Golf/Golf Architecture
The Walker Cup at Merion
Big weekend in sports, eh? Derek Jeter passed Lou Gehrig to become the Yankees all-time hits leader, Serena Williams had a major malfunction in Flushing, Tiger Woods iced the field at Cog Hill by eight strokes, and the NFL kicked off a new season with its usual talk-radio-friendly array of freak plays, egregious injuries and craptastic performances by hyper-scrutinized quarterbacks.
And then there was the Walker Cup, at Merion Golf Club. One of golf’s most venerable institutions, the biennial event pits a team of ten top amateurs from the U.S. against their counterparts from Great Britain & Ireland. Please do not call it the “amateur equivalent of the Ryder Cup”–the latter is an offshoot of the former, old boy.
The Walker Cup is a big enough event to garner several hours of network TV coverage, but small enough that many will have forgotten the details of the matches (oh, by the way, the Americans won it in a romp, 16 1/2 to 9 1/2) by next week. And in terms of where the competition fits into the modern sports firmament, many fans and observers–present company included–don’t exactly know what to make of it.
There are a couple of reasons for this bewilderment. The first is that amateurism itself is in a steep and steady decline. This is a time in which people can get excited about the potential of Tiger Woods someday winning an Olympic gold medal without so much as a nod to the irony of that scenario. There is so much money on the pro tours today that most top talents leap for it at the first opportunity. You can’t blame them for that, but the result is a dilution of the amateur ranks so extreme that an event like the Walker Cup becomes something like a collegiate all-star game, a senior prom for guys like Rickie Fowler and Brian Harman, who have probably already turned pro by the time of this writing.
Surprisingly, the trend is even more pronounced across the pond. As Mark Reason points out, GB&I captain Colin Dalgleish lost three of his best prospects to the pro ranks in the weeks leading up to Merion. Remember Chris Wood? Tall guy, nearly made it into the playoff at the Open at Turnberry? Amateur, right? Alas, not anymore. And Shane Lowry, for his part, actually went out and won a pro event this summer, the Irish Open, so he wasn’t going to stick around for the souvenir cashmere sweaters, either. It’s no wonder the GB&I side seemed lacking in firepower.
The second reason for the disconnect is the atmosphere of the event itself. The Walker Cup is an international competition without the hoo-ha nationalism. I happen to love this aspect of it, but I also realize that to some it’s a thin broth. Stiggy Hodgson’s fist pumps aside, the dialed-down intensity and galleries issuing tepidly polite “golf claps” could be mistaken for an event teetering on the verge of irrelevance. Under such circumstances, some observers start looking inward (i.e. around them), rather than outward, at the competition itself.
What they saw were men in madras and women in wellies. Writing for Golf Digest, John Huggan said:
“Everywhere one looked at Merion, a sea of white, predominantly preppy faces peered back. A broad cross-section of society this most certainly was not.”
From the Saturday morning hangover to the Sunday afternoon sunburn, this was empirically true. Where it gets interesting is in the type of conclusions one draws from that. Huggan continues:
“Golf cannot have it both ways — exclusive and inclusive. It cannot continue to claim that anything and everything is being done to open up the game to all, while at the same time shamelessly perpetuating the sad old stereotypes that so color the opinions of outsiders. It cannot continue, for example, to secrete Walker Cups and the like in affluent white suburbia.”
Huggan makes a leap here, but it’s not clear to me whether he’s condemning Main Line preppies for attending a golf tournament (which would be pretty unfair, if you ask me, as it is, in point of fact, a public event) or the USGA for not making more of an effort to promote it to a broader audience.
The Walker Cup has long been the USGA’s premiere “boutique event.” Small galleries and the chance to walk the fairways right alongside the players make it the most intimate spectator experience in golf, and clubs like it because it conveys prestige without the logistical migraine of hosting a modern professional Open. Running down the list of past venues, you’ll find clubs like Pine Valley and Cypress Point, which the pros haven’t seen in ages, and the USGA just added another one for 2017 in Los Angeles Country Club.
Merion is a little different, though. This Walker Cup was awarded in part to “war game” some of the logistical issues that might crop up at the 2013 US Open, which the club will host. If that national championship doesn’t attract a more diverse audience I will be shocked and more than concerned, but of course it will.
