Walker Cup captain Dean Robertson is happy to lean on the team expertise of Paul McGinley at Lahinch as the data tells him what matters the most in golf’s biggest amateur competition – winning the singles matches.The Ryder Cup splits the points totals in favour of team matches, with 16 points awarded in fourballs and foursomes, and 12 points for singles matches. For the Walker Cup, it is eight points for team matches and 18 points for singles.McGinley, Edoardo Molinari and others have led the data revolution that has seen Europe win six of the last eight Ryder Cups, focusing on optimising team pairings and how they complement each other’s strengths.Robertson says McGinley, who he knows from his European Tour playing days, will be “hanging around behind the scenes”. They have spoken and have done extensive research into how Lahinch plays, using data from the 2019 Irish Open, which McGinley hosted. The Dubliner is also a former winner of the South of Ireland and a former Walker Cup participant.“The data helps create some strength in partnerships, it can give you a good platform,” the Scotsman says. “But the singles are massive.”Last year at Cypress Point, GB&I won 5-3 in the team matches, but still lost the match comfortably, 17-9. The USA have been dominant in the Walker Cup, winning the last five matches, with GB&I’s last win coming in 2015, but this is arguably the strongest team GB&I have fielded since then.Spoke to Stuart Grehan in Lahinch in July looking ahead to the Walker Cup, big emphasis on improving singles play for GB&I from captain Dean Robertson pic.twitter.com/BNyjIrd2A2— David Gorman (@DavidGorman20) August 31, 2026