The 1989 Walker Cup, the 32nd

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 August 16 and 17, 1989, at Peachtree Golf Club,

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

. The event was won by the

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It is ...

and

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

team, 12½ to 11½. It was the Great Britain and Ireland team's third win in the Walker Cup and their first in the United States. Of the previous 31 matches, the United States had won 28, lost 2 and had tied once, at

Baltimore Country Club Baltimore Country Club is a private club in Baltimore, Maryland, with two campuses, one in the city's Roland Park neighborhood and the other in the north suburb of Lutherville. It is one of only twelve clubs nationwide to operate two campuses. T ...

in 1965. Great Britain and Ireland had taken an 11–5 lead after the second-day foursomes, needing just 1½ points from the 8 afternoon singles matches. However, the United States staged a recovery and won 5 and halved 2 of the first 7 matches. That meant that if

Jay Sigel Robert Jay Sigel (born November 13, 1943) is an American professional golfer. He enjoyed one of the more illustrious careers in the history of U.S. amateur golf, before turning pro in 1993 at age 50, when he became a member of the Senior PGA Tou ...

beat Jim Milligan in the final match, the result would be a tie and the United States would retain the Cup as defending holders. Sigel was 3-up after 11 holes and still 2-up after 15. Milligan won the 16th hole after pitching close and then won the 17th after chipping in, leveling the match. Both players took bogey 5s at the final hole to leave the match halved and to give Great Britain and Ireland a 12½–11½ victory.

Format

The format for play on Wednesday and Thursday was the same. There were four matches of foursomes in the morning and eight singles matches in the afternoon. In all, 24 matches were played. Each of the 24 matches was worth one point in the larger team competition. If a match was all square after the 18th hole extra holes were not played. Rather, each side earned ½ a point toward their team total. The team that accumulated at least 12½ points won the competition. If the two teams were tied, the previous winner would retain the trophy.

Teams

Ten players for the United States and Great Britain & Ireland participated in the event plus one non-playing captain for each team.

United States

Captain:

Fred Ridley Fred Scobie Ridley (born August 16, 1952) is an American amateur golfer and golf administrator who won the U.S. Amateur in 1975, was elected president of the United States Golf Association (USGA) in 2004, and then became chairman of Augusta Nat ...

David Eger David Benjamin Eger (born March 17, 1952) is an American professional golfer on the Champions Tour. Early life Eger was born in Fort Meade, Maryland. Amateur career He attended the University of North Carolina, and later East Tennessee Sta ...

Robert Gamez Robert Anthony Gamez (born July 21, 1968) is an American professional golfer who currently plays on the PGA Tour. Gamez was born in Las Vegas, and is of Mexican descent. He attended the University of Arizona where he was a member of the golf team ...

* Ralph Howe * Kevin Johnson * Greg Lesher * Doug Martin *

Eric Meeks Eric Meeks (born January 15, 1965) is an American professional golfer. Meeks won the 1988 U.S. Amateur. He played in the 1988 Eisenhower Trophy and in the 1989 Walker Cup match. He played his college golf for the Arizona Wildcats. Meeks later ...

Phil Mickelson Philip Alfred Mickelson (born June 16, 1970), nicknamed Lefty, is an American professional golfer who plays for LIV Golf. He has won 45 events on the PGA Tour, including six Men's major golf championships, major championships: three Masters To ...

* Danny Yates

Allen Doyle Allen Michael Doyle (born July 26, 1948) is an American professional golfer who played on the Nike Tour, PGA Tour, and Champions Tour. Life and career Doyle was born in Woonsocket, Rhode Island and raised in the Boston suburb of Norwood, Mass ...

was selected for the team but withdrew because of injury and was replaced by Greg Lesher.

Great Britain & Ireland

&
Captain: Geoff Marks * Craig Cassells *

Russell Claydon Russell Claydon (born 19 November 1965) is an English professional golfer. Claydon was born in Cambridge, England. He won the English Amateur in 1988 and turned professional in 1989. He played on the European Tour from 1989 to 2004. He was in th ...

Stephen Dodd Stephen Christopher Dodd (born 15 July 1966) is a Welsh professional golfer who after a moderate career, unexpectedly won two events on the European Tour in the 2005 season at the age of 38 and won a third time in 2006. He also won the 2005 W ...

Andrew Hare Andrew is the English form of a given name common in many countries. In the 1990s, it was among the top ten most popular names given to boys in List of countries where English is an official language, English-speaking countries. "Andrew" is freq ...

Peter McEvoy Peter Aloysius McEvoy OBE (born 22 March 1953) was a leading British amateur golfer for many years, and is now a golf course designer, golf administrator, and golf writer. Early life McEvoy was born in London, but spent much of his childhood l ...

Garth McGimpsey Garth McGimpsey (born 17 July 1955) is an amateur golfer from Bangor, Northern Ireland. Playing career McGimpsey won The Amateur Championship in 1985. He beat Graham Homewood, England, 8 and 7 in the final at Royal Dornoch Golf Club, Sutherland ...

Jim Milligan Jim or JIM may refer to: * Jim (given name), a given name * Jim, a diminutive form of the given name James * Jim, a short form of the given name Jimmy * OPCW-UN Joint Investigative Mechanism * ''Jim'' (comics), a series by Jim Woodring * ''Ji ...

Format

Teams

United States

Great Britain & Ireland

Wednesday's matches

Morning foursomes

Afternoon singles

Thursday's matches

Morning foursomes

Afternoon singles

References