Golf: Wolstenholme's revenge mission

A 22-STRONG squad has been named to prepare for next year's attempt to win back the Walker Cup from America.

England's Gary Wolstenholme and the Scotsman Craig Watson are the only two survivors from the team thrashed 18-6 - the second-biggest defeat ever - in New York last year.

The one other player with cup experience is the 43-year-old Ulsterman Garth McGimpsey, a member of the first Britain and Ireland team to win on United States soil in 1989 and who also played at Portmarnock in 1991.

Next year's match is at Nairn near Inverness on 11-12 September and the squad will have its first get-together there with the non-playing captain Peter McEvoy - another member of the 1989 side - from 16-18 October.

Front-runners for places in the side are Wolstenholme, Beaconsfield's Luke Donald, Scotland's Lorne Kelly and Ireland's Paddy Gribben. They are the four chosen for November's World Amateur Team Championship in Chile.

Some of the heaviest hitters in the golf equipment industry insist there is no need for a proposed new test that could render illegal the next generation of clubs and have threatened legal action against the United States Golf Association if they go ahead with it.

The manufacturers claimed at a public forum in New Jersey on Monday that the tests, to measure the spring-like effect in new drivers, were technically flawed and would stifle innovation.

WALKER CUP SQUAD: E Brady (Royal Dublin), P Casey (Burhill), L Donald (Beaconsfield), J Donaldson (Macclesfield), S Dyson (Sand Moor), C Edwards (Bath), K Ferrie (Alnmouth), G Fox (West Kilbride), N Fox (Portmarnock), P Gribben (Warrenpoint), M Harris (Ham Manor), M Hoey (Shandon Park), L Kelly (Cowal), S Mackenzie (West Linton), B Mason (Sand Moor), G McGimpsey (Bangor), D Patrick (Mortonhall), P Rowe (West Cornwall), M Sanders (Bristol and Clifton), C Watson (East Renfrewshire), C Williams (Creigiau), G Wolstenholme (Kilworth Springs).