2020 continues to bring opportunities for Gophers’ golfer Angus Flanagan.
After winning the 2020 Minnesota State Open and qualifying for the 3M Open, Flanagan has received the attention from the higher ups at St. Andrews across the pond.
Flanagan has been named one of 15 amateur golfers to the Great Britain and Ireland Walker Cup team. If Flanagan makes the team, he’d be one of 10 golfers on the squad. Flanagan will be monitored for his play up until April when he will hopefully be selected to represent his home of Great Britain at the Seminole Golf Club at Juno Beach, Florida, on May 8-9, 2021.
The two-day competition features morning foursomes matches and singles matches in the afternoons. On the first day, there will be eight singles matches and on the second day, all 10 players from each side compete.
According to the University of Minnesota Athletics, “One full point is awarded for each victory, while a half-point is earned for matches that are all square after 18 holes. As the two-time defending champion, the United States needs 13 points to retain the Cup while GB&I needs 13.5 points to capture it.”
There will be two training sessions — one in Spain and the other in Florida. If the pandemic does not conclude soon, the young Brits and Irish still playing for universities in the U.S. will only train with each other; the others back home will train in Spain due to international travel limitations.
“I’ve had some of my dad’s friends play in it. It was always my goal to graduate college in 2021 and be able to play in this Cup as a nice send off,” Flanagan said. “But now since I’m currently debating playing my fifth year for the Gophers, it still would be an amazing accomplishment to play in the Walker Cup.”
Flanagan has a lot of familiarity with Seminole Golf Club, a course he’s been playing for years. He’s looking forward to the potential opportunity of playing there in the Walker Cup.
“It’s one of my favorite golf courses in the world, playing there when I was 17,” he said. “Since my game suits a longer, more narrow and windy course, I feel like it would be a blast playing there since that’s how Seminole is set up.”
Flanagan just finished golfing down south in Dallas, Texas, in an amateur tournament, and — since he is still a student — he’s had fun working through his introduction to small group communications and public health classes this semester at the University.
