Walker Cup spectating has been one of the best things I have ever done in golf, and was indeed responsible for my introduction to Ward P and the GCA fraternity in the first place. My first Walker Cup was in 1981, when as a visiting student at Berkeley I got the greyhound down from SF to Carmel and Cypress Point to watch GB and I remain competitive until the fourth and final session, and then lose quite comfortably. As was traditional. A long gap after that until Ganton 2003, but since then I have been privileged to watch at RCD, Merion, Balgownie, NGLA, Lytham and the LACC, with the record only spoiled last year by a (tragic) clash of dates with beloved Hoylake where the traditional Match narrative outlined above was resoundingly maintained. Many of these matches have been watched in the terrific company of David Normoyle and Philip Truett, both known to many on this site, and for the spectator the Walker Cup is still the best way to watch top-level golf that I know. A few ropes, but otherwise you follow the fairways, and the play, far more closely than is ever possible at a major championship.
I suspect that Seminole in May may well be off-limits, even if overseas travel for most Brits is possible (which it may well not be) but I am greatly looking forward to watching the postponed Curtis Cup at Conwy in August: the Curtis Cup venue listing is pretty good, albeit with one or two odd blips, although I have always found it mildly astonishing that in the Bad Old Days the then LGU took their principal event to two clubs which at the time did not even recognise lady members. American friends will, I suspect, be amazed that a proud but modest club like Conwy (full annual sub in the vicinity of $800 for year-round golf) is hosting The Curtis Cup, and now that ladies’ golf in the UK is under new management this may well be the last time that a community venue like Conwy is chosen. Certainly the contrast with the successor venue (Merion) could not be more profound!