Oy Vey Files: Some In R&A Don't Want To Pick A Pro To Captain A Walker Cup Team

I saw the headline on Alistair Tait's Golfweek item about the R&A running out of viable candidates to captain future Walker Cup teams because, amazingly, after all these years, those men who turn pro and earn money playing the game are in some sort of permanent purgatory. Heaven forbid they taint the young amateurs who...are about to turn pro themselves! 

Here's the worst part: a number of former Walker Cuppers would bring a great perspective and much-needed spice to a Walker Cup that deserves more eyeballs.

Tait writes:

Former R&A chief executive Peter Dawson has considered using tour pros who had played in the match, names like Colin Montgomerie, Paul McGinley and Padraig Harrington.

“We have a problem going forward since so few Walker Cup players remain amateur,” Dawson told Golfweek.

Ireland’s Jody Fanagan and Scotland’s Stuart Wilson are two possible candidates. Fanagan was a member of the 1995 GB&I team that defeated a Tiger Woods-led U.S. team at Royal Porthcawl. Wilson, the 2004 British Amateur champion, appeared in the victorious 2003 GB&I team at Ganton.

While Montgomerie, McGinley or Harrington would raise the match’s profile, expect the R&A to go with either Wilson or Fanagan, with the latter the more likely candidate since Garth McGimpsey in 2005 was the last Irish captain.

It's rather apparent the former Chief Inspector is floating this idea publicly because he knows the 21st century would welcome former Walker Cuppers with the stature of a McGinley, Montgomerie or Harrington to captain the biennial matches. But he must be facing some seriously old-school stiffs within the R&A who, amazingly, carry on the centuries-old tradition that professional golf is barely a level above porn star in the jobs department.