My one Walker Cup wish: Campus Insider: Golf Digest

My one Walker Cup wish

Tuesday, September 13, 2011 Comments

ABERDEEN, Scotland--As was evident again last week at Scotland''s Royal Aberdeen GC with Great Britain & Ireland's impressive upset victory over the United States, there is a special feeling surrounding the Walker Cup. Maybe it's because the pomp and circumstance is not as overblown—and nowhere near as commercial—as its professional counterpart in the Ryder Cup, the focus seldom veering from the competition itself. The two-year anticipation creates just the right enthusiasm for the two-day event.

Yet there lies its one noticeable flaw: being just two days in length. Considering all the work that goes into holding the matches, whether played in GB&I or the U.S., wouldn't a third day of competition seem appropriate?

Members of both teams spend two long summers in hopes of playing in the event, then five days on site anxiously waiting to hit a ball in earnest, only to watch Saturday and Sunday zip by. Same for spectators, particular those from the visiting side who make the long trip for a short payoff. It's an example of less is not enough, one the Curtis Cup acknowledged when it added a third day in 2008.

Preserving the event's tradition is the argument the USGA and R&A (more the former than the later) makes for why two is greater than three. It's noble, but should serving the past be reason to short-change the future?