Bruen and Micklem were to become household names in Amateur golf. Two further Irishmen, Ewing and McCready, were also on the team. The presence of 4 Irishmen was a powerful attraction for the many Irish golf enthusiasts who lived in the New York area. The USA team included Turnesa, Stranahan, Coe and Riegel. The foursomes went 3 games to1 in favour of the USA and they also won the singles by 7 games to 1. USA won the match 10 games to 2. It is worth noting that White continued his winning ways in Walker Cup matches by winning both his foursomes and singles games.


In 1951…... The match returned to Britain where it


I used to fight in the schoolyards to get my own way.


another consequence. Britain’s economy had suffered hugely and most fields of recreation and sporting activities were short


of personnel and finance. The


R&A was no exception and it was not financially viable to send a Walker Cup team to America in 1947. In the spirit of the competition the USGA offered to play the match at St Andrews. 13 matches were played between 1947


and 1971. The results from a GB&I viewpoint were pretty dismal with one drawn match at Baltimore, USA, in 1965, and one victory at St Andrews in 1971. The USA teams were comfortable victors in all the other matches. Despite our poor form, the period in question was a golden era for the competition itself and indeed for all the players on both teams. The stated wishes of George Herbert Walker, USGA President, who presented the trophy in 1922, were that the matches would promote all that was good in sportsmanship and camaraderie and had certainly been met. The format for the match continued to be 4 games of 36 holes foursomes and 8 rounds of 36 holes singles until 1963. Thereafter, the format changed to 2 series of 4 games of 18 holes foursomes and 16 games of 18 holes singles.


28 ROYAL LIVERPOOL GOLF CLUB MAGAZINE 2 017


Above: Jo e Carr in action Below right: Michael Bonallack


In 1947…...


When the matches resumed in 1947 GB&I were


seriously disadvantaged


as Jimmy Bruen was not available for selection. Bruen, who had won the Boys Championship at Birkdale in 1936, and the Amateur Championship,


also at


Birkdale, in 1946, damaged his wrist while working at his home in Cork. Fortunately, this was the time when new talented amateurs emerged. Irishman Joe Carr and Englishmen Ronnie White and Laddie Lucas were excellent additions to the older stalwarts, Cecil Ewing, Leonard Crawley and Alex Kyle. The USA team also introduced new


talented players such as Dick Chapman, Frank


Stranahan, Harvie Ward and


Willie Turnesa. Despite sharing the foursomes GB&I were comprehensively beaten 6 games to 2 in the singles. Victors for GB&I were Carr who won 5 and 3 and White who won 4 and 3. USA won the match 8 games to 4.


In 1949…... T he first post war trip to America by


the GB&I team was in 1949. The match was played at Winged Foot, NY. Players on the GB&I team such as White, Carr,


was played at Royal Birkdale. The USGA played the matches on different courses throughout the USA, but this was only the second time in its history that the match in Britain was not played at St Andrews. GB&I fielded high calibre players such as White, Carr, Ewing, Kyle, Bruen, and John Morgan. The USA team included Stranahan, Coe, Chapman, Turnesa and Bill Campbell. In those days a halved match counted for zero and the USA led by 2 games to 0 after the foursomes. Carr, White and Kyle won their singles games. The USA team won 4 games and took the match 6 games to 3. White had a thrilling victory over Coe to maintain his unbeaten run in The Walker Cup.


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