Dallas ’ Trip Kuehne Gets Another Chance

at Walker Cup Match This Weekend

Ganton, North Yorkshire, England – Trip Kuehne of Dallas, Texas, is now 31 years old. Eight years have passed since he played on the losing 1995 USA Walker Cup team. Still, the memories are bitter and they have helped drive him to this, another chance at playing for his country and winning the Walker Cup .

The Walker Cup Match is an amateur team competition between a 10-man squad from the United States and another from Great Britain and Ireland . It is contested every other year, alternately held in the U.S. and Great Britain and Ireland .

This weekend’s competition will be played at Ganton Golf Club in the northeast corner of England . The largest nearby coastal town is Scarborough, 10 miles away. The Match consists of 16 singles matches and eight alternate shot matches over Saturday and Sunday (Sept. 6-7).

And Kuehne can hardly wait to get started. He’s already showing a game face like that of linebacker Bill Romanowski on an NFL Sunday.

Kuehne, best known for being runner-up to Tiger Woods at the 1994 U.S. Amateur, is the only experienced member of the 10-man USA squad. He was 0-3 at Royal Porthcawl Golf Club in Porthcawl, Wales, when the Woods-led team was upset, 14-10.

“I was one of the big reasons we lost in 1995,” said Kuehne, still shaken. “I didn’t win a single point. If I had won just two points, we would have kept the cup. Instead, we came home empty.”

The others don’t know that sinking feeling he wants to erase. They are all playing on their first Walker Cup team. There is 50-year-old George Zahringer of New York, N.Y., the reigning U.S. Mid-Amateur champion, who is enjoying his twilight years beating kids half his age. At the other end of the spectrum is 18-year-old Casey Wittenberg of Memphis, Tenn., the top-ranked amateur fresh off a runner-up finish at the U.S. Amateur. The rest are a polished group of collegians in their early 20s.

But Kuehne is ready and perhaps enjoying a summer better than any of his teammates. He was low amateur at the U.S. Open where he shot a sparkling 67 in his third round. He even shot a 62 during his Open qualifier.

He has practiced with two things on his mind for the past 18 months. He wanted to win the 2003 U.S. Amateur and hold the winning Walker Cup .

“It’s what drives me every time I don’t feel like practicing or working out,” says the long-hitting Kuehne. “I want to win a USGA title and I want to be on a winning Walker Cup team. This is why I play amateur golf.”

His chance at a USGA title will have to wait. He lost in his second round match at the 2003 U.S. Amateur, upset by collegian David Oh of Los Angeles, Calif. Kuehne cried in disappointment. He had played well enough to win, but didn’t. He would have to wait for another year.

But, holding the Walker Cup in victory on Sunday night would go a long way to helping ease the disappointment he carries with him.