Left: Scot Jim Millington being congratulated by teammates after chipping in against Jay Siegel
Right: Eoghan O Connell and Peter McEvoy
Below: The 1989 Peachtree programme
Peter Baker and George Macgregor both winning the US were happy to lose the singles by a single
point. The overall
Match result was US 13, GB&I 11. The result for GB&I was tinged with regret for what might have been!
Match 31: 1987, SUNNINGDALE, ENGLAND. The R&A broke with tradition for this Match - the venue was an inland course. Heretofore all R&A championships and Walker Cup Matches were played on links land, but now Sunningdale, the home Club of Gerald Micklem, was chosen. After a life dedicated to all aspects of golf and The R&A it was a fitting tribute to the man. The GB&I side included Colin Montgomerie who went on to win the European Tour Order of Merit on no less than 8 occasions and was runner up in 3 of the 4 Major championships. The team was also notable for those who were not selected, namely Peter McEvoy and Garth McGimpsey. The only Irishman on the team was John McHenry from the Douglas Club in Cork. The US team included
Jay Sigel, Buddy Alexander,
Billy Mayfair and Billy Andrade. The US won all of the foursomes on day 1, and 3 foursomes on day 2, and also won 5 of the singles on day one and 4½ of the singles on day 2. The overall Match result was US 16½, GB&I 7½.
Match 32: 1989, PEACHTREE, ATLANTA, USA. Peachtree Golf Club is one of those rare gems in the world of golf; in fact some aficionados are known to rank Augusta
30 ROYAL LIVERPOOL GOLF CLUB MAGAZINE 2018–2019
National as the second best course in the state of Georgia behind Peachtree! Built in the late 1940s it was a joint effort between Bobby Jones and golf course architect Robert Trent Jones. The Club has many connections with the Walker Cup including six of its members being team captains. The US team of 1989 included Phil Mickelson, Robert Gamez, Danny Yates, and Jay Sigel. The GB&I team included Peter McEvoy, Garth McGimpsey and Eoghan O’Connell. Surprisingly GB&I secured six of the eight points in the foursomes and won 5 of the singles on day one. Leading 11 to 5 going into the final day’s singles GB&I needed just 1½ points to secure an historic victory on US soil. The afternoon was a nail biting affair and with four matches left on the course GB&I needed one more point for victory. USA easily won two of the games leaving GB&I seeking one point from the remaining couple of games. The USA players involved in these two games were none other than Phil Mickelson, playing the youthful Eoghan O’Connell, and Jay Sigel
playing Scot
Jim Milligan. In an extraordinary display of fluffed chips, wondrous chip-ins and a concession by Phil Mickelson on par with the concession by Jack Nicklaus to Tony Jacklin all those years ago in the Ryder Cup, GB&I secured the necessary 2 half points. The overall Match result was GB&I 12½, US 11½. Young Eoghan O’Connell from the Killarney club in Kerry was the hero of the hour being undefeated in the Match. Donald Steel summed up the feelings of the visiting team, officials and supporters when he wrote, “As a journey to hell and back, it had no serious rival - not even Baltimore in 1965.”
Match 33: 1991, PORTMARNOCK, DUBLIN, IRELAND. The selection of an Irish golf course as a venue for the Walker Cup was long overdue and, when it did come to Portmarnock,
for the Golfing Union of Ireland,
it was a fitting accolade the
oldest golfing union in the world, which was celebrating its centenary in 1991. The course is recognised worldwide as one of the finest links anywhere. The USA team, still smarting from the defeat at Peachtree, included Phil Mickelson, David Duval, Jay Sigel, and Bob May who had that wonderful tussle with Tiger Woods in the final round of the 2000 PGA championship. The GB&I team included Jim Milligan who had performed heroics at Peachtree in 1989, and three Irishmen: Paul McGinley, Garth McGimpsey and a youthful Padraig Harrington. GB&I lost all 4 foursomes on day one but halved the singles. A reversal of fortunes on day
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