Right, let’s get the historical haverings out of the way first. The last time, indeed the only time, a Scot with the surname of Walker played in the Walker Cup was back in 1961 when the decorated Jimmy Walker, one third of a fine triumvirate of Irvine golfers who were all Scottish Amateur champions, represented GB&I in the transatlantic tussle with the USA in Seattle.
The GB&I boys would lose 11-1. Here in 2019, another Ayrshireman, Euan Walker, will be hoping for a slightly less chastening experience when he lines up against the Americans in the biennial bout at Hoylake next month.
As a Barassie member, Walker has high standards to maintain. The last three golfers from the Kilmarnock club to play in the Walker Cup – namely Jack McDonald, Gordon Sherry and Jim Milligan – were all on winning GB&I teams. No pressure there then?
READ MORE: Two Scots named in GB&I Walker Cup team
“To now have four Walker Cup players from one club is a great achievement and I’m not sure if any club has had more?,” said Walker of a feat that is rightly celebrated in that particular neck of the golfing woods.
“It’s a great part of the club’s history. The Walker Cup is a huge milestone and something you want to achieve on your journey through golf. Growing up, you start off wanting to play boys’ golf for Scotland and then men’s golf for Scotland. The Walker Cup is the ultimate aim and something I’ve been working towards my whole career.”
Walker’s own GB&I selection was hardly surprising and it was one that was richly deserved given the performances he had put in during the current campaign. Waiting for the official call, though, was still something of a nail-nibbling hang on.
“I would have been surprised if I didn’t make it but it was still such a relief to get that call,” he said of a quick tinkle of confirmation from the GB&I captain Craig Watson.
“Everybody at the club had been asking me, ‘when do you find out?’, ‘do you think you’ll be in?’. It’s good to go back and say ‘yes, I’m in now’.”
READ MORE: Euan Walker beaten in Amateur Championship final
Having notched his first international win in the African Amateur Championship earlier in the season, Walker lost in the final of June’s Amateur Championship and was runner-up again in the European Amateur Championship just a week later.
Given a win in either of those showpiece occasions would have earned him a place in The Open – the winner of The Amateur also gets in the 2020 Masters and US Open – it was a stinging double whammy that could have been as hard to stomach as a ladle-full of cod liver oil. Walker prefers to take a more philosophical approach, though.
“In the grand scheme of my career hopefully I can play in majors in the future as a professional,” said Walker. “It’s not too disappointing to have missed out at this stage.”
A complete overhaul of his swing during the winter of 2017, under the canny eye of his coach George Boswell, has reaped considerable rewards for Walker.
The 2019 Great Britain and Ireland 🇬🇧🇮🇪 #WalkerCup team is...⬇️ Read more here 👉 https://t.co/PzRixzQWAi 🏌️♂️ pic.twitter.com/Oi1euIUXmA
— The R&A (@RandA) August 19, 2019
“I couldn’t achieve anything more with the swing I had but I’m now longer and straighter and the adjustments have allowed me to get to the level needed to play in a Walker Cup,” he said.
That is a prospect Walker is relishing. “You don’t feel as exposed or as lonely in team golf as you would normally,” he said of the tight-knit unity of the collective cause.
“You have your team mates and the coaches backing you up as opposed to being out there on your own.”
The eager followers making the trip from Barassie, meanwhile, will also make sure that one of their own is certainly not on his own.
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