Increasing diversity is the most important issue facing the game, but in focusing on the scene rather than the subject Huggan glosses over the fact that some great golf was played, despite the lopsided final result. Gavin Dear and Brian Harman went toe-to-toe on consecutive days–their seesaw Saturday match, which ended all square, was one of the Cup’s best. The contrast in style and personality between scrappy Hodgson and Peter Uihlein, son of the Titleist CEO, whose every movement seemed befitting of a kid who grew up in close proximity to the world of the serenely self-assured PGA Tour pro, was great fun to watch. And Rickie Fowler’s superb ball striking and touch around the greens suggested that he might well be a factor at Merion four years from now.
And four years from now we’ll have another Walker Cup on U.S. soil–at the National Golf Links of America on Long Island. Like Merion, NGLA is a club whose importance to the history of American golf cannot be overstated. Like Merion, there are few golf courses in the world more worthy of the spotlight, for their sheer beauty and timelessness of their strategic design. I’d like to think that improving diversity in golf and preserving the tradition of giving top ams the chance to compete over America’s (and GB&I’s) finest courses aren’t mutually exclusive goals, but the answer to that is definitely above my pay grade. My sense, though, is that the answer to both will be determined more by amateur golf’s ability to remain relevant in an increasingly commercialized sports culture than by whether the venues chosen for events like the Walker Cup are public or private, urban or suburban.
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8 comments for “The Walker Cup at Merion”
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Want to make golf more diverse? Outlaw golf carts and bring back caddies. Unrealistic, obviously, but between the death of the caddy and the 3.5 hr round, it’s hard to make the game appealing to different population groups.
By the way, if you are interested, I took a few clandestine photos of the Walker Cup here:
http://www.ballssticksstuff.com/2009/09/photo-gallery-walker-cup-at-merion.html
[I blended in because I'm a white suburban preppy like everyone else there!]
TD,
I too attended the event this past weekend. The Walker Cup was quite unlike any golf event I have experienced, and I found it more intimate and approachable than anything I’ve attended prior. Frankly, my primary motivation for attending was the venue, with the golf being a capable, but secondary, sideshow. In the end, the golf was every bit an equal to the surroundings. While I think there is much to be said about the competition and the venue, I can’t help but get sidetracked by John Huggan’s take on the situation.
I will not dispute the monochromatic complexion of those in attendance, but I think Huggan makes an illogical leap in his conclusions. Collectively we have certainly witnessed ample crowd diversity at recent championship events. I spent the day at Baltusrol in 2005 and can attest that Mr. Huggan would not have made the same observations at that event, and I’m sure the same could be said of the events at Oakmont, Winged Foot, and Shinnecock Hills, et al. I find it difficult to fathom that one could successfully argue that those clubs are more inviting, accessible, and compelling for the minority golfer than Merion. Given the fact that Merion lies less than three miles from the Philadelphia city line I sincerely doubt there are many championship venues that enjoy such proximity to so much diversity, and have a rail stop that literally lies across the street. The event, not the club, is the reason for the racial disconnect.
Golf has made strides to open the game to all, and the complexion of the faces on tee boxes and in spectator galleries is proof of that. But as new people take interest in the game as participants and spectators we cannot expect them to immediately flock to an event that is, relatively speaking, obscure. As you succinctly stated, in 2013 the event will draw a diverse crowd, and then, like now, the racial diversity will have very little to do with the host club.
Earlier this summer there was a lot of doubt that several of the guys on the US team would retain amateur status through the Walker Cup. The perception was that it was an unusual graduating class, more eager to start their pro careers than typical and were impatient to stick around.
Fowler, Harman, Weaver, Tringale and Mitchel are no longer on the Scratch Player rankings so they all appear to have turned pro.
So it would seem the Walker Cup allure was there, at least in the US; because in the end they fielded a very strong team, leaving off a small handful of worthy players just as good as those on the squad. Guys like Martin, Henley, Tway and Van Sickle would have been more than competent, arguably better, replacements.
But it isn’t purely for the love of amateurism. As I’ve heard from a reputable source, a former Walker Cup player himself, making the team can be worth an extra $100K/year in endorsement money out of the gate.
The Walker Cup celebrates an earlier, more pristine age of elite sporting competition. (I view the US and British Am’s the same way) You can’t help but appreciate this when you attend these events, and I don’t think the television broadcasts convey this unique atmosphere very well.
