While the usual sights and sounds of the Grove rocking and the Vaught locking are going on in Oxford this Saturday, one Ole Miss athlete will be far away from the familiar sights and sounds of Oxford and his hometown of Olive Branch. As the football team kicks off in the heart of the South, Braden Thornberry will tee off 1,892 miles away at the Los Angeles Country Club.
This weekend marks the start of the 46th Annual Walker Cup Match, a competition between the best amateurs from the United States and the best amateurs from both Great Britain and Ireland. Similar to the Ryder Cup, this competition features match play, where golfers play against each other to win individual holes until a person wins enough holes to capture the whole round.
Historically, the United States has dominated the competition, amassing a 35-9-1 record. The cup, however, was won by Great Britain and Ireland last year. In order to win the cup again, the United States’ team will need to score a minimum of 13.5 points.
The scoring system works so that every singles match victory awards a point to the winner’s team and a singles match that ends in a tie rewards a half point to each team. No points are taken away as a result of losing. Furthermore, there are 18 singles matches (one versus one) and eight foursome matches (two players on one team alternating shots against another set of two golfers from the other team) over the two-day tournament.
A normal golfer might be intimidated by the prospect of such a prominent stage, saddled with the duty of representing the United States of America in open competition against our foreign competitors. A normal golfer might be intimidated by the fact that the Los Angeles Country Club (the course where the Walker Cup is taking place) features a USGA course rating of 76.9.
The USGA is the United States Golf Association, and it sets par scores for the nation’s most prominent courses. A scratch golfer, someone who typically scores even-par on a golf round, is expected to shoot a 77 on the Los Angeles Country Club course. In other words, this course is hard. Very hard.
Most golfers would be intimidated by the thought of competing against the best young golfers Britain and Ireland have to offer. Braden Thornberry is no ordinary golfer.
Start with what most people recognize him for: winning the NCAA individual championship last year. Don’t forget he also finished fourth in the FedEx St. Jude Classic. What’s so important about that finish? The St. Jude Classic is a fully fledged PGA Tour event, meaning he finished fourth among the best professional golfers in the world. He finished better than Phil Mickelson. Better than Adam Scott. Better than Brooks Koepka.
Braden also recently won the Sunnehanna Amateur Tournament of Champions. Then, as if fans needed any more convincing of Thornberry’s skillset, he recently beat the No. 1 amateur golfer in the world. Impressive.
“Anytime you get the chance to put USA gear on and represent your country is a special thing,” Thornberry said in an interview with Ole Miss Sports. “This is my first opportunity to do so, and I am really excited about that. I am looking forward to a fun and successful weekend in Los Angeles.”
The tournament’s opening flag ceremony is at 5:30 p.m. PDT on Friday, and the golf action kicks off at 7:15 a.m. PDT on Saturday with the foursome matches arriving first. Fox Sports 1 is set to cover all the action.
