Captain Stuart Wilson is backing Great Britain and Ireland to upset the odds and win the Walker Cup on American soil for the first time in 20 years.
The biennial amateur team event has been dominated by the US, who have won 37 of the 47 contests, with GB&I only winning twice away from home.
All 10 Americans are ranked inside the top 30 in the world, while GB&I has just two for this weekend’s contest at Seminole Golf Club, Florida.
“It’s not impossible,” said Wilson.
“We’d never say we’re outsiders because with the format of the match, everybody knows anything can happen.
“As far as being up against it, you’re always up against it when you play against America.
“With the closed conditions for this event, we’re going to have very few GB&I spectators cheering us on so we can use that to, not so much prove a point, but use it as motivation to do well.
“There have been 310 Walker Cup players, 84 of those have played on winning sides but only 20 have played on a winning side in America. We’re trying to make that 30.”
Alex Fitzpatrick, younger brother of English professional Matt, is the only member of the GB&I team who played in the last match – a 15½-10½ defeat in 2019 at Royal Liverpool Golf Club, Hoylake.
The home side led by a point going into the final singles but lost eight of the 10 matches.
“We were looking good and we were all up for going out there and putting our points on the board,” said 22-year-old Fitzpatrick, who is the highest ranked player in the GB&I team at 12th.
“I sadly didn’t do my job. I didn’t get a point on the board early for the rest of the team to see.
“The only thing you can take from that is putting points on the board early is the most important thing you can do, make sure the guys behind you can see blue on the boards and getting the points.”
It the first team event of what will be a unique few months, with the Walker, Curtis, Ryder and Solheim Cups being played in the same year for the first time.
Teams
| Name | Age | State | Amateur world ranking |
| Ricky Castillo | 20 | California | 10 |
| Pierceson Coody | 21 | Texas | 2 |
| Quade Cummins | 24 | Oklahoma | 17 |
| Austin Eckroat | 22 | Oklahoma | 13 |
| Stewart Hagestad | 29 | California | 14 |
| Cole Hammer | 21 | Texas | 18 |
| William Mouw | 20 | California | 27 |
| John Pak | 22 | New Jersey | 4 |
| Tyler Strafaci | 22 | Florida | 9 |
| Davis Thompson | 21 | Georgia | 3 |
| Name | Age | Country | Amateur world ranking |
| Barclay Brown | 20 | England | 71 |
| Jack Dyer | 23 | England | 208 |
| Alex Fitzpatrick | 22 | England | 12 |
| Angus Flanagan | 21 | England | 40 |
| Ben Jones | 21 | England | 53 |
| Matty Lamb | 23 | England | 103 |
| Joe Long | 23 | England | 28 |
| John Murphy | 22 | Ireland | 117 |
| Mark Power | 20 | Ireland | 32 |
| Ben Schmidt | 18 | England | 33 |
Format
Day one: Four morning foursomes and eight afternoon singles
Day Two: Four morning foursomes and 10 afternoon singles
GB&I need 13½ points to regain the trophy, the US need 13 points to retain it.
Article courtesy of BBC Sport
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