Caddies can be key to Walker Cup success at Lahinch
A view of caddies bibs prior to the Walker Cup at Lahinch Golf Club on September 04, 2026 in Lahinch, County Clare. (Photo by Oisin Keniry/R&A/R&A via Getty Images)
Winning a Walker Cup on away soil takes talent and good fortune, but perhaps the key to survival in hostile territory is an ability to seek good advice and heed it.
"Wise men don't need advice,” said one of the founding fathers of the USA, Benjamin Franklin. “Fools won't take it."
Lahinch remains one of the most alluring places in the game because it requires the imagination to enjoy the irresistible quirkiness of the original Old Tom Morris holes, like the blind Klondyke and the Dell, and discipline, accuracy and intelligence so that the smart play trumps power almost everywhere else.
A good caddie is worth his weight in gold on such terrain, and while Lahinch’s best caddies have been assigned by lot to all 20 players teeing it up this weekend, only those who listen to their good counsel will gain what could prove to be a crucial edge on a course that requires no little local knowledge to master.
Do they know that the wind-borne sea salt slows greens down by a foot and a half shortly after mowing or that the Dell green is considerably slower than the rest? Time will tell.
Winds gusting over 40mph have disrupted practice this week, but while the US team is superior on paper, if you believe the World Amateur Golf Rankings, Great Britain and Ireland have the experience, the firepower and a hunger to avenge a painful 2025 defeat at Cypress Point.
“Yeah, I've got a great caddie this week, Peter,” said England’s Tyler Weaver, the world number three, of his partnership with Peter McNamara.
“We get on really well, so it'll be fun. He obviously knows the course like the back of his hand. He's been here for over 20 years caddying. Whenever he talks, I'm listening.”
Listening to the legends of Lahinch during the South of Ireland was an apprenticeship of sorts for Paul McGinley, who credited the lessons he learned in the corner of the bar overlooking the first tee as vital to his future as a three-time Ryder Cup winner as a player and winning Ryder Cup captain.
The Dubliner has given GB&I captain Dean Robertson and his team his views on conquering Lahinch and the USA and it will be fascinating to see if the home side can somehow channel the spirit of Lahinch’s 11-time South of Ireland champion, John Burke.
The King of Lahinch famously played a game that featured all sorts of made-up shots, even after acquiring a full set of clubs.
He carried what he termed a ‘soft’ ball for use at short holes to confuse the opposition, Ivan Morris wrote of the Lahinch legend.
“If he had the honour, he would select a stronger club than would have been required and deliberately show it to his opponent after putting on a show of throwing grass in the air to gauge the wind!”
McGinley learnt to immediately “flash the putter” to the opposition if his partner had the honour in foursomes and found the green first, a tactic that paid off in the 2004 Ryder Cup at Oakland Hills, when he teamed up with Pádraig Harrington to beat Tiger Woods and Davis Love 4&3 in the Saturday foursomes.
Perhaps Great Britain and Ireland’s biggest trump card is that they’re on links terrain and skipper Robertson has been sleeping soundly in his bed at the Vaughan Lodge, lulled to sleep by the high winds that have screeched across the links all week.
"In terms of the weather and the wind, am I happy about it? I'm very happy about it,” the Scot said yesterday. "We are ready to go.”
His counterpart, Nathan Smith, declared all ten Americans fit and ready to play after world number one Preston Stout joined Thursday casualties William Jennings and Ethan Fang in missing the final practice session as they recover from a “bug”.
“They feel great, and they were bouncing around today and they felt better than I think they said they've felt in a while,” Smith said.
True to is word, Stout and Fang will lead off for the USA in the opening foursomes, taking on County Louth’s Stuart Grehan and Eliot Baker.
Grehan admits GB&I are hungry for revenge after tasting defeat at Cypress Point last year, a sentiment echoed world number two Tyler Weaver, who will partner Scotland’s Connor Graham against Jay Leng Jnr and Kihei Akina in the second match.
"It's definitely fuel to the fire,” said Weaver, who hasn’t played a competitive event since April due to a rib injury. “I had a challenging week last year... this year with the crowd being behind us, being on home soil, it's just even more fuel.
“It'll be the first time I've competed in a while. The nerves are high, but I'm really excited to get out there.”
The in-form Leng Jnr lost to England’s Jack Whaley in the final of the US Amateur last month, but he believes he’s ready, having played seven links courses in the build-up, including Corballis, The Island, Portmarnock and Royal County Down.
"I think playing those courses, I think they were even more of a links test than here because they were a lot firmer,” Leng said.
American featherweight left-handers Miles Russell and Tyler Watts face Luke Poulter, son of Ian, and Sam Easterbrook while in the anchor foursomes, Oklahoma native Ryder Cowan is bracing himself for heavy wind as he partners Josiah Gilbert against Josh Hill and Niall Sheils Donegan.
“In Oklahoma we play in a lot of wind, but there's nothing like this,” Cowan admitted. “It's like eight times stronger.”
Let battle commence.
51st Walker Cup match, Lahinch GC
Foursomes
08:30 Preston Stout & Ethan Fang v Stuart Grehan and & Eliot Baker
08:40 Jay Leng Jnr & Kihei Akina v Connor Graham & Tyler Weaver
08:50 Miles Russell & Tyler Watts v Luke Poulter & Sam Easterbrook
09:00 Josiah Gilbert & Ryder Cowan v Niall Sheils Donegan & Josh Hill.
Singles (8 matches from 2 pm).
