2 Welsh Players named in 2023 Walker Cup Squad
Two Welsh players have been named in the squad announced by The R&A of 19 players who are in contention for selection in the Great Britain and Ireland team to play the United States of America in the 49th Walker Cup at St Andrews.
The biennial encounter will be played over the world-renowned Old Course on Saturday 2 and Sunday 3 September 2023, marking 100 years since the match was first played at the Home of Golf. GB&I is aiming to win back the trophy after narrowly losing 14-12 to the United States of America at Seminole last year.
James Ashfield and Archie Davies will be hoping to fly the flag for Wales at the event when the 10 man Team is named next year.
Delamere Forest’s Ashfield is the current Welsh Amateur champion and a former semi-finalist at The Amateur Championship. He won the Welsh title at Pennard last August, beating Alex James in the final.
Carlisle’s Davies won the Welsh Amateur in 2020, has twice been named the Welsh Amateur Golfer of the Year.
Ashfield and Davies were part of the Wales team which finished tied eighth at the Eisenhower World Amateur Team Championships in France this summer. Davies was tied ninth in the individual event. The third member of that team, Luke Harries, Tenby, has recently turned professional.
Old Course chance
Stuart Wilson, GB&I captain, said, “We have selected a talented group of players who are key to our preparations for the Walker Cup and share our determination to win back the trophy from the United States of America. “We will be getting together in St Andrews so that the players can really get to grips with the Old Course, understand its subtleties and learn from those individuals who have vast experience of the links. “Our aim is to select a team which will give us the best chance of winning the match next year. In that regard, we will continue to monitor the players’ performances in amateur events over the coming months and provide them with support and advice. There is also still time for golfers not included in the squad to play their way into our plans and we will be keeping a close eye on their results too.”
The players included in the GB&I squad are:
|
Players Selected |
|
|
James Ashfield (21, Delamere Forest, Wales) |
Matthew McClean (29, Malone, Ireland) |
|
Josh Berry (17, Doncaster, England) |
Robert Moran (23, Castle, Ireland) |
|
Barclay Brown (21, Hallamshire, England) |
Liam Nolan (22, Galway, Ireland) |
|
Archie Davies (21, Carlisle, Wales) |
Peter O’Keeffe (41, Douglas, Ireland) |
|
Arron Edwards-Hill (23, Chelmsford, England) |
Mark Power (22, Kilkenny, Ireland) |
|
Hugh Foley (25, Royal Dublin, Ireland) |
Dylan Shaw-Radford (17, Huddersfield, England) |
|
Connor Graham (16, Blairgowrie, Scotland) |
Calum Scott (19, Nairn, Scotland) |
|
John Gough (24, Beaconsfield, England) |
Harley Smith (17, The Rayleigh Club, England) |
|
Josh Hill (18, Trump International Dubai, England) |
Tyler Weaver (17, Bury St Edmunds, England) |
|
Frank Kennedy (17, Trump National Jupiter, England) |
We have selected a talented group of players who are key to our preparations for the Walker Cup and share our determination to win back the trophy from the United States of America.
Stuart Wilson
GB&I Walker Cup Captain
Match play success
Eight players in the squad made up the victorious GB&I team which defeated the Continent of Europe in the St Andrews Trophy earlier this year, including Barclay Brown and Mark Power, who are aiming to compete in their second Walker Cup having played at Seminole last year. Ireland’s Matthew McClean who became only the second player from outside of the United States of America to win the US Mid-Amateur Championship will be bidding to make the team. Scotland’s Calum Scott and England’s John Gough will hope to follow in the footsteps of brothers Sandy and Conor, who both played in the match at Royal Liverpool in 2019, by earning selection for the final GB&I team. Connor Graham, The R&A Junior Open champion from Perthshire, is also included in the squad. The final ten-man team will be announced in August. More information on the Walker Cup can be found here.