JONATHAN COE: Good afternoon, everyone. We are thrilled to be here at Lahinch for the 51th Walker Cup. We are here with Captain Nathan Smith and players Miles Russell and Stewart Hagestad. We'll start with captain. Mr. Smith, we've had a little bit of time to acclimate with the golf course and the weather. How are you feeling about the team?
NATHAN SMITH: Well, we feel pretty good. I think the biggest thing getting over here, I think the time change, to start the trip with a red eye, I think it affects everyone differently, so we're just trying to get our rest.
But I think the great thing for us was the beginning of the week we got to see the course twice, Monday and Tuesday, and we got a good beat on it, kind of the layout, and then Tuesday, I think we feel pretty good with our pairings. We worked on alternate shot on Tuesday.
We feel good, and right now just kind of trying to stay rested and ready to go.
THE MODERATOR: Obviously this is your second go-around as captain. You captained us to a victory at Cypress Point last year. What are some of the learnings that you have from last year that you're bringing to this year's squad, or is it just a completely new slate?
NATHAN SMITH: Well, it's a new team and new players. We have a couple overlaps with Preston, Ethan and Stew, but I think that the trip is different. I think you learn a lot through the course of the week with the layout, with dinners and functions and kind of commitments.
But yeah, this is different with logistics and everything and travel, and just making sure the guys are rested. It's a different team, and you've got to know the players and kind of be attune to their needs and what they need through the week.
Q. Miles, you've had a heck of a summer, made the cut at the U.S. Open, you finished runner-up at the Junior Am and you made match play in the Amateur. How confident are you with your game right now coming over here to Lahinch?
MILES RUSSELL: Yeah, obviously I've been playing pretty well. This is a totally different style of golf, so it takes a little bit of getting used to, but still taking it day by day and just keep doing what I've been doing.
Q. Obviously your first Walker Cup appearance. What was it like getting that phone call and knowing you'd be over here representing your country?
MILES RUSSELL: It was pretty special. I feel like it's maybe one of the highest honours in your sport is to go play for your country, and the fact that 10 of us are able to do it this week is really cool.
Q. Stew, this is your sixth straight Walker Cup, obviously very impressive. How are you able to maintain that consistency for so long?
STEWART HAGESTAD: I think a big part of that is at the core, I just love to compete, and I love the process of getting ready to compete, and for a really long time that's never gotten old, and making sure that trying to peak for the right events and for the right times, call it six or seven events, and then if you're fortunate enough to get invited to a team event or to get into something else, then that's obviously a blessing and you're very fortunate.
But I love to play. I love to compete. I love the whole process of it all.
Then the other one I would say is to play against guys like Miles and guys on our team, GB&I's team and a lot of the practice habits that I have at home, I try and keep a pretty irrationally high standard at home, and I think I've been lucky enough to have a good understanding of how you need to feel from a body standpoint, from a golf standpoint, from a mental standpoint, like, going into different events. Knowing what that dance feels like is a really, really helpful piece of information to be able to prepare the right way.
Q. I'm sure a lot of the guys look up to you as a veteran of the squad. How has your leadership style changed over the years, over the six Walker Cups now?
STEWART HAGESTAD: On the first team in 2017, Maverick was kind of in that role where he had played on a team before and new the cadence of the week and knew a lot of the things that were going to transpire.
I think if you look at LA, I felt like I could be this person to favor certain sides to certain pins or one putt is going to be faster than you think it is or whatever. What I learned pretty quickly is that not only are they way better than you, but their golf IQs are also way higher than yours. If you can just do the little things right like try and show up on time or help them tie a tie, then that's a big part of that role.
Q. What's your go-to tie knot?
STEWART HAGESTAD: I wish I had a better answer for you. It's the same one I've tied since I went through pledging freshman fall. I have no idea what it's called.
Q. You've played in two of these overseas now. Particularly at Hoylake in 2019, the mood seemed to be, after day one, not great. You guys were down. You kind of gave a speech. What did you notice in that team and maybe even in '23 just about kind of getting hit in the face with what it means to be playing over here?
STEWART HAGESTAD: There's a lot there, right? GB&I's team is so good. They're hungry. Crowds are there. They're trying to beat us too, right?
I think in that team, pertaining to Hoylake, we kind of got off to a slow start. I think this applies to both, and it's not just the Walker Cup; I think it's every event you play in. You're a part of the team, whether it's more obvious in this case, or if you have your team at home. Like playing in individual events, like, all I said was as long as you can go to bed at night knowing you did everything you could to be as prepared as you can be, then you did everything that you could.
