Amateur golfBrian KeoghWalker Cup, Nigel Edwards, Cormac Sharvin, Gary Hurley, Jack Hume, Gavin Moynihan, Paul Dunne, Royal Lytham and St AnnesComment

Band of Brothers (and smiling assassins) live the Walker Cup dream

Amateur golfBrian KeoghWalker Cup, Nigel Edwards, Cormac Sharvin, Gary Hurley, Jack Hume, Gavin Moynihan, Paul Dunne, Royal Lytham and St AnnesComment
Band of Brothers (and smiling assassins) live the Walker Cup dream

Naas' Jack Hume, Ardglass' Cormac Sharvin, The Island's Gavin Moynihan, Greystones' Paul Dunne and West Waterford's Gary Hurley pose with the Walker Cup at Royal Lytham St Annes, Lytham St Annes, Lancashire, England. 13/09/2015 Picture Golffile | Fran Caffrey

 

In truth, the evidence was there from the moment he ran through his team the Monday after the US Amateur. Nigel Edwards, the most successful GB&I Walker Cup captain in the game alongside Peter McEvoy, knew what he wanted and got it

In picking five Irish players to go with the English pair of Ashley Chester and Jimmy Mullen, the two outstanding players of the week alongside Ardglass' Cormac Sharvin, he had a band of brothers who would fight for each other. 

By adding Scots Jack McDonald (the perfect foil for room mate Sharvin) and the versatility of Grant Forrest and then bringing in Ewen Ferguson for late withdrawal Sam Horsfield, he had 10 players who knew each other so well and were so well versed in team play that they were never going to be easy to beat on a track as tough as Royal Lytham and St Annes. That was the theory. Pulling it off so perfectly was a masterstroke of planning, intuition, intelligence and a little luck

A focussed Jack Hume during Sunday morning's foursomes matches. Picture: Golffile | David Lloyd 

On paper, the USA had its usual collection of future superstars and while their brace of 3-1 defeats in foursomes put them under far too much pressure in the singles each day, they were outplayed in the mano a mano combat too, winning just five of those 18 matches.

As Gavin Moynihan—cruelly beaten 6 and 5 by the charismatic Bryson DeChambeau in the anchor match deposit playing those 13 holes in level fours— had pointed out in these columns and at the venue, Royal Lytham and St Annes was a course that played into the home side's hands.

There may be calls for a USGA task force to be set now to try and work out why the USA lost so soundly but while the gulf was not as big as the scoreline might suggest, lack of knowledge of foursomes play against a talented GB&I side did not help.

Time will tell how good Edwards' side really is and just as the 2007 US team turned out to be a collection of superstars, the likes of Chesters, Mullen and Sharvin may well go on to become world beaters, just as Moynihan, Hurley, Hume and Dunne are expected to be.

The USA also lost in 2011 on a tough away track with the likes of Jordan Spieth in another American Dream Team and while US captain John "Spider" Miller was a gracious loser and a thorough gentleman, his decisions will inevitably be questioned.

Cormac Sharvin sprays other GB&I players with champagne after winning x during an afternoon singles match at the 2015 Walker Cup at Royal Lytham & St. Annes G.C. in Lytham St Annes, Lancashire on Sunday, Sept. 13, 2015.  (Copyright USGA/John Mummert)

That's inevitable and something we should have suspected when he said 12 days ago that the players would decide the pairings themselves. 

"I’m not going to try and analyse each person’s game," he said.

Whatever about resting US Amateur and NCAA Div I Individual champion Dechambeau on the first morning because of a neck injury, playing him last on Sunday as he requested was not clever. Inevitably, the Walker Cup was already lost as he rounded the turn with GB&I getting three and a half points they needed from the first four matches, having crushed the US in the key foursomes in the morning as Dunne and Hurley came from behind to avenge the loss of their unbeaten record. As it stands, the have now won 9 1/2 point out of 11 matches as a foursome in all competitions. Not bad.

Fortunately for the US, not every GB&I player performed at 100 percent while too many US stars were well below par.

