Pebble Beach, California – The Walker Cup is being played for the 50th time. For the first time, one of the captains is a professional. The captain of Great -Britain and Ireland is a shot called Dean Robertson, who became Pro after playing in the Walker Cup 1993 and the Italian Open of 1999 won a shot over Padraig Harrington. He now runs the golf program at the University of Stirling, in Scotland.
The American captain is a lifelong amateur, Nathan Smith, 47, winner of five USGA titles, four mid-AM victories and one title of four ball. He is an insurance seller. It is in the pipeline for this position for half a decade or longer. He was asked on Friday afternoon if he thought the US would ever have a professional golfer as Walker Cup captain.
“That could open the door for a number of different things,” he said. “I would first say that there are so many earning guys who are still amateur to be Walker Cup captains.”
Stewart Hagestad, who is the oldest play member of the American team at the age of 34, sat next to Smith while the captain spoke those words. He plays here in his fifth Walker Cup on Cypress Point here and it would be a shock if he is not a captain somewhere in the following decade, especially if he never becomes pro, which is almost certainly the case.
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Smith continued: “But you would never close the door”, the idea of ​​an American professional as a Walker Cup captain. “That that could happen one day, with the right, very accomplished player. It can certainly happen.”
Smith was asked: “How do you think Tiger Woods would be like a Walker Cup captain?”
At the chance that you are not familiar with the USGA references of Woods, he won three consecutive American junior titles, then won three straight American amateur titles, and as a professional has won three US OpenS. Next year he will be eligible to play in his first US Senior Open. He also played in the Walker Cup 1995, when the US lost to GB&I at Royal Porthcawl, in Wales. That probably stays in his Craw. One of his regular choruses is: “I love winning, but I hate to lose more.”
Smith took a nanosecond to regard Woods as a Walker Cup captain. Smith comes from the west of Pennsylvania, as Arnold Palmer was. Understatement is a way of life there.
“He would probably be pretty good,” Smith said, before he added, “What do you think?”
Michael Bamberger welcomes your comments on michael.bamberger@golf.com
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