The 1947 Walker Cup, the 11th Walker Cup Match, was played on 16 and 17 May 1947, on the Old Course at St Andrews, Scotland. The United States won by 8 matches to 4.
The match should have been played in the United States; the previous match, in 1938, having been played at St. Andrews. However, the Royal and Ancient decided that it would have been impossible to send a team to the United States. Rather than postpone the match, the USGA agreed that the match would take place in Britain.
Format Four 36-hole matches of foursomes were played on Friday and eight singles matches on Saturday. Each of the 12 matches was worth one point in the larger team competition. If a match was all square after the 36th hole extra holes were not played. The team with most points won the competition. If the two teams were tied, the previous winner would retain the trophy.
Teams Nine players for the United States and Great Britain & Ireland participated in the event plus one non-playing captain for each team. The U.S. team was announced in January and included Cary Middlecoff. Middlecoff immediately withdrew from the team, as he intended turning professional, and was replaced by the first reserve George Hamer. The British team was announced less than a week before the match after a series of trial matches. The United States used the same eight players on both day, Hamer being left out. For Great Britain and Ireland, Micklem was left out of the foursomes while Kyle was left out of the singles.
Great Britain & Ireland & Captain: John Beck Joe Carr Leonard Crawley Cecil Ewing Alex Kyle Laddie Lucas Gerald Micklem Charlie Stowe Ronnie White James Wilson
United States
Captain: Francis Ouimet Ted Bishop Dick Chapman George Hamer Fred Kammer Smiley Quick Skee Riegel Frank Stranahan Willie Turnesa Bud Ward
Friday's foursomes & Results Carr/Ewing 3 & 2Bishop/RiegelCrawley/Lucas 5 & 4Ward/QuickKyle/Wilson 5 & 4Turnesa/KammerWhite/Stowe 4 & 3Stranahan/Chapman 2 Foursomes 2 2 Overall 2
Saturday's singles & Results Leonard Crawley 5 & 3Bud WardJoe Carr 5 & 3Ted BishopGerald Micklem 6 & 5Skee RiegelCecil Ewing 6 & 5Willie TurnesaCharlie Stowe 2 & 1Frank StranahanRonnie White 4 & 3Fred KammerJames Wilson 8 & 6Smiley QuickLaddie Lucas 4 & 3Dick Chapman 2 Singles 6 4 Overall 8
References