2025 Walker Cup At Cypress Point
16th Green At Cypress Point
I have been fortunate to play many wonderful golf courses and see many more great golf events. However I have never seen anything better than the 2025 Walker Cup at Cypress Point Golf Club in Carmel, California in early September. Celebrating the 50th Walker Cup, a biannual competition between the United States and Great Britain and Ireland (GB & I), every moment of the event on the Monterey Peninsula was magical. The scenery, the golf course, the competition and the weather were all perfection.
The Walker Cup gathers the leaders of golf. Officials from the USGA, the Royal and Ancient Golf Association, (R &A), past Walker Cup Team members and those involved in the game from around the world attend. Want to chat with Fred Perpall, President of the USGA? He’s right there, visible and approachable. How about former Walker Cupper Bryson DeChambeau? He was there following play just like the rest of us. Everybody at the Walker Cup is involved in golf in some interesting way: enthusiastic lover of the game, corporate involvement in the game, or administration of the game.
For many the Walker Cup is a reunion, particularly for former Walker Cup Team members. Former team members are held in high regard by the USGA, with a dinner and golf outing at each event. It seems that the further away from their Walker Cup Team membership they get, the more likely they are to return. David Tentis, a member of the 1983 US Team, and Gordon Sherry, on the 1995 GB & I Team both returned for the first time, saying they would return again.
As he has the past three Walker Cup Matches held on United States soil, President George Bush was in attendance. In past years the Bush-Walker family has held a family reunion at the Walker Cup. The Walker Cup was named after President Bush’s great grandfather, George Herbert Walker, a former president of the USGA.
The flag raising ceremony in the late afternoon before the first day of matches was held on the steeply sloped first fairway. President Bush delivered a brief welcome followed by USGA President Fred Perpall. Summing up how all in attendance felt looking down at the surreal scene of the sun setting on the blue Pacific he said, “For all of us standing on this fairway, we are fortunate to be here.” It was a statement repeated over and over throughout the weekend. We were all so very fortunate to be there.
Because of the length players are hitting the ball, Cypress Point at 6600 yards par 70 is a course that has been passed by for championship medal play tournaments. However, length does not need to be a factor in match play events. Events like the Walker Cup allow us to be able to see great courses such as Chicago Golf Club, Pine Valley and the Lahinch Golf Club, which is the site of the next Walker Cup in Ireland.
While length may not be a challenge at Cypress Point, the sloped slick greens and many false fronts make for a strong test. Alister MacKenzie challenges the player as if to say ‘do you have this shot?’. Can the player hit it high, low, left or right? Cypress Point has large greens with sections where hole locations can be placed in tight areas, all demanding precise iron play. Many greens may look smaller than they are with hole locations allowing for the ball to run off the back or to the side.
Spectators walk down the middle of the fairway with the players at the Walker Cup. Volunteers with ropes walk with each group defining where those walking should stand for each shot. It’s a calm, respectful, intimate atmosphere. Good play from both sides is met with applause, though more enthusiastically for our team. I never heard shouting or jeering.
Day one opened with a marine layer that quickly burned off followed by 36 hours of perfect weather until the light marine layer returned late Sunday afternoon. The setting at Cypress Point is unlike any other in golf. On two calm, bluebird days, the scent from the trees on the early holes gave way to the light fragrance of the ocean as the course made its way toward the Pacific. As the bright sun warmed the days into the mid 70s, the lightest of cool breezes off the water moved past us. The barking from a colony of sea lions, found behind the 16th hole, was heard on many holes. Waves dramatically crashing over the rugged, rocky shores was a sight to behold at holes 16 and 17. Gazing out on the Pacific the blue water reflected the cloudless sky. How was I so fortunate to be experiencing such beauty?
The format for the event had four foursomes matches (alternate shot) each morning, with eight singles matches Saturday afternoon and ten singles matches Sunday afternoon.
GB & I got off to a fast start on Saturday morning. I watched a foursomes match Saturday morning with Eliot Baker and Stuart Grehan of the GB & I team cling to a 1 up lead as they approached the 18th green. Baker hit a beautiful iron to four feet only to watch as it spun off the severely sloped front of the green to 40’ from the hole. The USA team of Ethan Fang and Preston Stout were safely on the green, sure to make no worse than par. GB & I teammate Stuart Grehan needed to chip it close to preserve par forcing the USA team to make a birdie to tie the match. With the massive crowd surrounding the green in rapt silence, Grehan deftly chipped from the closely mown approach to a foot from the hole to save par for the Brits. It was left up to Ethan Fang of the USA team to make an 18’ putt for a birdie and a tie in the match. He made a smooth stroke on the sharp breaking putt, heading for the middle of the hole only to see it lip out. The Brits had won the point and a 3-1 lead for the morning.
USA roared back Saturday afternoon winning 5 1/2 of the 8 singles points. Thus heading to the final day it was a tight match at 6 1/2 for the USA and 5 1/2 for the Brits.
The morning foursomes points split 2-2. USA needed 13 points to retain the Walker Cup. The lead bounced back and forth early in the afternoon before the USA took command winning all but one of the ten singles matches. USA had retained the Walker Cup winning 17-9.
There are many great golf courses around the world and many exciting events. I can’t name a course that is the number one, preferring to put three or four in my top group. In my opinion Cypress Point is in that group. The 2025 Walker Cup is my favorite event I have ever had the pleasure of attending in A Life In Golf.
