The Walker Cup Match began in the wake of World War I with a view toward stimulating golf interest on both sides of the Atlantic. The match grew in part out of two international matches between the United States and Canada, in 1919 and 1920.

At the same time, British and American amateurs considered each nation's national amateur championship a great plum. Meanwhile, the USGA Executive Committee had been invited to Great Britain for a series of meetings with the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews Rules Committee. The meeting was to look at the advisability of modifying various rules of the game. Among the participants was George Herbert Walker, USGA President in 1920.

Upon the Executive Committee's return to the United States, international team matches were discussed. The idea so appealed to Walker that he soon presented a plan and offered to donate a trophy. Mr. Walker had been a low handicap player and was a keen advocate of the game. When the press dubbed the trophy the Walker Cup, the name stuck.

In 1921, the USGA invited all golfing nations to send teams to compete for the Cup, but no country was able to accept that year. The Americans stuck to their mission, however, and William C. Fownes, the 1910 U.S. Amateur champion, who had twice assembled the amateur teams that played against Canada, rounded up a third team in the spring of 1921 and took it to England. At Hoylake, the American team defeated a British team, 9 and 3, in an informal match the day before the British Amateur.

Early in 1922, the R & A announced that it would send a team to compete for the Walker Cup at the National Golf Links of America, Mr. Walker's home club, in Southampton, N.Y.

Originally, the competition was open to any country that might care to challenge. The USGA invited all countries to compete. Except for Great Britain, however, no other country was able to accept.

Fownes was the American captain for the inaugural match and his team consisted of Charles Evans Jr., Robert Gardner, U.S. Amateur Champion Jesse Guilford, Robert T. Jones Jr., Max Marston, Francis Ouimet, Jess Sweetser, and Rudolph Knepper, who did not play.

Robert Harris was captain of the British side, and his players were Cyril Tolley, Roger Wethered, Colin Aylmer, C.V.L. Hooman, W.B. Torrance, John Caven, and W. Willis Mackenzie. Ernest Holderness, the British Amateur Champion, was unable to make the trip.

Bernard Darwin, the golf writer of The Times of London, had accompanied the team and wound up playing in the Match. When Harris fell ill, Darwin was invited to compete in his place and serve as playing captain. He defeated Fownes, 3 and 1. The American team, however, prevailed, winning the first Walker Cup Match, 8 to 4.

Until recent years, the United States clearly dominated the series, but the number of American victories never clouded the true purpose of the Walker Cup Match. A much higher value has been placed upon the series as a medium of international friendship and understanding between the R & A and the USGA.

The Match was played on an annual basis until 1924, when it was decided that the financial strain of annual encounters was too severe. It was also believed that interest might drop if the matches were played too frequently. A decision was made to meet in alternate years.

The series was interrupted by World War II after the 1938 Match at St. Andrews, Scotland. When the Match resumed, in 1947, St. Andrews was again selected as the site. Under normal peacetime conditions, the Match would have been played in the United States, but postwar economic conditions would have made the trip difficult for the British.

The United States leads the series, 33-7-1.


