Walker Cup skipper Peter McEvoy is relying on Irish duo Graeme McDowell and Michael Hoey to give the United States a hiding at next weekend's showdown in Georgia.

And the former England great is so confident of their ability that he expects them to go on and make it big as professionals.

"This is probably the greatest golfing generation we have had since my day when Mark James and Howard Clarke were coming through and Sandy Lyle and Nick Faldo were doing things. I expect more than a few of this team to hit the ground running as professionals," said the two-time former British Amateur champion.

After thrashing the US 15-9 in the last edition of the Walker Cup at Nairn in Scotland in 1999, McEvoy is determined to see Great Britain and Ireland retain the title for the very first time.

Five times a Walker Cup player, McEvoy (48) reckons that Ireland's dynamic duo have the credentials to give the fancied Yanks an unpleasant surprise at the Ocean Forest course at Sea Island ­ Davis Love III's home club.

"We've never retained the Cup and to do it over there would be very special," he said. "But I'm confident we can do very well. We've never had a team with so many players who have won internationally. The college players like Luke Donald and Graeme McDowell will be well known to the Americans and they will also know that guys like Nick Dougherty have won in places like Japan and Australia, Gary Wolstenholme has won in China, Michael Hoey has won in Dubai, Graeme has won three college events in the States ­ these guys are well known."

A fantastic motivator, McEvoy has no fears for his side. And he expects Ulster boys McDowell and Hoey to lead by example at the Georgia venue.

"Michael has shown that he can handle the greatest of situations. He won the Amateur championship and holed the big putts when he had to in big games to keep things going so I have no doubt that he will acquit himself very well. He has great flair and it is just a matter of harnessing it.

"Graeme has been very impressive and he is incredibly strong and he has the respect of his peers which is very significant. If you look at the way other players respect Graeme you have to feel he can look after himself and I'll be expecting him to collect plenty of points during the match."

Pressure is not a word that McEvoy likes to use but he appears to have no worries for his young side against American outfit with three very experienced campaigners in 49 year olds John Harris (49) and David Eger, and 44-year-old Danny Green.

Harris holds the U.S. record for most singles wins without a loss. With six wins out of six (including a 3 and 2 win over Padraig Harrington in 1995) he has an even more impressive record than the legendary Bobby Jones, who won all five of his games.

But the man to watch out for is the impressive 22 year-old from Arkansas, Bryce Molder. The All-American ended up with bad taste in his mouth at Nairn, finishing with a 0-3-1 record (wins, halves, losses).

He was so disappointed that he delayed turning professional in the hope of getting another chance.

"If we had won, if may have been a different story," Molder told Golf Journal this month. "I want to go away a winner."

But McEvoy is not worried: "Sure they have some experienced players but you would have to look out for the young guys even more. These days these young players are more experienced that ever. Michael has played in the Open and professional events, so have Gary Wolstenholme and Graeme McDowell," said McEvoy.

"This new generation of players like Paul Casey, Justin Rose, McDowell, Hoey, Aaron Baddeley and Adam Scott or even Sergio Garcia and Tiger Woods are not like the 20 or 22 year olds of two decades ago. They have experience at their age that we never had."

And McEvoy is confident that the new generation will go on to great things on the professional tours. He said: "It goes in peaks and troughs but the current crop coming through in Britain and Ireland now is the best we've had for over 20 years. I played with Ronan Rafferty and Philip Walton and I thought that Ronan would do even more than he has done while Philip was a very solid operator."

Luke Donald is probably the cream of the current Walker Cup panel with McEvoy's advice to the player is simply to "sign the forms as quickly as possible" and get out there on tour. "I said that Paul Casey would hit the ground running as a pro and I was proved right because he is right up there challenging to win tournaments. I expect Luke to be up there too and Michael showed with his final round of 64 in the Loch Lomond World Invitational that he is not afraid to play with the professionals.

"Okay the Americans have a very good side but with a population of 270 million you'd expect them to be able to find 10 good players. Their problem is that are so big and have so many good players playing different competitions that it is hard to know who to pick sometimes whereas we all play pretty much for the same prizes which makes selection easier."

The last time Great Britain and Ireland beat the Americans, at Peachtree in Atlanta in 1989, Bangor's Garth McGimpsey played a starring role alongside team mate Peter McEvoy. Perhaps it's a sign.

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Gary Player might have missed the cut in last year's Senior British Open, but the Black Knight just loves to come back to Ireland. In fact, he still remembers of one of his first visits to Ireland, 41 years ago.

He said: "I'll never forget playing in the Canada Cup at Portmarnock in 1960. What a course! I hear it's in fantastic condition again. And what great players Christy O'Connor and Harry Bradshaw were. Ireland has had so many great champions and great courses. I just love coming here."

Bradshaw didn't play that week as Norman Drew was controversially selected to partner O'Connor to a fourth place finish behind Arnold Palmer and Sam Snead. But it's no wonder that Player should remember Portmarnock with such fondness.

He shot a course record 65 that stood for 28 years before Sandy Lyle brat it by a shot in the 1989 Carroll's Irish Open.

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Double major winner Tony Jacklin made a happy return visit to Royal County Down last week ­ 35 years after being refused access to the clubhouse. "I'll never forget it," he said. "It was the day before my wedding to Vivienne, my first wife and I played with my future father in law. But they wouldn't let us into the clubhouse so we had to go to a café down the road for lunch.

"Times have changed though and everyone's been just wonderful this time."

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Who is Ireland's greatest ever points winner in the Walker Cup? Joe Carr? Padraig Harrington? Garth McGimpsey? Step forward Philip Walton of Malahide.

Big-hitting Phil snatched 12 points in his two appearances in 1981 and 1983, winning six and losing just two of his eight games.

Nice one from one of golf's nice guys.

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Tiger Woods has tiger head covers and Golden Bear Jack Nicklaus uses bear head covers. But gruff, cigar-chomping Texan Tom Wargo looked slightly odd with his pink bunny head covers at Newcastle last week.

Some kind of new nickname, Tom? Turns out he is sponsored by a make of battery (Energizer) that features a pink rabbit that plays the drums. After his 11 at the 18th in the third round, Wargo needed something to cheer him up.

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Congratulations to Justin Kehoe on his win in the Shell South of Ireland championship at Lahinch in midweek.

The Birr man beat Hermitage-based opera singer Stephen Browne by a massive 6 and 4 in the final ­ Browne's second defeat of the season.

The Dubliner was left singing the blues in June when he lost to Gavin McNeill in the Irish Close decider at Rosses Point. Here's hoping things go better for Browne at the European Tour qualifying school this autumn.

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© Brian Keogh 2001

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