Gary Hurley reacts to sinking his crucial birdie putt on the 16th green during a morning foursomes match at the 2015 Walker Cup at Royal Lytham & St. Annes G.C. in Lytham St Annes, Lancashire on Sunday, Sept. 13, 2015.  (Copyright USGA/John Mummert)

Paul Dunne waves after his putt on the 11th hole during an afternoon singles match at the 2015 Walker Cup at Royal Lytham & St. Annes G.C. in Lytham St Annes, Lancashire on Sunday, Sept. 13, 2015.  (Copyright USGA/John Mummert)

Paul Dunne plays his second shot on the 18th hole during a morning foursomes match at the 2015 Walker Cup at Royal Lytham & St. Annes G.C. in Lytham St Annes, Lancashire on Sunday, Sept. 13, 2015.  (Copyright USGA/John Mummert)

Cormac Sharvin, right, fist bumps with Jack McDonald, right, after winning the sixth hole during a morning foursomes match at the 2015 Walker Cup at Royal Lytham & St. Annes G.C. in Lytham St Annes, Lancashire on Sunday, Sept. 13, 2015.  (Copyright USGA/Chris Keane)

Cormac Sharvin watches his second shot on the fourth hole during a morning foursomes match at the 2015 Walker Cup at Royal Lytham & St. Annes G.C. in Lytham St Annes, Lancashire on Sunday, Sept. 13, 2015.  (Copyright USGA/Chris Keane)

Bryson DeChambeau puts his arm around captain Spider Miller at the closing ceremony.

The perceived handicap of choosing two mid-Amateurs by default is a philosophical debate over the spirit of the matches and the greater good of the game. Whatever you may think, there's no question that it adulterates the competition.

Golf Channel's Ryan Lavner, a close student of the US team and its selection policy, tweeted some thoughts about this and other matters in the immediate aftermath. The idea that all US players should play three matches, irrespective of form, is cleary not the tactic of a team that's serious about winning.

Whatever about the captain, the suggestion that the US players somehow underestimated the opposition is also plainly wrong as most of them were clearly big admirers of the top GB&I stars, having played against them in college or events like the Palmer Cup, the US Amateur or The Open, where Chesters and Dunne (and Jordan Niebrugge) were outstanding.

From an Irish perspective it was a huge week with a record five-man participation in a record 16.5 to 9.5 win. 

All bar Sharvin are heading for the Q-School — Hurley, Moynihan and Dunne are turning professional with Hume going as an amateur — but it would be a mistake to pile all the pressure on their shoulders and forget about those who didn't make the team or who have already turned professional, such as Dermot McElroy or Chris Selfridge respectively.

Professional golf is a famously fickle beast that frowns on some and smiles on others without much apparent logic.

As Paul McGinley said on Twitter, the should enjoy their achievement and be proud.

They certainly appeared to enjoy every moment of a special experience and captain Edwards was clearly expecting the Irish to do the business, even opting for green shirts on Sunday

The Welshman may not want the job but he's clearly deserving of another term, if willing. After that, another former player still connected to the amateur game should be asked to play their part in a drama that showcases so much that is good about the game.

Paul Dunne plays the fourth shot on the seventh hole hole during a morning foursomes match at the 2015 Walker Cup at Royal Lytham & St. Annes G.C. in Lytham St Annes, Lancashire on Sunday, Sept. 13, 2015.  (Copyright USGA/John Mummert)

Paul Dunne reacts to his made putt on the 18th hole during a morning foursomes match at the 2015 Walker Cup at Royal Lytham & St. Annes G.C. in Lytham St Annes, Lancashire on Sunday, Sept. 13, 2015.  (Copyright USGA/John Mummert)

Cormac Sharvin plays his tee shot on the seventh hole during a morning foursomes match at the 2015 Walker Cup at Royal Lytham & St. Annes G.C. in Lytham St Annes, Lancashire on Sunday, Sept. 13, 2015.  (Copyright USGA/Chris Keane)