AT HOYLAKE THE
GB&I WALKER CUP TEAM WILL BE
CAPTAINED BY CRAIG WATSON. DEREK LAWRENSON, GOLF
CORRESPONDENT OF THE DAILY MAIL, SPOKE WITH HIM.
CRAIG WATSON CAN’T HIDE his delight at being captain of Britain and Ireland for a Walker Cup to be staged at Royal Liverpool – but he’s equally pleased he won’t be at Hoylake as a player. ‘Can you imagine making your Walker Cup debut and being faced with that horrible opening tee shot?’ he says, laughing. ‘The second shot is not very attractive, either! That’s a hole for young nerves and I’ll be more than happy to sit on the sidelines and see how the
Home Watson
and
finest young golfers from our shores and America cope with it.’ It proves a typical response from the
personable, self-deprecating Scot whose love and enthusiasm for the historic links is palpably plain. ‘For me, without question, Hoylake is one of the best courses on the Open rota,’ he said. ‘I don’t think there’s a weak hole. I just love the fact it’s so fair, and it’s all there in front of you, bar a couple of blind tee shots.’
Watson played in two Amateur
Championships at Hoylake. In 1995 he watched his Scottish amateur team mate Gordon Sherry claim the title, before reaching the last 16 himself in 2000. ‘I think it’s perfectly suited to match
play,’ he said. ‘You’ve got that opening hole which is going to be won or lost in a lot of matches and then you’ve got two par fives close together near the end, where momentum can change quickly. It’s going to be perfect for the Walker Cup. I know as the home captain I have the chance to tweak the course if I want but I see no reason to do that. I’ll leave it to the club because they’ll know best on that one.’
It’s such a huge thing for me, something I never expected
Watson came from nowhere to make
his sole appearance in the Walker Cup at Quaker Ridge in upstate New York in 1997. He wasn’t in any of the squads named in advance but made an unanswerable case for inclusion in the team itself by winning the Amateur Championship
that year at Royal St
George’s, where he beat a South African by the name of Trevor Immelman in the final. Eleven years later, Watson was cheering as loudly as anyone as the classy Immelman claimed the Masters at Augusta. ‘It’s pretty good to look back on and
say you beat a major champion, isn’t it?’ he said. ‘Trevor was only 17 at the time he played me, so he didn’t know any better. I was so pleased for him when he won the
16 ROYAL LIVERPOOL GOLF CLUB MAGAZINE 2019–2020
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