The U.S. Walker Cup team is now “bouncing around,” its captain, Nathan Smith, says.
And his players’ stomachs, it appears, have mostly stopped rumbling.
On Thursday, two days before this weekend’s amateur event, that features a 10-man American team meeting a 10-man Great Britain and Ireland team at Ireland’s Lahinch Golf Club, Golf Channel’s Brentley Romine reported that multiple Americans were fighting “stomach issues.” Ethan Feng and William Jennings, Romine said, did not practice on Thursday, and three players didn’t attend that night’s banquet.
At a Friday press conference, though, Smith said every player would be ready for Saturday, though the Americans’ first alternate, Max Herendeen, has been contacted and is on “standby” — though he’s not on site.
“The problem with that is you’re into Thursday or Friday; I don’t know how he comes over on a red eye,” Smith said. “We knew the guys were going to be fine, but we decided to take that precaution so if nobody is over anything.
“But the guys are ready to go. How much they sacrifice and go, they’re going to go no matter what. It didn’t matter what was going on. They love it. They love representing their country. There’s no way we could have told them they’re not going. They would have been on that 1st tee no matter what.”
Smith said in the future, he’d like to have an alternate on site; “that’s a great idea,” he said. He also said the U.S. “really didn’t have to do much” with its lineup. On Saturday and Sunday morning, four two-man teams for each side will play alternate-shot matches; on Saturday afternoon, eight singles matches will be played; and on Sunday afternoon, all 10 players from each team will play singles matches.
“Obviously we can only play eight three out of the four matches,” Smith said. “But the guys are ready. We were ready to pivot if we had to, but I think we feel good about our teams that we’re going to be sending out in the morning.”
Five years ago, at the Walker Cup played at Seminole Golf Club in Florida, both teams fought a stomach illness, and each side needed an alternate. But Smith said the issue this year isn’t as severe.
“Just a quick bug for them, and they feel great, and they were bouncing around today and they felt better than I think they said they’ve felt in a while,” he said. “I think it was great to get them an extra day of rest even though they were maybe feeling a little bit under the weather. It’s tough. It’s a lot. It’s different. You take that red eye and the travel and it’s different and the time change and the food and everything.
“But they all feel great, and I think we’re all glad it happened a day or two ago, and should be good for the weekend.”
