The Walker Cup began in the aftermath of World War One with a view towards stimulating interest in golf on both sides of the Atlantic at a time that interest in the professional game was also growing.

The USGA Executive Committee had been invited to Great Britain for a series of meetings with the Royal and Ancient Golf Club's Rules Committee. The meeting was to look at the issue of modifying various rules of the game. Among those present was George Herbert Walker, USGA president in 1920.

Upon the Executive Committee's return to the United States, international team matches were discussed and the idea so appealed to Walker that he offered to donate a trophy. When the press dubbed the trophy the Walker Cup, the name stuck.

In 1921 at Hoylake the American team defeated a British side 9 and 3 in an informal match the day before the British Amateur Open.

Early in 1922 the R & A announced that it would send a team representing Great Britain and Ireland to compete for the Walker Cup at the National Golf Links of America, Walker's home club, in Southampton, New York. After 1924 the decision was taken to stage the match biennially.

The US side's domination of the competition has begun to ebb away in recent years, but they had still won 33 of the 41 encounters up to 2009.