Everything You Need to Know: 50th Walker Cup at Cypress Point, the Best Golf Links in Existence

How Cypress Point Landed the 50th Walker Cup

Cypress Point Club’s journey to hosting this week’s Walker Cup began nine years ago with a simple invitation. Then-club president Peter K. Barker invited USGA executive director Mike Davis to play in a club tournament, planting a seed on the first tee: “As we play today, think about how Cypress might fit into your plans for a future Walker Cup.” The club had just one condition—no changes to the course.

Davis didn’t need much convincing. After experiencing the risk-reward stretch of holes 5-9, he tapped Barker’s shoulder on the way to the 10th tee and said, “We’re in.”

Now, more than three decades after the match was first played here in 1981, the Walker Cup returns to this iconic Alister MacKenzie masterpiece. While golf has evolved dramatically since then, Cypress Point remains gloriously frozen in time.

When MacKenzie and partner Robert Hunter took over the project after Seth Raynor’s death in January 1926, they promised to build “the best golf links in existence.” Working with the breathtaking coastal land secured by trailblazing amateur Marion Hollins, MacKenzie delivered what he called an “intoxicating natural journey through sea, sand and forest” when the course was completed in April 1928.

“I do not expect anyone will ever have the opportunity of constructing another course like Cypress Point,” MacKenzie said, “as I do not suppose anywhere in the world is there such a glorious combination of rocky coast, sand dunes, pine woods and cypress trees.”

To preserve this timelessness, the USGA has taken a minimalist approach. No renovations were done for the event. Ticket sales and infrastructure have been limited to maintain the natural beauty. The course will play at 6,620 yards—just 114 yards longer than in 1981. It’s short by today’s standards, but wind, cold air, and strategic design make it play much longer. The only layout adjustments convert two par-5s (Nos. 5 and 10) into long par-4s, changing the par from 72 to 70.

“I don’t know if we set it up or if Cypress sets it up for us,” said Ben Kimball, the USGA’s setup man for the Walker Cup.

Kimball’s team has only dictated fairway lines, rough height (around 3 inches), green speeds, and hole locations. They’ve planned alternate tees on the world-famous par-3 16th and several short par-4s, including Nos. 8, 9, 17, and the polarizing 18th, which winds from the cliffs, through the cypresses and back up to the clubhouse.

Nearly 90% of Walker Cup matches historically reach at least the 16th hole, so most matches this weekend will play what might be the most photographed hole in golf. It’s where Hollins famously convinced Raynor that the hole could be a par-3 by teeing up a ball and easily clearing the 200-plus-yard carry. Kimball expects No. 16 to play around its listed 233 yards for three sessions, though depending on wind, they might use the forward tee at 210 yards.

“Cypress Point is not about brute strength but more precision and creativity,” Kimball says, adding, “MacKenzie wanted to tempt you to do something dangerous.”

Nathan Smith, captaining his first of two consecutive U.S. teams, calls the “off-the-charts” stretch of Nos. 15-17 part of what makes Cypress “the greatest club in the world.”

Just as MacKenzie intended.

“For years I have been contending that in our generation, no other golf course could possibly compete with the strategic problems, the thrills, excitement, variety and lasting interest of the Old Course,” MacKenzie said, “but the completion of Cypress Point has made me change my mind.”

2025 Walker Cup

Course info, scorecard

Cypress Point Club
Pebble Beach, California
Par 70, 6,620 yards
Designed by Alister MacKenzie, 1928

Front nine: Par 36, 3,409 yards

No. 1 – Par 4, 420 yards
No. 2 – Par 5, 579 yards
No. 3 – Par 3, 155 yards
No. 4 – Par 4, 415 yards
No. 5 – Par 4, 486 yards
No. 6 – Par 5, 529 yards
No. 7 – Par 3, 170 yards
No. 8 – Par 4, 366 yards
No. 9 – Par 4, 289 yards

Back nine: Par 34, 3,211 yards

No. 10 – Par 4, 475 yards
No. 11 – Par 4, 453 yards
No. 12 – Par 4, 403 yards
No. 13 – Par 4, 393 yards
No. 14 – Par 4, 391 yards
No. 15 – Par 3, 137 yards
No. 16 – Par 3, 233 yards
No. 17 – Par 4, 381 yards
No. 18 – Par 4, 345 yards

Schedule of play

Friday, Sept. 5 – Opening ceremony
Saturday, Sept. 6 – Foursomes (4); Singles (8)
Sunday, Sept. 7 – Foursomes (4); Singles (10); Closing ceremony

TV schedule

Saturday, Sept. 6: 12:30 p.m.-3:30 p.m. ET, Peacock
Saturday, Sept. 6: 7-10 p.m. ET, Golf Channel
Sunday, Sept. 7: 12:30-3:30 p.m. ET, Peacock
Sunday, Sept. 7: 7-10 p.m. ET, Golf Channel

Teams

(Players are listed in order of World Amateur Golf Ranking on Aug. 27)

U.S.

1. Jackson Koivun, 21, Chapel Hill, North Carolina
1. Benjamin James, 21, Milford, Connecticut
1. Ethan Fang, 21, Plano, Texas
1. Preston Stout, 21, Richardson, Texas
1. Jase Summy, 21, Keller, Texas
1. Tommy Morrison, 21, Dallas
1. Michael La Sasso, 22, Raleigh, North Carolina
1. Jacob Modleski, 20, Noblesville, Indiana
1. Stewart Hagestad, 34, Newport Beach, California
1. Mason Howell, 18, Thomasville, Georgia
Captain: Nathan Smith

Great Britain and Ireland

1. Tyler Weaver, 20, England
1. Cameron Adam, 22, Scotland
1. Luke Poulter, 21, England
1. Dominic Clemons, 23, England
1. Connor Graham, 18, Scotland
1. Charlie Forster, 22, England
1. Niall Shiels Donegan, 20, Scotland
1. Eliot Baker, 22, England
1. Stuart Grehan, 32, Ireland
1. Gavin Tiernan, 19, Ireland
Captain: Dean Robertson

Walker Cup 101

What is the Walker Cup?

The Walker Cup is a biennial match-play competition, established in 1922, that is contested over two days between amateurs representing the U.S., and Great Britain and Ireland.

Match origins

The Walker Cup was named after George Herbert Walker, a past USGA president and the grandfather of 41st U.S. President George H.W. Bush. Walker suggested the concept for an international amateur competition during a meeting between the USGA and R&A in December 1920. The next May, an informal, one-day match was played ahead of the British Amateur, and the U.S., led by Bobby Jones and Francis Ouimet, won, 9-3. The first official Walker Cup was contested the following year at Royal Liverpool.

Format and scoring

There are four sessions across two days – the first and third sessions, played on Saturday and Sunday mornings, each feature four foursomes matches; the second and fourth sessions are singles matches played in the afternoons, with eight singles matches on Saturday and 10 on Sunday.

In all, there are 26 points available, with one point awarded to the winning side of each match and a half-point given when a match is tied. Matches don’t extend past 18 holes. To retain the cup, 13 points are needed, while 13½ are required to win outright.

History, recent results

The U.S. leads the all-time series, 39-9-1, and has won four straight editions. GB&I hasn’t won on American soil since 2001 at Ocean Forest, where they prevailed, 15-9.

The last time Cypress Point hosted the Walker Cup was 1981, when the U.S. won, 15-9. Jodie Mudd and Joey Rassett each went 3-0 to lead the Americans, while Roger Chapman joined Philip Walton in securing three points for GB&I and was the only visiting player to win his singles match on Sunday.

Here is a look at the past 10 Walker Cups: