SO, FOR 34th time in 42 matches, the Walker Cup has gone the way of the American side. For that reason alone, the comprehensive seven-point seeing-to administered by non-playing but putt-reading captain Buddy Marucci's team to Colin Dalgleish's Great Britain & Ireland gang at Merion last weekend cannot be viewed as anything other than merely a continuation of a long-standing norm.
After all, the big, bad Yanks, by dint of sheer geographical size and population alone, should win more often than not.
On the other hand, what was a third successive defeat comes after a similar three match-winning streak for GB&I, a fact that th
is week provoked at least one theory as to why the old world has so rapidly returned to its former position of perennial silver medalists. It's all to do with our best players turning professional too early, apparently. According to one English-based broadsheet, at least three young men who would have made the team that failed so badly seven days ago took the jump to the paid ranks "in the weeks leading up to the matches".
What nonsense.
Quite apart from what was hardly an outstanding US side being similarly weakened by a combination of their own guys turning pro and a selection policy that did not bear too close a scrutiny, the three GB&I candidates in question were all ineligible for the Walker Cup at least four months ago. Shane Lowry turned professional immediately after winning the Irish Open in May; Callum Macaulay accepted his European Tour card after commendably battling through three stages of the Qualifying School last autumn; and Chris Wood signed with International Sports Management right after finishing fourth in the Open at Royal Birkdale last year.
Given those undeniable facts, captain Dalgleish had plenty of time to get used to the idea that none of the above would be available to him. The very best players accepting the offer of lucrative contracts is a fact of Walker Cup life for both teams and hardly an excuse for those left behind under-performing as badly as some did last weekend. Maybe, on this occasion, our team just wasn't good enough.
Controversy over team selection is nothing new in golf, of course. My own particular favourite remains the still totally inexplicable omission of Scotland's Gillian Stewart from the 1984 Curtis Cup side (at the time she was not only the best player available to GB&I, but the best player in the country, amateur or professional), non-playing captain Greg Norman's recent inclusion of his fellow Australian Adam Scott in the International side to play the US in the Presidents Cup next month has to be in the top ten "say whats?" of all-time.
Even the briefest of glances at Scott's record over the last year or so reveals a player whose game has gone even further south than his homeland. Apart from a tie for fourth in the Scottish Open, the former Players champion has failed to finish inside the top 30 in any event since January. Not surprisingly given his almost complete absence of form, he has tumbled out of the world's top 50. What then, can Norman have been thinking? In announcing his selection, the Great White Shark talked of Scott's "appealing personality" – fair point – and their long-standing friendship – irrelevant – none of which did anything but encourage the notion that this is a "homer" pick of the worst kind. Take a look at pgatour.com for confirmation. On Scott's biography page the headline reads, "His hero is fellow Australian Greg Norman." Well, if that wasn't the case before, it certainly should be now.
Elsewhere in professional golf, talk of cups has been dominating on both sides of the Atlantic. Across the pond the intricacies of the Fed-Ex Cup have been occupying hearts and minds, while over here the start of Ryder Cup qualifying has sparked more than one Colin Montgomerie sighting.
Never forget, amidst all of his inane and self-serving bletherings, that there is, as ever, financial method behind Monty's apparent madness. The position he will fill until September is one of the most quietly lucrative in all of golf.
Anyway, this Fed-Ex thingy continues to perplex and befuddle even those paid to cover what should be a simple game – hit ball until in hole, add up number of hits at end, low score wins.
Forget all that though. With three-quarters of the so-called "play-offs" completed, Tiger Woods' lead at the top of the already incomprehensible points table has been re-jigged so that more people have a chance to win. So weird is this that, had Woods won all three of the play-off events so far rather than just one, his lead would be exactly the same as it is now.
Then there is a new rule that says any one of the current top five within the 30 players still extant will automatically win the overall event if they finish first in next week's play-off climax, the Tour Championship. In other words, three victories and a second place in the four counting events could see someone lose the Fed-Ex Cup to a man with a markedly inferior record over the piece. Still with me? Thought not.
Speaking of Monty, one of the things the great grump has been sounding off about recently is the upcoming Vivendi Trophy with Seve Ballesteros. What used to be just the Seve Trophy – a Ryder Cup-style match between GB&I and the Continent of Europe – has, at least if Monty is to be believed, taken on a whole new meaning. Not only has he apparently chosen the non-playing captains – Paul McGinley and Thomas Bjorn – he will be talking to both sides in the locker rooms before and after. Out of both sides of his mouth, presumably.
According to Monty, the Vivendi has become so central to his chances of success at Celtic Manor next year that he will be in attendance at St Nom la Breteche outside Paris next week. Never mind that the likes of Padraig Harrington, Luke Donald, Lee Westwood, Ian Poulter, Sergio Garcia, Martin Kaymer and Justin Rose will all be missing for a variety of reasons ranging from legitimate to spurious. Maybe the thought of listening to Monty was just too much for some of them. Then again, maybe his non-playing appearance fee was the thing that really stuck in their collective throats.
