Connor Syme and the Great Britain and Ireland team are in the hideaway of the Hollywood stars this week intent on retaining the Walker Cup on American soil for only the second time ever even if the odds are stacked against them.
Los Angeles Country Club, sitting square in the heart of movie star homes in Beverley Hills and usually one of the most exclusive golf clubs in the world, is the venue for the biennial clash between the amateurs of the USA and GB&I.
Once a complete no-contest, these matches have balanced out in the last 20 years, going with home advantage but for two exceptions.
Those were GB&I’s historic win in 2001 at Sea Island, Georgia, with a team that included Luke Donald, Graeme McDowell and Scotland’s Marc Warren, and the USA’s win at Royal County Down in 2007 with maybe their best-ever team, featuring Dustin Johnson, Rickie Fowler, Billy Horschel and Webb Simpson.
Time will only tell how this weekend’s team stack up in terms of stars in the professional game but it’s a clear sign of the times that there are no survivors from Europe’s record-equalling 16 1/2 to 9 1/2 victory at Royal Lytham two years ago.
That team featured three Scots – Grant Forrest, Ewen Ferguson and Jack McDonald – and two in Drumoig’s Syme and Robert MacIntyre of Oban’s Glencruitten club have made the selection cut this time for the famously secretive and select LACC.
It’s a club so exclusive it makes Scotland’s Muirfield look like a municipal course. There is no sign on Wilshire Boulevard to indicate the club is even there, and the high boundary walls are framed by some of the world’s most expensive properties – the Playboy Mansion sits over the wall from the 13th green of the North Course, the one in use for the Walker Cup.
Syme is already well acquainted with LACC however, doing some research when competing at the US Amateur at nearby Riviera and Bel-Air, when he reached the last eight to cement his position in the team.
“It’s a little bit different to Bel-Air and Riviera,” he said. “They’re very compact with a lot of houses around whereas this sits on a massive piece of land and is a bit more wide open off the tee.
“Length is more important around there than accuracy, I would imagine. It’s a good test of golf, definitely, and it’ll be a lot of fun.”
Syme defeated the American team’s main man Maverick McNealy – the only survivor from Lytham on either team – in the US Amateur before losing narrowly to another US team member Doug Ghim in the last eight.
“I was really pleased to take him down, but he was an absolute gentleman,” he said of his win over the World Ranked No 2. “There was total respect both ways and I think we both want another shot at each other in the Walker Cup.”
Syme has been consistent rather than spectacular this year but has maintained a top ten world amateur ranking and there was no question he would be on the GB&I team. Similarly MacIntyre, beaten finalist in the Amateur Championship last year, is one of the three top rankled players on the GB&I side.
The team were shorn of a further presence when captain Craig Watson was forced to withdraw due to a serious family illness, with chairman of selectors Andy Ingram taking over the reins of the team.
GB&I have Alfie Plant, the Open Championship silver medallist and European Amateur champion, 2016 amateur champ Scott Gregory and current amateur champion Harry Ellis on the team, while John “Spider” Miller has four players ranked in the world’s top 10 on his team, and five of his team are native Californians.
The popular Miller came under fire from many circles for his captaincy decisions at Lytham when he left top ranked Bryson Dechambeau out of two fourball series. However the US have abandoned their policy of automatic inclusion of two “mid-amateur” players and eight of their 20 players are 21 and under.
The matches are played over two days with four fourballs in morning sessions followed by 10 singles matches in the afternoon. The US leads the series dating from 1921 by a whopping 35 wins to 9, but since GB&I’s historic first win on US soil at Peachtree in Georgia in1989, the score is seven wins each.