WELSH golf was celebrating last night when, for the first time, three players were selected for Walker Cup duty.

Nigel Edwards and Rhys Davies – survivors from the Great Britain and Ireland side beaten by the United States at Chicago in 2005 – will be joined by newcomer Llewellyn Matthews.

On Saturday, Matthews became the first man for 24 years to win the Welsh Amateur Championship in successive seasons, and his outstanding form has been rewarded by selection for the event at Royal County Down in Northern Ireland next month.

Edwards – at 38, by the far more experienced of the trio – described it as a “fantastic” day for Welsh golf.

“Without blowing my own trumpet I believe all three of us, for varying reasons, have deserved our places,” said Edwards. “Rhys for what he’s done in America, Llew for his amazing achievements this year and myself for my general consistency and experience.

“I did not play well at the Amateur or in the Europeans but my form has returned.

 

“Although I lost in the quarter-finals of the Welsh I came up against an outstanding Zac Gould and there wasn’t much I could do about that.

 

“I tried not to think about whether I would get in or not, I just hoped I had done enough.”

 

Whitchurch ace Edwards has twice been on a winning Walker Cup side, at Ocean Forest in 2001 and at Ganton two years later where he was very much the hero of the final afternoon.

 

He believes it is a very strong home side and that several players are unfortunate to have been left out.

 

Although in recent months he has perhaps not been at his best, Edwards has still shown his consistency.

 

He won the Duncan Putter event, finished second in the Lytham Trophy, was third in the Welsh strokeplay and came fifth in the St Andrews Links Trophy.

 

Davies, from Royal Porthcawl, graduated this year with a degree in business administration from East Tennessee State University.

 

A former British Boys’ champion he recorded 10 USA collegiate tournament wins and was an all-American NCAA first team member from 2005-07 as well as qualifying for the US Open.

 

“I am relishing the prospect of playing at County Down,” said Davies, 22, who will turn professional after the Walker Cup. “It should be awesome.”

 

Matthews, too, thoroughly deserves his place after a season which saw him win the St Andrews Links Trophy, qualify for the Open and hold on to his Welsh title.

 

“I am thrilled,” he said. “I did all I possibly could and then left it in the hands of the selectors.

 

“I would have been disappointed if I had not been picked but one can never tell in situations like this.

 

“Winning the Welsh again might just have sealed it, but I didn’t count my chickens.”

 

There is, however, no place for veteran Gary Wolstenholme, Britain’s best known amateur who famously beat Tiger Woods in the 1995 Walker Cup at Royal Porthcawl. Among the new caps are David Horsey, who led the qualifiers for the Amateur Championship, and Northern Ireland teenager Rory McIlroy, winner of the sil ver medal as leading amateur in the Open Championship.

 

Harrogate’s John Parry, who won the Welsh Open strokeplay championship at Machynys in May, is another newcomer.

 

Royal Porthcawl’s Tony Disley, chairman of the Walker Cup selectors, said, “The team not only includes those with experience at the highest level but has a number of exciting players. We have no doubt that the 10 players selected can regain the Walker Cup.”

 

Walker Cup team: J Caldwell (Clandeboye), R Davies (Royal Porthcawl), N Edwards (Whitchurch), D Horsey (Styal), L Matthews (Southerndown), R McIlroy (Holywood), J Moul (Stoke-by-Nayland), J Parry (Harrogate), L Saltman (Craigielaw), D Willett (Rotherham). Reserves: G Boyd (Cherwell Edge), K McAlpine (Alyth)

http://icwales.icnetwork.co.uk/0700sports/1200sportsroundup/tm_headline=golf-welsh-walker-trio-create-history&method=full&objectid=19580259&siteid=50082-name_page.html

THE four open championships which combined to stage the great summer of Scottish golf over the past month drew 326,704 paying customers to Loch Lomond, Carnoustie, Muirfield and St Andrews.

In spite of poor weather and the fear so many events held in close proximity over such a short period would all work against each other, the good news was there were record turn-outs at both the Barclays Scottish Open, 84,429, and the Senior Open, 27,225.

On the other hand, the attendance at the Old Course for the Ricoh Women's British Open of 61,050 fell some way short of the 80,000 record set in glorious weather at Lytham in 2003. While it was still a respectable figure given the soggy state of the Scottish summer, the numbers came nowhere near the optimistic figure of 100,000 which the Ladies Golf Union had predicted.

Perhaps the slow pace of play and the waning of Michelle Wie's 'wow' factor also contributed to the lower than expected turn-out. But there were fewer than expected visitors who came to the town for the week. The attendance was made up mainly of day trippers. Since tickets were priced at £20, the cost of admission was not a deterrent.

Only the figure of 154,000 who attended the Open at Carnoustie, 3,000 down on the 157,000 in 1999 at the same venue and 76,000 below the 230,000 who flocked to Hoylake in 2006, could be said to be a sore disappointment.

Although the inclement weather was a factor here too, many also pointed to high tickets prices, £50 admission for each day of play, steep rail prices, and expensive on-site catering at Carnoustie as contributing to the decline in numbers. As a world-class event, which delivered gripping excitement on the final day, it would be a stretch to suggest the Open failed to deliver value for money compared to other sports and entertainment. A ticket for T in the Park, for example, cost £97 if you could lay your hands on one.

It was also fair to say fewer American accents were heard on the fairways of Carnoustie. The weakness of the dollar against the pound meant that US visitors were much less evident than in the past.

As the most northerly of the Open venues and with a relatively small population base to draw upon, Carnoustie is never going to rival St Andrews for blockbuster attendances. And with so much golf taking place in Scotland this summer - all of it televised, with three of the four championships screened on the BBC - the sense of attending something unique may have been diluted.

As for the quality of the championships, however, there could be no carping about the entertainment value. At Loch Lomond, Gregory Havret edged out Phil Mickelson in a play-off. At Carnoustie, Padraig Harrington overcame Sergio Garcia in extra holes after the most thrilling last day at the Open since Jack Nicklaus and Tom Watson duelled in the sun at Turnberry 30 years previously. At Muirfield, Watson won his seventh Open title in Scotland. And at St Andrews, Lorena Ochoa, the No 1 woman golfer, won her first major.

If Scotland has no rival in staging world-class golf championships, the home of golf is less adept these days at producing winners of those events. Catriona Matthew, seventh in St Andrews, was the highest placed home hope over the past month. Sam Torrance, tenth at Muirfield, Ross Bain, 45th at Carnoustie, and Paul Lawrie, 57th at Loch Lomond, were the other top Scots.

Any intrepid spectator still eager to watch more golf on home turf can look forward to another four professional events over the coming months - the Johnnie Walker at Gleneagles from 30 August to 2 September; the Dunhill Links at St Andrews, Carnoustie and Kingsbarns from 4-7 October; the Scottish Seniors at Dalmahoy from 28-30 September; and the Ladies Scottish Open at the Carrick from 20-22 September.

Next summer, the Open moves to Birkdale and the Women's British is at Sunningdale, leaving Loch Lomond and the Senior Open at Troon as the highlights for Scottish golf spectators in 2008. It may be some time before all four opens coincide in Scotland in the same season again.

http://sport.scotsman.com/golf.cfm?id=1232572007