One of the game’s historic venues will serve as the host site for one of amateur golf’s most prestigious team competitions in 2023. The Old Course at St. Andrews, the location of many of the game’s historic moments, has been chosen by The R&A to host the 49th Walker Cup Match between the United States and Great Britain and Ireland.
The Walker Cup Match is a biennial competition featuring two 10-player teams of amateur golfers, one representing the United States and one representing Great Britain and Ireland. It is played over two days with 18 singles matches and eight foursomes matches.
The Match, which will take place 101 years after the inaugural competition in 1922 at the National Golf Links of America in Southampton, N.Y. , is scheduled for Sept. 2-3. It will also be the ninth Walker Cup played at St. Andrews and the first since 1975, when the USA defeated GB&I 15½-8½ behind future U.S. Open champions Jerry Pate and Curtis Strange.
St. Andrews has hosted more Walker Cups than any other venue.
“We are excited to be bringing the Walker Cup back to the home of golf for the first time in nearly 50 years and look forward to watching some of the world’s most talented amateur golfers contest the match over the famous Old Course in 2023,” said Duncan Weir, the executive director of golf development for The R&A.
“The Walker Cup is the pinnacle of men’s amateur golf in Great Britain and Ireland and the United States, and many of the game’s greatest players, including Bob Jones and Sir Michael Bonallack, have played memorable matches over the Old Course at St. Andrews.”
The USA, which reclaimed the Walker Cup in 2017 with a decisive 19-7 victory at The Los Angeles (Calif.) Country Club, leads the overall series, 36-9-1, but the two sides have split the last four meetings, with each team winning on its home soil.
The 2019 Walker Cup is set to be played Sept. 7-8 at Royal Liverpool, the venue for the first informal match between GB&I and the USA in 1921, which became the Walker Cup Match one year later.
Seminole Golf Club in Juno Beach, Fla., will host the Walker Cup for the first time in 2021 (May 8-9), while the 50th Match will be will be contested at Cypress Point Club in Pebble Beach, Calif., in 2025 (Sept. 6-7).
