Walker Cup: 17-year-old Connor Graham named in Great Britain and Ireland team to face United States
The GB&I team features four Irish, three English, two Scottish and one Welsh player as the Walker Cup returns to St Andrews for the first time in 100 years; watch the 49th Walker Cup live on Sky Sports from Saturday September 2-Sunday September 3
Connor Graham will compete at the Walker Cup at the age of 17 (Image: The R&A)
Connor Graham will become one of the youngest players ever to feature at the Walker Cup when he competes for the Great Britain and Ireland team against the United States at St Andrews.
The 17-year-old is one of 10 golfers selected for the 49th Walker Cup match, which will be live on Sky Sports from September 2-3.
Great Britain and Ireland are seeking to win for the first time since beating the US team 16½-9½ at Royal Lytham & St Annes in 2015.
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The full GB&I team
- James Ashfield, Wales, Delamere Forest, 22 Jack Bigham, England, Harpenden, 19 Barclay Brown, England, Hallamshire, 22 John Gough, England, The Berkshire, 24 Connor Graham, Scotland, Blairgowrie, 17 Alex Maguire, Ireland, Laytown & Bettystown, 22 Matthew McClean, Ireland, Malone, 30 Liam Nolan, Ireland, Galway, 23 Mark Power, Ireland, Kilkenny, 23 Calum Scott, Scotland, Nairn, 20 (Reserve) Tyler Weaver, England, Bury St Edmonds, 18 (Reserve) Caolan Rafferty, Ireland, Dundalk, 30
“We have selected 10 players who we believe will give us the best chance of regaining the Walker Cup against the United States of America,” said captain Stuart Wilson.
“This is their opportunity to perform on the biggest stage in amateur golf and have their name written alongside some of the greatest names in the history of the sport by winning the Walker Cup. There is arguably no more iconic venue in the world to achieve that feat than on the Old Course in St Andrews.
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“We look forward to the challenge of winning the match next week and I know these players will give it their all to win back the trophy in front of a home crowd.”
Wilson captains the team for the second straight Walker Cup having been a member of the winning team at Ganton back in 2003. He notably won The Amateur Championship at the Old Course in 2004 after seeing off Lee Corfield in the final.
Scottish national team golfer Graham has won the Scottish Amateur Open and finished runner-up in the French Under-18 Amateur Open so far in 2023.
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Also among the Walker Cup debutants are James Ashfield, Jack Bigham, Matthew McClean, Liam Nolan, Alex Maguire and Calum Scott.
Maguire’s inclusion comes after he won the first Open Amateur Series to qualify for The 151st Open at Royal Liverpool back in July, while Scott follows in the footsteps of his older brother Sandy who represented GB&I at Royal Liverpool in 2019.
What is the Walker Cup?
The Walker Cup Match is a biennial ten-man amateur team competition between a team composed of players from Great Britain and Ireland and the USA. It is played over two days with 18 singles matches and eight foursomes matches. The USA leads the overall series 38-9-1.
England’s Brown makes his second Walker Cup appearance having earned All-America honours in his senior season at Stanford University.
John Gough meanwhile enters as the top European at 11th in the amateur world rankings.
