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While the Ryder Cup is still several weeks away, its amateur equivalent is taking place this weekend, offering golf fans a rare glimpse at one of the world’s most famous and exclusive courses.
Cypress Point Club in Pebble Beach, Calif., is hosting its second Walker Cup (and first since 1981), a biennial team golf event featuring top amateurs from the U.S. competing against their peers from Great Britain and Ireland. (That was the original format of the Ryder Cup before it expanded to include players from continental Europe in 1979.)
The Walker Cup marks the biggest event at Cypress Point since the PGA Tour’s Pebble Beach Pro-Am last played there in 1990. Since then, the famed course—built in 1929 along the shores of the Pacific Ocean—has mostly stayed out of the national spotlight.
“There’s an air of mystery to it,” says Golf Channel director Jeff Jastrow, who will be tasked with showcasing Cypress in prime time on Golf Channel on Saturday and Sunday evening. “A lot of people just hear about Cypress Point or see photos, but they don’t really understand how spectacular the place is.”
Eight of the top 10 ranked amateur golfers in the world will be participating in the Walker Cup, led by No. 1 American Jackson Koivun and 2025 U.S. Amateur champion Mason Howell.
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Cypress Point has a small membership base of roughly 250 people, with members including celebrities from the sports world like Jim Nantz, Hollywood stars like Clint Eastwood, and billionaires like Charles Schwab. But the private club was extremely accommodating to Golf Channel, which plans on using drones along the ocean and a 150-foot crane between holes 16 and 17 to help capture the action.
“Your first reaction is just ‘wow.’ You can’t believe what you’re seeing,” says Golf Channel producer Chris Maguire. “It’s the same way the first time you go to Augusta [National Golf Club] and you see it with your own eyes. You’re just blown away.”
While the Walker Cup TV broadcast (including some exclusive streaming on Peacock) will have stiff competition from college football and NFL games this weekend, the allure of Cypress created a strong demand to see this Walker Cup in person. Tickets, which cost $200 at face value, have been reselling for roughly $800 on Saturday and $500 on Sunday on SeatGeek, the official ticketing provider of the USGA, which organizes the event when it’s played Stateside.
Attendance will be limited, though, as the USGA capped the number of tickets it sold (around 4,000 per day) because of high interest and the “unique terrain and architecture at Cypress Point,” the organization said.
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