| Rickie Fowler opens foursomes play for U.S. in 41st Walker Cup Matches Saturday at Royal County Down GC; Fowler and Jamie Lovemark slated for singles play Saturday afternoon | ||||
By Robert D. Thomas
Fowler -- the 2006 California state amateur high school champion and the 2004 and 2007 CIF-SCGA Southern Regional High School champ -- will team with Billy Horschel of Grant, Fla., in an 8:30 a.m. match (12:30 a.m. PDT) against Lloyd Saltman and Rhys Davies, two members of the Great Britain and Ireland team that lost to the U.S. team 12.5-11.5 in 2005 at Chicago Golf Club. "Both Billy and I are fast players," said Fowler after the pairings were announced, "and we wanted to be the pace setters rather than being behind slower players." Fowler and Saltman will square off in the second singles match of the afternoon. In the fifth of eight singles matches, USC rising sophomore Jamie Lovemark of Rancho Santa Fe will take on Llewellyn Matthews of Wales. Each match is worth one point; halved matches earn 1/2 point each. Four additional foursomes matches and another eight singles matches will conclude play on Sunday. For many of the 10,000 spectators expended to attend, the matches featuring 18-year-old hometown favorite Rory McIlroy of nearby Holywood will be a focal point. McIlroy and another Irishman, Jonny Caldwell, will team for the second foursomes match against U.S. Amateur and Amateur Public Links champion Colt Knost and Dustin Johnson. USA Captain George "Buddy" Marucci said today, "It's just getting acclimated to the numbers of people. There will be a lot of movement out there, if we have 10,000 people, and depending on where Rory is on the golf course, there could be as many as 2,000 or 3,000 people watching each match because there are only four matches in the morning. So that's going to cause some commotion.." One thing that appears to have turned the Americans' way is the weather (although being a weatherman in Ireland can be a thankless task). The temperatures have been balmy and the fierce winds that can turn Royal County Down (or any links course) into a beast have stayed away so far and the forecast for the weekend is for continued fair weather.
However, all players have raved about the golf course, which was built in 1890 by Old Tom Morris and has been ranked among the world's great courses ever since. "This is a seriously difficult golf course," said Nigel Edwards, at age 39 the veteran of the GBI team. "It's probably the toughest golf course we play and there are no letups anywhere on the course. I think whoever wins the Walker Cup will have played very well." For Lovemark, the keys are putting the ball in the fairways and "tons of creativity around the greens. You don't really want to short-side yourself here with all the runoffs on the greens. It's very penalizing." Fowler noted that just getting more comfortable with the course was important. "Getting used to the blind shots, especially to the green, has made me more comfortable." For Lovemark, the 2007 NCAA Division I champion, the entire week of preparation has been a great experience. "By far, this week has surpassed all of my expectations," said Lovemark at a media conference today. "The Irish people, in particular, have been wonderful." Both the United States and Great Britain and Ireland have plenty of incentive in the 41st Walker Cup matches, which begin tomorrow morning (Sat., Sept. 8) at famed Royal County Down Golf Club in Newcastle, Northern Ireland. For the United States, it's a chance to win on foreign soil for the first time since 1991, ironically at Portmarnock GC in Dublin, about 90 minutes south of Royal County Down. It's also a chance to retain the cup for the first time since 1987. The matches are played every other year, alternating between sites in the U.S. and Great Britain and Ireland. The Walker Cup Cup was donated in 1921 by George Herbert Walker, great-grandfather of current U.S. President George W. Bush and grandfather of former President George H.W. Bush.
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