I think that applies here, and everything is different. Like Miles said it really well; we're taking it day by day. We're trying to do whatever we need as best we can to feel as prepared as we can to give ourselves the best chance to play well. There's a lot of cliches in there, but it's true. It's a real thing.
If you can get totally obsessed with the process of getting better 1 percent a day, it adds up really quickly.
I think everyone would kind of agree with that, and if I for whatever reason have to get a little bit more animated, I'll leave it to Nathan and then I'll draft off of him. But let's focus on this afternoon and then go to tomorrow and so on.
Q. For Miles, did you get a call last year when you got told that you weren't on the team? And if so, what do you remember about how that felt and how has this been the motivation these last 12 months or so?
MILES RUSSELL: Yeah, I got a call. It was late one night. I don't remember who it was from exactly, but it was just saying, we really want you next year, so keep doing what you're doing. You're a first alternate this year, but that definitely gave me a little bit more motivation to keep trying to do my thing and keep playing good golf and hopefully be able to make it this year.
NATHAN SMITH: I just want to say I made that call because I knew he'd be here this year.
Q. Your impressions of Lahinch and maybe some holes you like and just what you've seen so far practising?
MILES RUSSELL: I mean, it's an unbelievable golf course. That front nine is so different than what we're used to at home, and you have to hit so many different shots, whether it's just from the tee ball to chipping and putting around the greens. Just the difference into the wind and downwind on the green is pretty crazy. Then if you get a little bit of moisture on the ground and it kind of drizzles, that just changes it even more.
It can play a lot of different ways, and it really is a special golf course.
STEWART HAGESTAD: We certainly have golf courses in the United States, going back to the golden age of golf course architecture, and I think "quirkiness" is a word that can maybe be taken in the wrong connotation, but one of my favorite places up in Boston is Myopia Hunt Club, and that's a very quirky golf course, right? If you go here and you look at the Klondyke and The Dell on 4 and 5, it's really neat that if you go back, what is it, close to 150 years that Old Tom Morris was so involved in something that still exists today, that is a really, really neat thing that we probably think we can relate to in the United States, but we kind of can't.
But Miles said it really well; obviously a lot of the holes that are out on the ocean that are more exposed to the elements are going to get a lot of maybe the media or the TV time because of the beauty that's there.
But then you look at some of the other holes, like 9 comes to mind, there's been a lot of social media kind of talking about the different strategies of how to play that. There could be a couple spicy pins. If that one is in the front with the wind, that might change your strategy going back to the tee ball.
The same thing can be said for 10. I think early in the week a lot of guys maybe were hitting driver and maybe they laid it back a little bit further because the pinch point is a little bit tighter with driver, but obviously 180 versus 155, that's a decision point you're going to have to have.
I think you can kind of look at the whole golf course, you're going to have to be dynamic with a lot of your decisions and what you think could be the case in the morning of how to play a hole might change to the afternoon, let alone day-to-day.
It's really -- it's something that we don't see as much at home, but it's a really neat opportunity to kind of have that experience, and everyone's development as a golfer -- I mean, I'm 35, Miles is 17, but to see stuff like that, that's what makes you better, and win, lose or draw, that's going to be something nice to draw back on as you go forward.
NATHAN SMITH: To kind of echo what they say, I think it's going to be an incredible golf course atmosphere, crowds. I think it's a special golf course for both sessions that we're going to play with alternate shot and singles, but I think you're going to need all the shots out there. You're going to need every club in your bag, and watching these guys, it's beautiful when you get on that side of the golf course, and then inland there's some challenging holes. You're going to need them all.
Q. Miles, can you talk about if you've played overseas before?
MILES RUSSELL: Yeah, I came over in 2019, I was just a little guy, and we came over for like a U.S. Kids world championship in Scotland. That was the first time I played links golf and really the only time.
We played two good golf courses, and it's a lot different now than then because I hit it a little farther and a little higher, but it's cool.
Q. What courses were they?
MILES RUSSELL: We played Renaissance, Carnoustie, and then the tournament was at Craigielaw, I think. We also maybe slipped in Gullane.
Q. Can you also talk about the use of your putter and how much you may or may not use it more on this type of situation than you would at home?
MILES RUSSELL: Mm-hmm. Stew will putt from 30 yards off the green, and I can't do that. I never really putt from off the green at home. It just kind of depends on the grass maybe. But in Florida it's too grainy for me. I like to chip the get the ball up in the air and use spin and stuff.
But here you can use six different clubs if you want to, from 3-wood, putter to 8-iron, pitching wedge, lob wedge. You kind of have all sorts of shots you can use, just kind of trig and figure out which one will get it the closest.
