Chipping in to shut up Buddy

Published on Saturday 5 September 2009 20:56

ONE OF THE best and perennially controversial things about amateur golf is that it routinely involves the picking of representative teams at club, county and national levels. And when those sides are decided upon you can bet on there being at least mild disagreement from any and all quarters. Subjective decisions being what they are, someone is inevitably going to be disappointed by the results of the selectors' careful deliberations.

Next weekend's Walker Cup match between the United States and Great Britain & Ireland is no exception to that almost immutable law of golfing life. When the two ten-man teams convene at the storied Merion course just outside Philadelphia, many are those who will claim long and loud that neither side is the very best that the new and old worlds have to offer. That's just the way it always is.

This time round, most of those whining noises have been emanating from the other side of the pond. While I am far from an expert in the cosseted country club world of American amateur golf, I have it on good authority that at least one outrageous decision has been made for reasons that may or may not have little to do with relative golfing ability.

To be more precise, the selection of one Peter Uihlein over someone called Dan Woltman has many close observers reaching for their anti-cynicism pills. Going into last week's US Amateur, Woltman was apparently seen as a "lock" for one of the two Walker Cup spots still available; Uihlein, whose father, Wally, is the high heid-yin at Titleist, was not.

Yet the well-connected Uihlein, who made it to the last-16 of the US Amateur after a summer of relatively few highlights, will be at Merion and Woltman, following a string of distinguished performances that included the winning of the prestigious North-East Amateur and a last-16 spot in the national championship, will not.

"At the end of the day, the Walker Cup is a team competition," commented Steve Smyers, head of the USGA's international team selection committee. "And that was a very important component, to be able to stand on the tee with your partner and have a great deal of respect, both personally and for the game. That weighed heavily in the selection process."

Draw your own conclusions, but it sounds like young Woltman has upset at least one blue-blooded blazer – complete with Roman numeral – somewhere along the way. And, it must also be pointed out, 18 of next weekend's matches will be singles, so compatibility with a "partner" is unlikely to be decisive.

On this side of the game's largest water hazard, there were, in comparison, nothing more than the usual post-announcement skirmishes regarding a GB&I side that contains seven Englishmen, two Scots in Gavin Dear and Wallace Booth, and a lone Irishman. For once, there is no sign of what was for long enough looked upon as the "complimentary Welshman".

From Scotland's point of view, three-time Scottish Amateur Championship runner-up Paul O'Hara can count himself a little unfortunate not to be on yesterday's flight that took the squad to the States for a week of preparation that includes two days' play at Pine Valley, the perennial No.1 on most lists of the world's best courses. But, other than that, the six selectors (the captain, a chairman and one from each home country) seem to have arrived on ten names that have kept all but the most parochial and uninformed voices mostly silent. Certainly, last week's Home International Championship, won by England with the Scots in second place (Dear and Booth each lost only one match from six), would seem to confirm that GB&I is going in with its best available side.

The visitors, again led by former Scottish Amateur champion Colin Dalgleish, will be looking to avenge the agonising one-point defeat of two years ago at Royal County Down, a feat that would, for many people, be highlighted by the sight and sound of the US skipper, George "Buddy" Marucci, making a losing speech at the closing ceremony. The reigning US Senior Amateur champion, this oh-so-smug car dealer is not, shall we say, known for his humility or magnanimity in defeat. So it would be nice to see and hear him choking on words of congratulation.

Anyway, should that come to pass, the two Scots – both of whom were part of the winning sides at last year's World Amateur Team Championship and this year's European equivalent – will leave the amateur game on the ultimate high. Nine of the ten GB&I side, in fact, will turn professional immediately after the matches. Englishman Stiggy Hodgson is the lone exception.

"Four or five of the English lads are really outstanding players," points out Dear, who plays his golf at Murrayshall in Perthshire. "So we have a strong squad. If at least half a dozen of us play well over the two days we will do well. I know the English lads are really up for it so I fancy our chances."

One thing the winning side will undoubtedly have to do better than the opposition is score from inside 100 yards. Merion is one of the best courses on the planet, but it is also one of the strangest in terms of its configuration. Merion's long holes are very long, while its short holes are very short. So wedge play, whether the second or third shot on a particular hole, is going to be even more important than usual.

"I hear the course is great," says Dear, who secured his place in the side after a string of top performances, the best of which saw him win the Irish Open Amateur Championship and the prestigious Dixie Amateur in Florida. "But it has been hard to practise too much wedge play because you can't recreate the green speed, which dictates how much the ball will spin on landing."

And, for all that Dear describes the Walker Cup as the "Holy Grail" of amateur golf, the 25-year-old would be less than human if his mind was not already wandering to the career that beckons beyond next weekend.

"I'll be at the Oxfordshire for Stage One of the European Tour Qualifying School just one week after Merion," he confirms. "My hope is that I will be one of the 25 to get through and that I will get a couple of invitations to Challenge Tour or European Tour events.

"I've had some good advice from Callum Macaulay (the third member of Scotland's winning team in the World Amateur Team Championship and the only amateur to make it through all three school stages last year] about how to go about things.

"He tells me tour school isn't as hard as everyone says. If you play well – not even exceptionally – in the first two stages you will sail through. That's what professional golf is all about, of course – playing well. A year on I'd certainly like to be where Callum is right now."

All of that is for the future though. For now, Dear's thoughts are focused firmly on what is surely the amateur game's biggest piece of silverware (the Walker Cup is a whopper). And wiping that smugly supercilious smirk off Marucci's face, of course.