It looked like another US victory was in the cards as the US team swept the four ball competition in the morning session on the second day of the competition at La Hinch Golf Club in County Clare, Ireland.  The US only needed 3 1/2 points to maintain the Cup out of 10.  However, there was a significant omen that GB&I was going to have a chance in these matches.  Steward Grehan came back from 3 down in his first day singles match against the No. 1 amateur in the world-Preston Stout to wrest a significant point against the USA. His match on Day 2 against Stout started exactly as the previous day.  Greham started the second day down early and he looked like “a mess” as he actually shanked a shot out of a bunker on the first hole and found himself down early.  Greham got his mojo back and hung on to square the match until Stout retook the lead with a spectacular birdie on the ninth hole.  The match hung even until Greham made an unbelievable eagle 3 on the par 5, 12th hole and then added a birdie on the 13th to bring the match home to an unforecasted GB&I victory.  In my opinion, Greham’s victory on day 1 was the omen that GB&I needed over the No. 1 ranked amateur in the world to motivate and excite the GB&I team.  I believe another omen in this match and competition was the curse of the par 3, 5th hole. This is the hole that is protected by a huge mound, which has to be covered with a towering iron shot.  I had played La Hinch about six weeks ago and wanted nothing to do with that mound so I just hit my tee shot to the only part of the green that was visible from the tee and accepted my fate of a 60 ft. putt to the hole and made par.  On Day 2, three Americans in the first five matches, including Stout, were unable to cover the mound leaving them an impossible downhill pitch shot to the green where they consequently lost all of those holes to their GB&I competition.  Jack Whaley, who had just won the USGA amateur championship, demolished his opponent 8&7 and suddenly the USA lead was gone.  GB&I would win the first four singles matches to take the lead in the competition.  The remaining 6 matches would decide the outcome and the US had myriad opportunities to retain the Cup but the makable putts for match victories did not fall and full points declined to 1/2 points.  The USA had two makable putts to secure the Cup but the Irish leprechaun emerged from the Irish Sea as the winds lipped the cups of those holes.  The Cup was settled by Jack Hall’s remarkable bunker shot to three feet and the Cup would fall to GB&I for the first time since 2015.  Dave Robertson, the GB&I coach was generous in victory citing Greham’s performance and the team’s grit to make the push to succeed.  Nathan Smith, the USA coach, was disappointed in defeat but gracious to the efforts of his excellent team.  These matches displayed the best characteristics that the game has to offer.

I’ve often pointed out that amateur gold competitions offer the best behavior of the golf fan.  The partisan GB&I fans behaved with complete class cheering for their side but not jeering against the USA side.  Fans of these competitions have a sincere respect for the capability of these teams who represent the best amateur players on the planet.  There were no “boos”, catcalls or “You the Man” as these players gutted out a difficult golf course aggravated on day 2 with the usual dose of Irish coastal wind and rain.  There was a little bit of gaming as usual in giving putts but potential controversies simply defaulted to good manners and mutual respect.  Undoubtedly, many of these players will be competing against each other for a long time on the PGA Tour.  One notable amateur, Stewart Hagestad, was playing in his 10th Walker Cup with 8 victories but would lose on this day.

La Hinch lived up to its reputation as a great championship venue for this event.  The weather was pretty decent and enviable on Day 1 but quickly reverted to normal on Day 2.  Normal is a lot of wind and bouts of rain either in “spit” or downpour formations.  The rain was intermittent and didn’t impact quality of play.  When I played it six weeks it was blowing 30-35 mph. throughout the day as we had to grind our way through it.  These players are too good to be concerned about conditions as scoring in the matches was pretty incredible.

There were considerable discussions about changing the format and the type of competition as the USA has dominated the event over a long period of time.    The result of these matches is a good indication that they should be preserved as they are.  The Walker Cup represents the purest form of competition that the game has to offer–it’s just a shame that the class of this event doesn’t translate to the professional game.