There's a few that you're maybe four feet below the green and the pin is tight to an edge, and maybe that's when to use the putter versus trying to just bump it into the hill and kind of get that right, to get it right by judging it. I don't know, I think I'll use wedge for the most part unless it's a really weird scenario.
Q. Stewart, talk about the putter.
STEWART HAGESTAD: No, he nailed it. I'll putt it from where I can.
Q. Obviously different links courses require different things. What in your mind does this require more than other courses?
STEWART HAGESTAD: For the sake of the question, I'll compare it to the two other times we came over here. Hoylake was very fiery. It was super firm and fast, and the wind was very similar. Like in the United States it feels like -- especially in the summer when it's warmer, when you hit shots, if it's blowing a good bit, it doesn't really get affected until it's 30 or 40 yards out. You can flight it until it hits a wall of wind, whether it's a crosswind or into, and here it feels like it's getting smashed from the time it leaves the club face.
So that adjustment, period, it's a heavier wind, and I don't really know the right way to contextualise it. So that is similar.
This is a much -- softer is not the right word, but it's more lush. It's more green. It's almost like there's more grass, where it might play a little bit slower, but at the same time, the fairways are much tighter here. There's a few blind shots, but it's only blind until you play it a few times, then you get used to it in terms of what your sight lines are.
St Andrews is as traditionally linksey as we all think of in terms of -- obviously there's no trees here, but there are spots where the dunes might block out some of the wind. There was almost like a concession tent that was around that was blocking some of the wind. So you can kind of -- if you hit a wedge up in the air and it gets above the dune, it's going to be affected more than the alternative.
Yeah, this feels just much more lush, I guess, than the other two that I mentioned.
Q. Can you talk about the green speeds here that are considerably slower than you think you would be familiar with in the U.S., and how much of an adjustment is that for you as well?
MILES RUSSELL: Sure. I mean, they're slow, but they're not as slow as I was expecting. I think it just kind of comes back to more when there's a little bit of water on the green or when it's into the wind, that's definitely when it gets a little bit slower. But when you get downhill, downwind, it's going to roll like it rolls at home. There was a few greens out there today that were a smidge slower than a few others, maybe some of the exposed ones that get a little more wind that they kind of cut them a little hairier. But other than that, I thought they were pretty darned good.
STEWART HAGESTAD: Slow is also relative, too, comparatively to something that's so fast that if it's downhill, downgrain, downwind, you can't stop it. If it blows 30, like it very well could, if not more, then if you have greens that are super fast it becomes unplayable, and certainly not to speak for the USGA or the R&A, they probably don't want that.
But for the golf course itself, having played over here a little bit, I think it's pretty par for the course to have them be the speed that they are. They feel totally appropriate, and I think they're really good.
Q. For Miles, you played with Padraig Harrington, I think, in the first couple of rounds of the U.S. Open. He was pretty impressed. He said you looked like a guy who can hit it down a rope; you even wanted narrower fairways. How are you adjusting to the heavier wind? Can you give us an example of something that kind of surprised you here or shots that you'd never hit at home that you've had to hit so far this week?
MILES RUSSELL: For sure. I mean, hole 1 is a great example. You're sitting there on that tee box, and you're not really getting hit by much wind, and it probably takes 100 yards before it gets out into the wind. Yesterday it was blowing, and I felt like I hit a really good drive, and it was straight for the first 120 yards, and then it took a right-hand turn. So just kind of knowing that's going to get affected quickly is probably the biggest difference.
I mean, just the side winds are the tough ones I feel like, and then you get one maybe a little into off the right, that's not my favourite wind, but that's why we're here practising early.
Q. On specific holes, obviously Stewart mentioned the two famous holes here, the 4th and the 5th. Are there any other holes? What about the drivable 13th, any holes like that? Any other holes you've enjoyed playing so far?
MILES RUSSELL: 12 and 13 may be my two favourite. 12 you can hit it 400 yards, and 13 you're going to hit it 250 yards. 13 is kind of a tricky one. Today it was straight into the wind and you're hitting it 250 yards, and it's the narrowest part of the fairway. You have to figure out if you're going to hit driver or are you going to lay back a little bit, what that all looks like.
Q. To the captain, I heard you on a podcast, I think, with a former PGA of America media guy recently, and you were talking about being very impressed with the GB&I team. Can you talk a little bit about that and the reliance on singles in Walker Cup nowadays? I think two-thirds of the points are singles. Is there a tendency to maybe rely on your singles strength?
