Means again in 2007, a gaggle of promising American beginner golfers joined forces to create what might need been the “greatest ever” Walker Cup staff in historical past, a minimum of in line with GOLF’s Subpar co-host Colt Knost.
The biennial Walker Cup is a Ryder Cup-style occasion pitting the perfect American amateurs towards the highest ams from Nice Britain and Eire. And lots of the recreation’s best execs performed within the long-running occasion throughout their rise within the recreation.
However the 2007 staff was completely loaded, that includes a full roster of sticks, most of whom would go on to star on the PGA Tour. No less than to this point, none of their careers have panned out fairly in addition to World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler, who was a member of the staff.
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He was joined by present Tour execs Will Zalatoris, Maverick McNealy, Cameron Champ, Doug Ghim and Norman Xiong, to call a number of. That yr’s staff trounced the competitors at Los Angeles Nation Membership with a ultimate rating of 19-7.
It additionally featured a participant who simply earned his PGA Tour card this yr: Braden Thornberry. Thornberry received this yr’s Korn Ferry Tour Championship to earn a promotion to the massive leagues in 2025.
Not lengthy after his win, Thornberry joined GOLF’s Subpar for a wide-ranging interview with co-hosts Knost and Drew Stoltz.
Naturally, the 2007 Walker Cup got here up throughout their dialog, and Thornberry offered a revealing perspective on the star-studded staff. Knost couldn’t assist however ask the newly-minted Tour professional which Walker Cup teammate appeared to have the brightest future on the time.
“Who did you assume would have the perfect profession off of the staff?” Knost requested.
Surprisingly, Scheffler was not the person on Thornberry’s thoughts. As an alternative, it was one other a number of main champion who he thought would make the most important waves within the professional ranks: Collin Morikawa.
“That’s a tricky query. In all probability Morikawa,” Thornberry replied. “He was one other attention-grabbing one in school too, as a result of he didn’t win as a lot as how good he was. However he completed prime 5 in each huge event you could possibly think about, and simply clearly a lovely golf swing, all the pieces was simply very sound. He appeared like a PGA Tour participant when he went on the market. In order that was in all probability the can’t-miss particular person.”
Whereas Morikawa hasn’t fairly had the profession that Scheffler has, he’s nonetheless one of the crucial profitable younger execs in historical past. At age 27, Morikawa already has two main titles on his resume and 6 complete PGA Tour wins. For the document, Scheffler additionally has two majors, however he beats Morikawa on the PGA Tour win depend with 13.
You possibly can watch Thornberry speaking Walker Cup above, or you may watch Thornberry’s total hour-long Subpar interview on YouTube right here.
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