He was out, he was in and, for Saturday morning at least, he was out again. No, Ewen Ferguson hasn’t been entertaining the Lytham locals with his own version of the hokey cokey but the Bearsden teenager was going to have to wait his turn to shake it all about in the Walker Cup.
Initially left out of the Great Britain & Ireland team for this weekend’s transatlantic tussle with the USA, Ferguson was drafted in at the last minute following the mysterious withdrawal of Englishman Sam Horsfield. Now, he’s been left out of the opening session of foursomes by the GB&I team captain, Nigel Edwards. As far as a topsy-turvy toying of the golfing emotions go, the last fortnight has been a roller coaster on a par with some clattering, careering construction you’d find along the road at Blackpool’s Pleasure Beach.
Being told to keep your powder dry is all part and parcel of the team ethic, of course, and Ferguson will get his chance to contribute to the cause on the front line when he squares up to Maverick McNealy, the world No 2, in this afternoon’s singles. Keeping him company on the sidelines during the morning’s opening exchanges will be his compatriot Grant Forrest, the player with whom Ferguson plundered two points from three in the foursomes during Scotland’s surge to European Team Championship glory in July. Jack McDonald, the third Scot in the GB&I camp, will be involved in the early duels, though, and will partner his Stirling University team-mate Cormac Sharvin, the Irishman who has a decent record in this neck of the woods and was second here in May’s Lytham Trophy. There’s no ‘I’ in team but with five Irishmen in GB&I, that ‘I’ will be a significant factor. The alliance of Paul Dunne and Gary Hurley, for instance, is an obvious pairing and one that has racked up 8 ½ points from a possible nine on international duty for Ireland in major team events. More of the same will do nicely, lads.
Having been on site since last Sunday, Ferguson and the rest of the GB&I boys are a bit like caged lions gazing at a herd of shuffling Wildebeest; they just want to go on the attack. The US players will feel the same. “I’m just dying to get going because we’ve done so much practice,” drooled Ferguson, who has probably had more rounds than a Stag do on the Golden Mile and is desperate to embroil himself in the cut-and-thrust of matchplay combat. “I was on the putting green and Nigel came up to me. He said to me: `you’re playing really well, but I’m going to let Grant and you sit tomorrow morning and it’ll make you come out firing on all cylinders’.”
On a hard, fast-running links with 206 bunkers dotted about in menacing abundance, focus and concentration will be key while the prospect of stronger winds and rain will add a new layer of mischief. The last few days have been something of a balancing act for the players; sharpening the game but trying to remain sharp. “You don’t want to play all your good golf before it,” said McDonald, who will not feature in the afternoon’s singles. “You want to conserve that energy as there will be a lot of nervous energy over the next couple of days.”
Over in Camp America, meanwhile, all seems to be as cosy as a night in the Little House on the Prairie. As one of 11 children, the US skipper, Spider Miller, won’t have any problems keeping 10 golfers in check. Unlike Tom Watson’s stubborn, single-minded approach to last year’s Ryder Cup captaincy which ended in defeat and complete disarray, Miller’s reign as Walker Cup leader is of the democratic type. As a beer wholesaler during the working week, you could say it’s the Miller light touch. “It’s not me as the autocrat,” he said. “I’m listening to the team. Each player has as much input as I have and we have consensus agreement on everything. It’s the same style I have in business. I work with my guys and we’re a team.”
The two teams, meanwhile, are ready for the off.
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