Gavin Moynihan believes home advantage will be ‘huge’

Gavin Moynihan believes home advantage will be “huge” as Great Britain and Ireland seek to regain the Walker Cup at Royal Lytham this weekend.

The United States have won 35, lost eight and halved one of the previous 44 biennial contests between the top amateur players from either side of the Atlantic, although their advantage is only 7-6 since 1989.

Great Britain and Ireland have also won four of the last five contests on home soil and Moynihan, one of a record five Irish players on the 10-man team, believes the fast, dry conditions will again benefit Nigel Edwards’ young side.

“Home advantage is huge this week I think because the Americans have never seen Lytham like this ever,” said the 20-year-old, who is the sole survivor from the side beaten 17-9 at National Golf Links in 2013.

“It was very firm at National two years ago, but it’s a different level since we got here on Monday. It was green on Monday and now it’s like bronzy. You see the 18th, once you hit the fairway it’s gone, 80, 90 yards of run. I think that’s a huge thing for us as we play in it a lot.

“A lot of tournaments over here are won with two, three over par and Americans are used to shooting four, five, six under. I think that type of golf suits us and we are in a better mindset.”

Edwards, who is the first person in the modern era to serve as captain three times, revealed his side had received hundreds of good-luck messages, including letters from the likes of Rory McIlroy and Pádraig Harrington.

The 47-year-old Welshman also brought in former Ryder Cup captain Paul McGinley to talk to his players this week.

A total of 26 points are up for grabs at Lytham, with four foursomes followed by eight singles on Saturday and another four foursomes followed by 10 singles on Sunday.