The 1947 Walker Cup, the 11th

Walker Cup The Walker Cup is a golf trophy contested in odd-numbered years by leading male amateur golfers in two teams: United States, and Great Britain and Ireland. The official name is the Walker Cup Match (not "Matches" as in Ryder Cup Matches). It is ...

Match, was played on 16 and 17 May 1947, on the

Old Course at St Andrews The Old Course at St Andrews, also known as the Old Lady or the Grand Old Lady, is considered the oldest golf course. It is a public course over common land in St Andrews, Fife, Scotland and is held in trust by the St Andrews Links Trust under ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

. The United States won by 8 matches to 4. The match should have been played in the United States; the previous match, in 1938, having been played at St. Andrews. However, the Royal and Ancient decided that it would have been impossible to send a team to the United States. Rather than postpone the match, the

USGA The United States Golf Association (USGA) is the United States national association of golf courses, clubs and facilities and the governing body of golf for the U.S. and Mexico. Together with The R&A, the USGA produces and interprets the rules ...

agreed that the match would take place in Britain.

Format

Four 36-hole matches of foursomes were played on Friday and eight singles matches on Saturday. Each of the 12 matches was worth one point in the larger team competition. If a match was all square after the 36th hole extra holes were not played. The team with most points won the competition. If the two teams were tied, the previous winner would retain the trophy.

Teams

Nine players for the United States and Great Britain & Ireland participated in the event plus one non-playing captain for each team. The U.S. team was announced in January and included

Cary Middlecoff Emmett Cary Middlecoff (January 6, 1921 – September 1, 1998) was an American professional golfer on the PGA Tour from 1947 to 1961. His 39 Tour wins place him tied for tenth all-time, and he won three major championships. Middlecoff graduated as ...

. Middlecoff immediately withdrew from the team, as he intended turning professional, and was replaced by the first reserve George Hamer. The British team was announced less than a week before the match after a series of trial matches. The United States used the same eight players on both day, Hamer being left out. For Great Britain and Ireland, Micklem was left out of the foursomes while Kyle was left out of the singles.

Great Britain & Ireland

&
Captain: John Beck *

Joe Carr Joseph Benedict Carr (22 February 1922 – 3 June 2004) was an Irish amateur golfer. Carr was born in Inchicore, a suburb of Dublin, Ireland, to George and Margaret Mary "Missie" Waters (the fifth of seven children). At 10 days old, he was ado ...

Leonard Crawley Leonard George Crawley (26 July 1903 – 9 July 1981) was an English sportsman and later journalist. He was most accomplished at golf and cricket as detailed below, but also played tennis to a very high standard and was an excellent ice-skater, a ...

Cecil Ewing Cecil may refer to: People with the name * Cecil (given name), a given name (including a list of people and fictional characters with the name) * Cecil (surname), a surname (including a list of people with the name) Places Canada *Cecil, Alberta, ...

* Alex Kyle *

Laddie Lucas Percy Belgrave Lucas, (2 September 1915 – 20 March 1998), commonly known as Laddie Lucas, was a Royal Air Force officer, left-handed golfer, author and Member of Parliament (MP). Early life and family Lucas was born on 2 September 1915 in the ...

Gerald Micklem Gerald Hugh Micklem (14 August 1911 – 21 May 1988) was an English amateur golfer and administrator. He played in four Walker Cup matches between 1947 and 1955 and was non-playing captain in 1957 and 1959. Micklem had limited success as a golf ...

* Charlie Stowe *

Ronnie White Ronald Anthony White (April 5, 1939 – August 26, 1995), usually referred to as Ronnie White, was an American singer, best known as the co-founder of The Miracles and its only consistent original member. White was also known for bringing Stevi ...

James Wilson James Wilson may refer to: Politicians and government officials Canada *James Wilson (Upper Canada politician) (1770–1847), English-born farmer and political figure in Upper Canada * James Crocket Wilson (1841–1899), Canadian MP from Quebe ...

United States

Captain:

Francis Ouimet Francis DeSales Ouimet () (May 8, 1893 – September 2, 1967) was an American amateur golfer who is frequently referred to as the "father of amateur golf" in the United States. He won the U.S. Open in 1913 and was the first non-Briton elected ...

* Ted Bishop *

Dick Chapman Richard Davol Chapman (March 23, 1911 – November 15, 1978) was an American amateur golfer. ''Time'' magazine crowned Chapman "the Ben Hogan of amateur golf". Chapman was born in Greenwich, Connecticut. He was the 1940 U.S. Amateur golf ch ...

* George Hamer * Fred Kammer *

Smiley Quick Lyman Loren "Smiley" Quick (March 19, 1909 – December 23, 1979) was an American professional golfer who played on the PGA Tour in the 1940s and 1950s. Quick was born in Centralia, Illinois, but lived most of his life in southern California in ...

Skee Riegel Robert Henry "Skee" Riegel (November 25, 1914 – February 22, 2009) was an American professional golfer. Riegel attended West Point, Hobart College, and Lafayette College where he played football and baseball but not golf. He took up golf at ...

Frank Stranahan Frank Richard Stranahan (August 5, 1922 – June 23, 2013) was an American sportsman. He had significant success in both amateur and professional golf. He was ranked number one in his weight class in powerlifting, from 1945 to 1954, and he became ...

Willie Turnesa William P. Turnesa (January 20, 1914 – June 16, 2001) was an American amateur golfer, best known for winning two U.S. Amateur titles and the British Amateur. He was one of seven famous golfing brothers; Phil (1896-1987), Frank (1898-1949), ...

Bud Ward Marvin Harvey "Bud" Ward (May 1, 1913 – January 2, 1968) was an American golfer best known for twice winning the U.S. Amateur, in 1939 and 1941. Ward was born in Elma, Washington. He excelled as an amateur golfer, winning the U.S. Amateur tw ...

Friday's foursomes

Saturday's singles

References

{{Walker Cup Walker Cup Golf tournaments in Scotland