Scotland pair lead Great Britain and Ireland rookies in Walker Cup

For the first time since the Walker Cup's inception in 1921 Great Britain and Ireland have picked an entire team of rookies.

Seven Englishmen, two Scots and an Irishman, with an average age of 21, are being sent over the top against America's best young guns when the match begins at historic Merion, in Pennsylvannia, on Saturday morning.

It is the sort of tactic that usually ends in a bloodbath, but captain Colin Dalgleish does not agree. He thinks the result will be close – three previous Walker Cups have been decided by a point – and he is relying on his 'Black Watch' to spearhead the team.

Scots Gavin Dear, 25, and Wallace Booth, 24, are the two oldest members of the GB&I team and they are used to winning. Both men played in the Scotland team that won last year's Eisenhower (the world cup of amateur golf) and this year's European Championships.

Booth has been brought up to be a fighter. His father Wallace, a former bouncer for the Beatles, represented Great Britain at heavyweight wrestling and won a silver medal at the Commonwealth Games. He still thinks he was robbed. Sister Carly became the youngest player to represent GB&I at last year's Curtis Cup.

The performance of Booth and Dear may just decide the match. If they can intimidate the Americans, then GB&I have a chance. But if the Americans get on top early, then the perma-tanned flag waving will turn even the most stoical stomach.

Whatever the outcome, there is always much entertainment to be had from playing 'Shooting Stars.' This year is the golden anniversary of the great American team of 1959 that included a 19 year-old Jack Nicklaus. Since then Phil Mickelson, Tiger Woods, Padraig Harrington and Rory McIlroy have all played in the Walker Cup.

In the American team Morgan Hoffman, 19, looks as though he might be the next mighty golfer. But even if Hoffman turns out to be more of a Lucas Glover – a member of the 2001 American team – than a Golden Bear, he would still have a wonderful career ahead of him. Glover is now the US Open champion.

The pick of the GB&I team in future years may be Tommy Fleetwood, 18. He won this year's Scottish Open Amateur Strokeplay in a record score and was runner-up in the Amateur Championship when just 17. Is Fleetwood Britain's next Open champion?

Meanwhile, a closing double bogey from Dane Soren Hansen left England's Chris Wood and Australian Scott Strange sharing the halfway lead at the Mercedes-Benz Championship in Cologne on Friday.

Wood, the 21 year-old from Bristol who was third in The Open in July, continued his bid for a first European Tour title with a 69.

Strange, winner of last year's Wales Open and this season's China Open, scored a 68, while Hansen's 71 dropped him into a tie for third with South African James Kingston and England's Ross Fisher.