Five Irish named in Walker Cup squad

R&A selection chairman Peter McEvoy has named an initial squad of 29 players for next August's 40th Walker Cup, to be held at the Chicago Golf Club, Illinois.

The former world amateur champion has given youth its chance, and selected five players under 18 for the amateur version of the Ryder Cup. Limerick's Cian McNamara, 17, is one of those.

"These five juniors have already shown that they can compete at senior level," said McEvoy, 51, who did not rule out adjustments to the squad. "Make no mistake, if they play well enough we will pick them whatever their age."

McNamara will be joined by Irish colleagues Sean McTernan (Co Sligo), Gareth Maybin (Ballyclare), and Brian McElhinney (North West).

Portmarnock's Noel Fox, who made it through the first stage of the European Tour's qualifying school earlier this month, was also selected but will lose out if he manages to secure a Tour card for 2005.

Ulsterman Garth McGimpsey will again captain Great Britain and Ireland.

The 49-year-old, a playing member of the side which won on American soil for the first time in 1989 at Peachtree, skippered the home selection to an unprecedented third victory in a row last year at Ganton, North Yorkshire.

Squad for Walker Cup, 13-14 August, 2005, Chicago:

Matthew Baldwin (Hesketh), Lee Corfield (Burnham & Berrow), Rhys Davies (Royal Porthcawl), Robert Dinwiddie (Barnard Castle), Nigel Edwards (Whitchurch), Oliver Fisher (West Essex), Noel Fox (Portmarnock), Zac Gould (Vale of Glamorgan), James Heath (Coombe Wood), Gary Lockerbie (Penrith), Gareth Maybin (Ballyclare), Andrew McArthur (Windyhill), Brian McElhinney (North West), Jamie McLeary (Leven G.S.), Cian McNamara (Limerick), Sean McTernan (Co Sligo), George Murray (Earlsferry Thistle), Paul O’Hara (Colville Park), Sam Osborne (Wentworth), Richard Ramsay (Royal Aberdeen), Matthew Richardson (The Buckinghamshire), Lloyd Saltman (Craigielaw), Michael Skelton (Middlesbrough), Craig Smith (St Mellons), Paul Waring (Bromborough), James Williams (Pontypridd), Stuart Wilson (Forfar), Gary Wolstenholme (Kilworth Springs), Gareth Wright (West Linton).