NATHAN SMITH: Well, I don't think we can really rely on anything this week. I think we have to play well in every session. I think I was on that podcast, and I was asked -- maybe I'm a little older. I think it's one of their best teams they've had in a while. Any time you can control the U.S. Amateur, British Amateur, both their guys won that, a lot of their guys are highly ranked, they play well together. You come over, the course, the conditions, the crowd, we really have to play well this week and just hang with them because it's going to be tough. They've got a great team, and they're hungry.
We need to be ready to go coming out of the gate on Saturday.
Q. The foursomes play, have you worked out your strategies for the different wind directions yet? Have you seen enough?
NATHAN SMITH: I don't know if we'll ever see enough, but I think the guys feel good about who they're playing with. I think it's a team that kind of -- they know each other, kind of growing up. There's some familiarity with them.
I think we got it earlier in the week, and then yesterday and today I think they kind of just, hey, maybe you try the evens, I'll try the odds. I think we've got a good beat on what we're trying to do, so we feel good, but we just have to be ready to play.
Q. Going back to 2011, you were teammates with Jordan Spieth and Patrick Rodgers, the last two young guns to play on a Walker Cup team. What similarities do you see between those two guys and Miles and Tyler?
NATHAN SMITH: Well, there's a lot of similarities. I think that -- I don't think any of us on the team knew maybe what those guys would go on to do. I think there was something about Spieth that we all saw. I think there were a couple putts that he made that were really clutch. It always seemed if a putt needed to be made, he just found a way to will it in the cup.
There's a lot of similarities. They're so good at such a young age. It kind of blows your mind. But I think from kind of a mature standpoint, from a golf IQ standpoint, it's really fun to watch them. It's an honour to be their captain and just make sure they get here on time and they're ready to go with anything they need. It's going to be fun.
Q. Stew, do you want to piggyback on that? You probably know Jordan better than Patrick, but is there anything you get a little déjà-vu with?
STEWART HAGESTAD: Yeah, they're all really good. Jordan did it a little bit differently. I think P-Rodg, if you looked at it, Justin, too -- shoot, that entire class. Jordan is just really good at golf. Didn't always look pretty. Just found a way to put up a score. Everyone is different, but I think when you look at some of the younger guys that you're referencing, they all seemed to have this really amazing ability to be very comfortable with who they are and the idea that they've worked their tails off to put themselves in the position that they're in.
I look at Miles and Tyler and Kihei, you look at Connor Graham back in 2023, and it was just really, really interesting, as one who's older, to kind of see the -- not arrogant or blind confidence that they have, but this belief of just like, this is really cool; like what else would I be doing? This is what I've strived for up to this point in my life, and it's a really, really sincere, genuine sense of self-belief that is really kind of infectious, and as someone that's literally double their age, it's just totally inspiring to be around.
I'm sure you saw the same -- I didn't know Rory until I was a little bit older when I had the chance to meet him, but I'm sure he was the same way when he was their age as well at County Down in 2007. I'm just lucky enough to kind of try and learn from them too.
Q. Miles, most of the kids 10, 15 years ago looked up to Tiger. Were you a Tiger guy or were you somebody else?
MILES RUSSELL: When I was little, I was probably -- probably when I was nine I was a big Rickie Fowler, Jordan Spieth, kind of that crew. But I liked Phil when I was little, just lefty and lefty, and I looked up to a lot of those guys. But I was probably definitely a Rickie and Jordan fan.
Q. You mentioned being a lefty. How much do you think that differs for you on this golf course than the rest of the team?
MILES RUSSELL: I mean, there's a few tee balls that I like the wind and maybe they don't like the wind. 2, I don't like the wind as much as maybe a righty likes the wind. But on 3 I get the windy like and maybe they don't like the wind. I think it's probably pretty fair just because there's a lot of holes kind of going back and forth.
I think it's very fair with the amount of tee balls we get to hit going left to right, right to left.
Q. Nathan, you mentioned it about how this team, meaning the GB&I team, is a better team than maybe some of the other teams they've had out here, and this golf course, teams like knowledge is really important. Everything is not right in front of you like the Old Course or even Hoylake. Can you just talk about how that factors into your mindset this week, if at all?
NATHAN SMITH: Well, again, it's a home game for them, so I'm sure they know the course very well. Dean is an incredible captain. He'll have them ready.
But all we can do is control what we can control in getting ready and we feel good about what we're doing and learning the course and staying rested. We feel good about our lineups, and we'll be ready to go.
But as I said, they have an incredible team. They're hungry. With the crowds and everything, we need to be ready to go.
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