All the better that they hold these events on throwback courses like Merion, places so steeped in history.
The Walker Cup is a necessary ritual, one that keeps this sport grounded in its proud traditions. There is a sacredness about it that you don’t find elsewhere not only in other sports, but in other golfing events.
I was at Merion this week for my first Walker Cup in person and have to say, it will likely become a regular fixture on my schedule.
This is not, and will never be, a mainstream golf event at I think that is fine. I have been to the Ryder Cup and it is a great, spectacular event and I will go again but they are so different it’s like it is not even the same sport.
The Walker Cup will only ever interest the truly hard core, lifetime golf fan who lives and breathes the game. I was thinking about the regular 5 or 6 guys that I play with most often and while they all love to play the game, only 2-3 probably would really enjoy the Walker Cup.
I think the Walk Cup also serves a very useful purpose as a counterbalance to the needs of the modern golf events to only go to venues that are long enough and big enough to handle the “event”. I know Merion is hosting the 2013 Open but that is certainly the exception. Think about the venues here in the US (Chicago Golf CLub, Merion, NGLA and LACC). Those are courses that the outside world would never see the light of day without this event and it exposes a whole new generation of players to these classic and timeless designs.
As for the players, professional golf overtook amateur golf a long time ago so there is always going to be the ying and yang of that. It was nice to se one mid-am in the group. Maybe they could change the rules so that each team is required to have at least 2 mid-am’s. That was sort of an unwritten rule until 6-8 years ago. Maybe someone needs to start the “Walker Cup” for mid-ams. I’m sure there probably already is something like that informally given the mid-am “circuit” that already exists but perhaps a formal sanctioned event might be worth considering to seperate the “true” amateurs from the gray area of college players.
Anyway, it was a great event and one that I look forward to attending in Scotland in 2011.
Nice essay. I was at the event and the opportunity to be close to the players combined with the comportment of the gallery (no “go-in-the-hole crap) made it really a good viewing experience. I do worry about crowd size for 2013 Open. Anyway, I came away with the determination to go to all the future WC’s I can.
Nice take on the event and on Huggan’s rant. I fear though that the Walker Cup has already lost its “relevance,” whatever that means these days. I say Hooray for irrelevance. I didn’t go to this Walker Cup but I did attend a recent Curtis Cup and had a MUCH better time than I did at the last professional event I atended (ATT at Congressional, where regular folk had to make their way through the maze of corporate tents that were erected in prime viewing spots). Somebody should ask Huggan if he thinks that overpriced tour events, with corporate honchos lording it over the $40 ticket holders, is going to do much to improve diversity.
Some great pieces that I truly appreciate.
“Huggan makes a leap here, but it’s not clear to me whether he’s condemning Main Line preppies for attending a golf tournament (which would be pretty unfair, if you ask me, as it is, in point of fact, a public event) or the USGA for not making more of an effort to promote it to a broader audience.”
Spot on!
“The first is that amateurism itself is in a steep and steady decline.” My hope for the future of Amateur golf is brighter than yours but after the U.S. Am this year, I am having a hard time keeping that hope. However, I do think that a few older guys who can compete will add more excitement when they are able to potentially go head to head against some of the youngsters.
College aged golfers and younger have dominated Amateur golf for awhile.
Also, winning the Am. hasn’t been an automatic career boost. Look at some of the past winner? Where are they now.
Overall, Amateur golf is in low point but it will come back. All we need is an Amateur to win a tour event – Phil Mick style…or of course a U.S. Open – Bobby Jonesesque.
“Overall, Amateur golf is in low point but it will come back. All we need is an Amateur to win a tour event – Phil Mick style…or of course a U.S. Open – Bobby Jonesesque.”
that’s been done
2008 USAm champ and scratch amateur player of the year Danny Lee won the 2009 Johnnie Walker as an amateur.
I don’t remotely view Amateur golf as a low point. The talent level is extraordinary. The college guys compete nationally whereas the mid-am guys pretty much stay closer to their homes and families, competing in regional and state events. But they are out there playing, too, and they tend to dominate the state player of the year awards
And suffice it to say Danny Lee, as good as he was in his last year as an Am, didn’t win them all.
The 2009 US Amateur was a strange event this year. Southern Hills played so difficult, one could argue that match play was never going to identify the best player in the field. Stroke play would have done a better job of doing that.