Golf: Dear and Booth emerge with credit from Walker Cup

Sep 15 2009 by Gordon Bannerman, Perthshire Advertiser Tuesday

THEIR Walker Cup bid may have ended in failure but local duo Gavin Dear and Wallace Booth emerged with credit from the competition on US soil.

The USA retained the 42nd Walker Cup by 16½-9½, taking the celebrated amateur trophy for a third time in a row at Merion Golf Club in Pennsylvania.

Trailing after day one, the GB&I team lost three of the four Sunday morning foursomes to face an 11-5 deficit and an uphill task.

Comrie’s Booth, paired with Sam Hutsby, claimed the sole victory of the morning, while Dear and Matt Haines lost their match on the 16th green

But Murrayshall star Dear was handed the task of leading off in the afternoon and posted a morale boosting 3&2 win over Brian Harman.

Booth missed out on contributing another point to the team effort when he lost at the last against Morgan Hoffmann, with the trophy staying in the USA.

Dear said: “I wasn’t driving the ball as well as I’d have liked but I finally started to hole a few putts. Birdies at 12 and 13 out pressure on Brian.”

GB&I captain Colin Dalgliesh said: “We got off to a great start in the morning in the foursomes but that fell away and their lead became too much of a mountain to climb.”

Now Booth and Dear have their sights set on joining the professional ranks, with the first qualifying stage at the Oxfordshire on the agenda.