Team Great Britain and Ireland are Walker Cup champions once again — and they did so in improbable fashion.
Entering the final singles session on Sunday afternoon at Lahinch Golf Club, Team USA looked to be on their way to a sixth consecutive victory in the biennial team competition as they held a 9.5 to 6.5 advantage. However, thanks to a historic final session that saw GB&I win seven of the available 10 points, the team from across the pond completed the comeback for a 13.5 to 12.5 victory.
“I believed in the team the whole time,” said GB&I captain Dean Robertson. “I’m so proud of them. Just so special.”
After Team USA swept the morning foursomes session, the three-point lead entering the final session looked all but insurmountable. Needing seven points in the final singles session, GB&I’s margin for error was razor thin. Luckily, many of them saved their best golf for last.
GB&I swept the first four matches of the session — including a historic 8&7 beatdown in the third match courtesy of newly minted U.S. Amateur champ Jack Whaley — and went on to halve the fifth match as well. Suddenly, what looked like a Team USA coronation transformed into a furious comeback bid.
“I mean, just said, look, I’m just going to go out there and have fun,” said Luke Poulter, who won his match over Ethan Feng 3&1. “I was looking over at the leaderboard and I could see a bunch of blue on the board and that’s all I wanted to see.”
On the strength of sweeping the first four matches, GB&I suddenly found itself in the lead by a single point. Still with work to be done, the bottom half of the lineup fed off the momentum from earlier matches and continued the spirited surge.
In matches 5 and 7, Niall Sheils Donegan and Connor Graham were each able to earn a half point, with each tying their matches against young Americans Miles Russell and Kihei Akina. Sandwiched between the halved matches, Eliot Baker earned a full point over Walker Cup veteran Stewart Hagestad with a birdie on the final hole.
With the GB&I tally pushed to 12.5, just a single point was all that separated them from breaking their Walker Cup drought — and that point would come courtesy of Josh Hill.
Facing off against American Tyler Watts (and future teammate at the University of Tennessee), Hill found himself all square in his match as he played the finishing hole. Then, it what will go down in Walker Cup lore, Hill managed to card birdie on the par-5 finisher (aided by a spectacular bunker shot to three feet), officially pushing his team over the finish line to victory.
“It’s unbelievable,” Hill said. “Doesn’t get better than this.”
No it does not.
