The Walker Cup is to amateur golf what the Ryder Cup is to professional golf. Some might argue that the Presidents Cup is now a bigger event than the Ryder Cup, but that simply isn't true. Yes, we'll see a great International team hosting the Presidents Cup in Canada in September and the American squad could surprise us, but the Ryder Cup, founded in 1927 by Samuel Ryder and Walter Hagen in 1927, still has more prestige and takes in a lot more money.

The new edition of the Walker Cup is set for September 8-9 at the Royal County Down course in Northern Ireland. It is even older than the Ryder Cup, and it was founded in the Hamptons. The event has a connection to the Presidents Cup – it is named after George Herbert Walker, the grandfather of President George Herbert Walker Bush and great-grandfather of President George Walker Bush.

In 1919 and 1920, teams of U.S. and Canadian amateurs went at it in two matches. With Great Britain having recovered from its efforts in World War I, discussions began about having competitions between American and British teams. The president of the U.S. Golf Association at the time was George Herbert Walker. He was so enthusiastic that he developed a plan and offered to donate a cup.

In 1922, the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews decided to send a team of amateur players to the States, and the first Walker Cup contest would be held that summer at Walker's home club, National Golf Links in Southampton. The captain was Robert Harris, and on his squad were Cyril Tolley, Roger Wethered, Colin Aylmer, C.V. Hooman, W.B. Torrance, John Caven, and Willis Mackenzie.

The U.S. team was captained by William Fownes, who had won the U.S. Amateur Championship in 1910. On his roster were Charles "Chick" Evans, Francis Ouimet, Jess Sweetser, Jesse Guilford, Max Marston, Rudolph Knepper, and a promising 20-year-old, Bobby Jones. The Americans won the match 8-4.

An interesting side note that gives hope to golf writers everywhere. Bernard Darwin had accompanied the British team so that he could report on the match for the folks back home. When Harris, the captain, fell ill and couldn't play, Darwin was invited to take his place. The scribe went out a defeated the American captain, Fownes, 3 and 1.

What can we expect from the Americans in Northern Ireland? On the debit side, only Trip Kuehne has competed in a Walker Cup before, in 1995 and 2003, so the Brits have more international experience. But the U.S. team also has Colt Knost, who has hard a dynamite summer, winning both the U.S. Public Links Championship and just last week the U.S. Amateur Chamkpionship. It also has Dustin Johnson, who has won two amateur tournaments this year; Webb Simpson, who was three victories; Jamie Lovemark, who won the NCAA Championship. So the Americans have momentum and players with experience in winning.

The U.S. captain is Buddy Marucci, who has played in two Walker Cups. As you read this, he and his players are en route to Northern Ireland to get in a week of practice.

Returning to the Ryder Cup, it was announced that Paul Azinger, captain of the U.S. team, had selected Raymond Floyd as his assistant captain. This is a good choice. Floyd thrived on Ryder Cup competition as a player. Even at age 50 he made a strong contribution to the dramatic Ryder Cup victory by the U.S. in England in 1993, and he had captained the 1989 team which wound up in a tie with a very strong European squad.

There is a Hamptons connection here too. Floyd and his wife, Maria, fell in love with the area when he won the U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills in 1986. After Floyd competed in the '95 Open there, he and his wife bought six acres in Southampton and they hired Ernie Schieferstein of Sag Harbor as the architect to design their house. The interior design team was Pauline Pitt and Eugenie Niven, who is the granddaughter of the late actor David Niven.

The result is a 10,000-square-foot house which includes a 3000-bottle wine cellar, swimming pool, tennis court, and a four-bedroom guest house. The Floyds now spend five months out of the year in Southampton, and the rest of the year in Palm Beach. When here, Floyd plays golf at three clubs that have him as a member: Shinnecock Hills, Atlantic, and where the Walker Cup began, National Golf Links.

Okay, the first FedEx Cup playoff tournament is done. Steve Stricker's win at the Barclays Championship in Westchester this past week was a very popular one. Jack Nicklaus must be pleased, as Stricker is one of his Presidents Cup players. On the other hand, second place was occupied by K.J. Choi, an International team member who has been on fire this year and won Jack's own tournament, the Memorial, in June.

PGA Tour officials must be sweating right now. By not competing in the first playoff tourney, Tiger Woods slips from first to fourth in points. What if he doesn't even make the cut in the next one and/or the one after that? The doomsday scenario that the PGA Tour officials see in their nightmares is that Woods doesn't end up as one of the top 30 players who will participate in the season-ending Tour Championship.

Is that likely to happen? No. But the PGA Tour opened this door by changing the eligibility of the Tour Championship. It used to be the top 30 players on the money list. Woods could stay in bed the next three weeks and still get in. But we'll see – Stricker's triumph offers a lot of hope that the tour's season is going to have a fun finish.