Dec. 25, 2004 – The U.S. Golf Association doesn't need to spend much time or money promoting the Walker Cup next year because odds are not many will care.

The Walker Cup will be played outside Chicago on Aug. 13-14 -- the same weekend as the PGA Championship at Baltusrol in New Jersey.

USGA Executive Director David Fay said officials never bothered to check when the fourth major was being played, and it might not have mattered. Moving the Walker Cup up one week makes it back-to-back with the U.S. Amateur. To move it back a week would conflict with the U.S. Women's Amateur.

Great Britain & Ireland has won the Walker Cup the last three times. Europe won the Ryder Cup three straight times -- 1985-89 -- and it made the '91 matches at Kiawah Island one of the biggest golf events of the year.

Then again, the Walker Cup doesn't get a lot of attention even when it's not up against a major. "I wish more people were complaining about it," Fay said. "That would mean its stature is elevated."

Source: The USGA