the Walker Cup and is the final team qualifying event. I’m fairly confident that my top nine will make the team. Unless some absolute unknown comes out of the woodwork to win the US Am (or unless Kyle Stanley suddenly turns amateur again) the final member of the USA side will come from my fivesome.

Editors Note: Golfweek favors Cameron Tringale, Drew Weaver and Morgan Hoffman over Woltman and Uihlein. No one else has offered a list of candidates.