Gary fires first shots in Walker Cup battle

BRITISH amateur champion Gary Wolstenholme appears to have fired up at least some of the American team against whom he will try for a slice of Walker Cup history at Ganton in Yorkshire this weekend.

"I didn't intend it to be that way, but I may have slightly riled a couple of them," said the 43-year-old, already the only Britain and Ireland golfer to appear on three successful sides and needing three wins out of four to take Michael Bonallack's record points total.

Wolstenholme did not name names, but added: "I know one player was pretty vociferous and a couple of comments were made. But that's okay it's a bit of fun and adds something to the matches maybe.

"If somebody takes umbrage at something that may or may not have been inferred then that's their problem."

The cause of any ill-feeling was a newspaper interview in which Wolstenholme, conqueror of Tiger Woods at Porthcawl in 1995 and a member of the winning teams at Nairn in 1999 and Sea Island two years ago, spoke about his approach to match play. He stated: "On the first tee you go up to your opponent and say 'I'm playing a Titleist 2.' If he's playing Titleist 2 that's tough. It's up to him to change it. You're letting them play your game.

"You go on the first green and say Repair any pitch marks that you see. You don't need to ask.' He's playing your game. I always look people in the eye when I shake their hand. I'm not afraid of an individual, whether it's Tiger Woods or Bill Clinton."

Asked about the article, America's best-known player Trip Kuehne said: "It's been a subject of conversation, but I don't want to say any more about it." When reminded, however, that he had swapped shirts with Pádraig Harrington following the 1995 match Kuehne added that doing the same with the star of this home team was not on his mind at the moment.

Britain and Ireland captain Garth McGimpsey said: "Gary does a few strange things and lets off with his mouth a bit, but I admire him tremendously."

GB and Ireland: Nigel Edwards (Whitchurch, Wales, age 35), Noel Fox (Portmarnock, Ireland, 29), Graham Gordon (Newmachar, Scotland, 23), David Inglis (Glencorse, Scotland, 21), Stuart Manley (Mountain Ash, Wales, 24), Colm Moriarty (Athlone, Ireland, 24), Michael Skelton (Middlesbrough, England, 19), Oliver Wilson (Coxmoor, England, 22), Stuart Wilson (Forfar, Scotland, 26), Gary Wolstenholme (Kilworth Springs, England, 43). Non-playing captain: Garth McGimpsey

United States: Bill Haas (Greer, South Carolina, 21), Matt Hendrix (Aiken, South Cariolina, 22), Trip Kuehne (Irving, Texas, 31), Brock Mackenzie (Yakima, Washington, 22), Ryan Moore (Puyallup, Washington, 20), Chris Nallen (Hackettstown, New Jersey, 21), Adam Rubinson (Fort Worth, Texas, 23), Lee Williams (Alexander City, Alabama, 21), Casey Wittenberg (Memphis, Tennessee, 18), George Zahringer (New York, 50).

Non-playing captain: Bob Lewis