Walker Cup: Why captain Dean Robertson has faith in his 'band of brothers'
Scot has prepared meticulously for his bid to land rare win on US soil in event’s 50th edition
With all due respect to every single incumbent who has gone before him, it is unlikely that Great Britain & Ireland will ever have been better prepared for a Walker Cup than the team for the upcoming 50th edition at Cypress Point in California will be thanks to Dean Robertson.
“They have probably been thinking ‘why the hell did we get him involved?’,” the 55-year-old chuckled at his appointment by The R&A as fellow Scot Stuart Wilson’s successor following the 2023 contest at St Andrews, yet it’s no surprise that Robertson has been all in for the biennial bout against the Americans.
A former Walker Cup player who won the Italian Open on the DP World Tour before heading down a path that led to him becoming the Head of Golf at the University of Stirling, Robertson lives and breathes amateur golf. By the time they head into battle this weekend on the Monterey Peninsula, the 12 players representing GB&I on this occasion can be guaranteed that not even the smallest of stones will be unturned.
Robertson held a squad session at Cypress Point last October before gathering his players again at Dumbarnie Links at the beginning of June ahead of the Links Trophy at St Andrews. In the perfect pre-Walker Cup boost, a team of nine players beat the Continent of Europe in the St Andrews Trophy in Madrid at the end of July and now Robertson is bidding to become just the third GB&I captain after Geoff Marks (1989 at Peachtree) and Peter McEvoy (2001 at Ocean Forest) to lead a side to victory on US soil.
“There’s a real togetherness among our ‘band of brothers’ and I am beyond excited and beyond proud to be in the position I am in,” the 55-year-old told The Scotsman. “I don’t know if I am more excited now than I was when I was going to Interlachen as a player in 1993, to be quite honest with you. Since being appointed 20 months ago, I never knew many of these players, so really spending time getting to know them as individuals and to understand them and know their skillset has been fantastic for me.
“I haven’t looked at rankings once. Not once have they come into my mind. It’s been all about understanding the skillset that is required to go and play, whether it be in Madrid and now Cypress Point, and then selecting the best team, which is what I have done. You’ve obviously got automatic qualifiers who come in through the World Amateur Golf Ranking, but, outwith that, players have been selected on merit and the skillset they possess.”
The side contains tartan trio Cameron Adam, Connor Graham and Niall Shiels Donegan, the latter being the player added to the nine who shone in Spain in the St Andrews Trophy. Blairgowrie member Graham created history two years ago as the youngest player - he was just 16 - on either side to play in the transatlantic tussle and is heading into this encounter with a freshman year on the US college circuit at Texas Tech under his belt.
“Connor is the only returning Walker Cup veteran shall we say at 18,” declared Robertson. “As a golfer, Connor has got an edge to him. He’s almost akin to Bob MacIntyre. He had something about him, as Connor does. He’s a prodigious ball-striker and a phenomenal golfer. He’s maturing and is getting better and better and better all the time. This is the platform for a player like him.”
On a big platform on the DP World Tour, Royal Burgess left-hander Adam showed what he is made of when finishing in the top 20 in the recent Betfred British Masters hosted by Sir Nick Faldo at The Belfry while California-based Shiels Donegan shone as well in front of some of the biggest crowds he’s played in front of when reaching the semi-finals of the US Amateur at The Olympic Club in San Francisco in his last throw of the Walker Cup dice.
“Tenacity would be the one word I would use to describe what Niall has shown to be at Cypress Point,” declared Robertson. “The tenacity he showed at the US Amateur. On day one in the stroke play, he bogeyed four holes on the front nine, but he showed character and battled to shoot a 73. He birdied his 18th hole in the second stroke-play round to get into the play-off. He was then the only player in the play-off to birdie the 17th and then beat Luke Poulter (Ian’s son is also on the GB&I side), birdieing 17 and 18.
“In that sort of arena with all the attention he was getting with some serious home support was fantastic. What Niall has shown is that he really embraces that environment and they are going to get that tenfold at Cypress Point. With Cameron having also experienced The Belfry crowds at The British Masters, that will have done him no harm either.”
Robertson is being assisted by Raymond Russell, the pair having become close friends on the back of being the two finalists in the Scottish Amateur Championship at Royal Dornoch back in 1993, when they were also on the same Walker Cup side in Minnesota. Kath O’Connor, a well-known figure in the amateur game, is also part of the GB&I backroom team along with the University of Stirling’s sports psychologist Dr John Mathers and Amy O’Donnell, one of the top performance nutritionists in golf. Euan Mordaunt, who works for The R&A, is the team manager.
“We will use all the experience that Raymond, myself and all the other members of the backroom team have to prep them well for the examination that lies ahead,” said Robertson. “We know how difficult it is going to be and how great a team on paper the US have given they command seven or eight of the top ten in world rankings in their team.
“But we will be prepared to raise our levels. We are over there to not only honour the legacy of the Walker Cup but we are there to make history. The goal is to win against the odds. We’ve already been written off, but we will be 100 per cent prepared to play and put our best foot forward, make no mistake about it.”
Teams
United States
Stewart Hagestad, 34
Mason Howell, 18
Jacob Modleski, 20
Tommy Morrison, 21
Jase Summy, 21
Jackson Koivun, 20
Ben James, 22
Michael La Sasso, 21
Ethan Fang, 20
Preston Stout, 21
Captain Nathan Smith
GB & Ireland
Cameron Adam (Sco), 22
Eliot Baker (Eng), 22
Dominic Clemons (Eng), 23
Charlie Forster (Eng), 22
Connor Graham (Sco), 18
Stuart Grehan (Ire), 32
Luke Poulter (Eng), 21
Niall Shiels Donegan (Sco), 20
Gavin Tiernan (Ire), 19
Tyler Weaver (Eng), 20
Captain Dean Robertson
Recent results
2023 St Andrews: GB&I 11½ USA 14½
2021 Seminole: USA 14 GB&I 12
2019 Royal Liverpool: GB&I 10½ USA 15½
2017 Los Angeles CC: USA 19 GB&I 7
2015 Royal Lytham & St Annes: GB&I 16½ USA 9½
2013 National Golf Links of America: USA 17 GB&I 9
2011 Royal Aberdeen: GB&I 14 USA 12
Comments
Want to join the conversation? Please or to comment on this article.