Two-time Solheim Cup-winning captain Catriona Matthew will captain Great Britain and Ireland in the 2024 Curtis Cup at Sunningdale. The appointment begs the question: Could a professional golfer captain the GB&I men’s team in the Walker Cup or the St Andrews Trophy?
Ireland had five in the Walker Cup team and we could get as many as four in the nine man St Andrews Trophy side after John Ross Galbraith, Alex Gleeson and Stuart Grehan were named alongside Jack Hume in an 18 player Great Britain and Ireland squad for the match at Prince’s Golf Club in Kent from July 20-21.
While the unavailability of world No 19 Gavin Moynihan may have denied Ireland a third spot in the Great Britain and Ireland side for the St Andrews Trophy, the presence of Greystones' Paul Dunne and West Waterford's Gary Hurley was the least Irish golf could have expected from the R&A.
The Golfing Union of Ireland has picked Paul Dunne (Greystones), Gary Hurley (West Waterford) and Gavin Moynihan (The Island) to represent Ireland in the World Amateur Team Championship for the Eisenhower Trophy at Karuizawa Golf Club in Japan from 10-13 September.
Moritz Lampert plays to the 18th in the foursomes. Read the small print on any financial product and it will say: “Past performance is no guarantee of future results.”
The same could be said for the balance of power in Europe after the Continent of Europe claimed both the St Andrews Trophy and the Jacques Léglise Trophy on a day when the winds of change blew ominously for British and Irish golf at a magnificent Portmarnock.
Nigel Edwards watches GB&I’s Garrick Porteous hit his tee shot at the 7th in the singles.Waterford Castle’s Kevin Phelan produced a sensational short game magic to grab a crucial singles win and help Great Britain and Ireland take a 7-5 lead over the Continent of Europe into the final day of the St Andrews Trophy at Portmarnock.
Mortiz Lampert of Germany. Photo: Pat CashmanThe Continent of Europe will be trying to retain the biennially-awarded St Andrews Trophy won in 2010 in Castelconturbia, Italy against the best amateur players from Great Britain & Ireland.
Alan Dunbar, 22, hails from Rathmore, Northern Ireland, the same club that spawned 2010 US Open champion, Graeme McDowell. He comes into the St Andrews Trophy as the holder of The Amateur Championship having beaten Austria’s Matthias Schwab on the 36th hole of this year’s final at Royal Troon.
Amateur champion Alan Dunbar, pictured with his fellow GB & I St Andrews Trophy squad member at Portmarnock last week. Picture by Patrick Bolger.Recently-crowned British Amateur champion Alan Dunbar will never forget the first time he met Great Britain and Ireland skipper Nigel Edwards.
Two years ago, Dermot McElroy was at Portmarnock Golf Club to take part in the Darren Clarke Foundation coaching weekend. Now he’s in the Great Britain & Ireland St Andrews Trophy squad battling to return to the north Dublin links for this summer’s clash with the Continent of Europe. Dermot McElroy, Kevin Phelan and Alan Dunbar have been named in a preliminary 12-man Great Britain & Ireland St Andrews Trophy training squad for this year’s clash with the Continent of Europe at Portmarnock from 31 August and 1 September.