Walker Cup Results

Year	Date	Venue	Winner	Score	Loser	Score
1922	August 28-29	The National Golf Links of America, NY	USA	8	GB&I	4
1923	May 18-19	St Andrews, Fife	USA	6	GB&I	5
1924	Sept 12-13	The Garden City GC, NY	USA	9	GB&I	3
1926	June 2-3	St Andrews, Fife	USA	6	GB&I	5
1928	August 30-31	Chicago GC, IL	USA	11	GB&I	1
1930	May 15-16	Royal St George’s GC, Kent	USA	10	GB&I	2
1932	Sept 1-2	The Country Club, MA	USA	8	GB&I	1
1934	May 11-12	St Andrews, Fife	USA	9	GB&I	2
1936	Sept 2-3	Pine Valley GC, NJ	USA	9	GB&I	0
1938	June 3-4	St Andrews, Fife	GB&I	7	USA	4
1947	May 16-17	St Andrews, Fife	USA	8	GB&I	4
1949	August 19-20	Winged Foot GC, NY	USA	10	GB&I	2
1951	May 11-12	Birkdale GC, Lancashire	USA	6	GB&I	3
1953	Sept 4-5	The Kittansett, MA	USA	9	GB&I	3
1955	May 20-21	St Andrews, Fife	USA	10	GB&I	2
1957	August 30-31	The Minikahda Club, MN	USA	8	GB&I	3
1959	May 15-16	Muirfield, East Lothian	USA	9	GB&I	3
1961	Sept 1-2	Seattle GC, WA	USA	11	GB&I	1
1963	May 24-25	Turnberry, Ayrshire	USA	12	GB&I	8
1965	Sept 3-4	Baltimore CC, MD	USA	11	GB&I	11
1967	May 19-20	Royal St George’s GC, Kent	USA	13	GB&I	7
1969	August 22-23	Milwaukee CC, WI	USA	10	GB&I	8
1971	May 26-27	St Andrews, Fife	GB&I	13	USA	11
1973	August 24-25	The Country Club, MA	USA	14	GB&I	10
1975	May 28-29	St Andrews, Fife	USA	15 ½	GB&I	8 ½
1977	August 26-27	Shinnecock Hills GC, NY	USA	16	GB&I	8
1979	May 30-31	Muirfield, East Lothian	USA	15 ½	GB&I	8 ½
1981	August 28-29	Cypress Point Club, CA	USA	15	GB&I	9
1983	May 25-26	Royal Liverpool GC, Merseyside	USA	13 ½	GB&I	10 ½
1985	August 21-22	Pine Valley GC, NJ	USA	13	GB&I	11
1987	May 27-28	Sunningdale GC, Berkshire	USA	16 ½	GB&I	7 ½
1989	August 16-17	Peachtree GC, GA	GB&I	12 ½	USA	11 ½
1991	Sept 5-6	Portmarnock GC, Co Dublin	USA	14	GB&I	10
1993	August 18-19	Interlachen CC, MN	USA	19	GB&I	5
1995	Sept 9-10	Royal Porthcawl GC, Mid Glamorgan	GB&I	14	USA	10
1997	August 9-10	Quaker Ridge GC, NY	USA	18	GB&I	6
1999	Sept 11-12	Nairn GC, Nairnshire	GB&I	15	USA	9
2001	Aug 11-12	Ocean Forest GC, GA	GB&I	15	USA	9
2003	Sept 6-7	Ganton GC, North Yorkshire	GB&I	12 ½	USA	11 ½
2005	August 13-14	Chicago GC, IL	USA	12 ½	GB&I	11 ½
2007	Sept 8-9	Royal County Down GC, Co Down	USA	12 ½	GB&I	11 ½
2009	Sept 12-13	Merion GC , PA	USA	16 ½	GB&I	9 ½

Note: No points were given for halved matches between 1922 and 1969.  There was a total of 12 points available between 1922 and 1961 and then 24 points between 1963 and 1969.

Walker Cup Players who have won a Major:

GB & I:
Sandy Lyle
Padraig Harrington
Graeme McDowell
Rory McIlroy

USA:
Tommy Aaron
David Duval
Lucas Glover
John G Goodman
Bobby Jones
Tom Kite
Justin Leonard
W. Lawson Little
Gene A. Littler
Davis Love III
Phil Mickelson
Jack Nicklaus
Jerry Pate
Corey Pavin
Bill Rodgers
Scott Simpson
Craig Stadler
Curtis Strange
Hal Sutton
Kenneth Venturi
Lanny Wadkins
Tiger Woods


Walker Cup Players who have played in the Ryder Cup:

GB & I:
Peter Baker
Gordon Brand Jr
Paul Casey
Clive A Clark
Howard K Clark
Andrew Coltart
Luke Donald
Norman V Drew
David Gilford
Padraig Harrington
David Howell
Mark H James
Michael G King
Sandy Lyle
Paul McGinley
Rory McIlroy
Colin Montgomerie
Peter A Oosterhuis
Ronan P Rafferty
Peter M P Townsend
Philip Walton
Paul G Way

USA:
Tommy Aaron
David Duval
Brad Faxon
Rickie Fowler
Fred Haas Jr.
Jay Haas
Scott Hoch
Tom Kite
Justin Leonard
Gene Littler
Davis Love III
Phil Mickelson
Bob Murphy
Jack Nicklaus
Jerry Pate
Corey Pavin
Bill Rodgers
Mason Rudolph
Scott Simpson
Craig Stadler
Curtis Strange
Hal Sutton
Scott Verplank
Lanny Wadkins
Tiger Woods