1979 Walker Cup

The 1979 Walker Cup, the 27th Walker Cup golf match, was played on 30 and 31 May 1979, at Muirfield, Gullane, East Lothian, Scotland. The event was won by the United States 15½ to 8½.

27th Walker Cup Match

Dates	30–31 May 1979
Venue	Muirfield
Location	Gullane, East Lothian, Scotland
Captains	Rodney Foster (GB&I) Dick Siderowf (USA)
8½ 15½
United States wins the Walker Cup
← 1977 1981 →

The United States had an 8½ to 7½ lead after the second day foursomes. In the final round of 8 singles, Great Britain and Ireland had just one win, by Allan Brodie, while the United States won the other 7 matches for a convincing win.^[1]

Format

The format for play on Wednesday and Thursday was the same. There were four matches of foursomes in the morning and eight singles matches in the afternoon. In all, 24 matches were played.

Each of the 24 matches was worth one point in the larger team competition. If a match was all square after the 18th hole extra holes were not played. Rather, each side earned ½ a point toward their team total. The team that accumulated at least 12½ points won the competition. If the two teams were tied, the previous winner would retain the trophy.

Teams

Ten players for the United States and Great Britain & Ireland participated in the event plus one non-playing captain for each team.^[2]

Great Britain & Ireland

&
Captain: Rodney Foster

• Gordon Brand Jnr
• Allan Brodie
• Jimmy Buckley
• Iain Carslaw
• John Davies
• Geoffrey Godwin
• Ian Hutcheon
• Michael Kelley
• Brian Marchbank
• Peter McEvoy

United States

Captain: Dick Siderowf

• Doug Clarke
• Doug Fischesser
• Mike Gove
• Scott Hoch
• Jim Holtgrieve
• Griff Moody
• Mike Peck
• Jay Sigel
• Hal Sutton
• Marty West

Wednesday's matches

Morning foursomes

&	Results
McEvoy/Marchbank	1 up	Hoch/Sigel
Godwin/Hutcheon	2 up	West/Sutton
Brand/Kelley	1 up	Fischesser/Holtgrieve
Brodie/Carslaw	2 & 1	Griff/Gove
2	Foursomes	2
2	Overall	2

Afternoon singles

&	Results
Peter McEvoy	halved	Jay Sigel
John Davies	8 & 7	Doug Clarke
Ian Hutcheon	6 & 4	Jim Holtgrieve
Jimmy Buckley	9 & 7	Scott Hoch
Brian Marchbank	1 up	Mike Peck
Geoffrey Godwin	3 & 2	Griff Moody
Michael Kelley	3 & 2	Doug Fischesser
Allan Brodie	3 & 2	Mike Gove
3½	Singles	4½
5½	Overall	6½

Thursday's matches

Morning foursomes

&	Results
Godwin/Brand	4 & 3	Hoch/Sigel
Kelley/Hutcheon	halved	West/Sutton
McEvoy/Marchbank	2 & 1	Fischesser/Holtgrieve
Carslaw/Brodie	halved	Clarke/Peck
2	Foursomes	2
7½	Overall	8½

Afternoon singles

&	Results
Peter McEvoy	3 & 1	Scott Hoch
Gordon Brand Jnr	2 & 1	Doug Clarke
Geoffrey Godwin	3 & 2	Mike Gove
Ian Hutcheon	2 & 1	Mike Peck
Allan Brodie	3 & 2	Marty West
Michael Kelley	3 & 2	Griff Moody
Brian Marchbank	3 & 1	Hal Sutton
Iain Carslaw	2 & 1	Jay Sigel
1	Singles	7
8½	Overall	15½