gb&i win walker cup
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Great Britain and Ireland burst out of the blocks for the second morning running to lay the foundation for a convincing Walker Cup triumph over the US on Sunday.
In what acts as the amateur version of the Ryder Cup, GB&I had taken a 7-5 lead going into the final day, thanks to a blistering opening on Saturday. They repeated that effort 24 hours later to march into a commanding 10½-5½ lead, ensuring that they only required three more points from the 10 matches in the afternoon session.
The eventual winning score at the par-70, 6,863-yard Royal Aberdeen Golf Club was 14-12, with GB&I proving the far superior side at handling the testing conditions. Winds of 35mph were judged superbly by the hosts, who particularly excelled when playing downwind.
The tandems of Jack Senior and Andy Sullivan, Paul Cutler and Alan Dunbar and James Byrne and Rhys Pugh all proved successful, thanks in large part to their superior iron play and putting around the greens. The most significant blow was struck by Byrne and Pugh, who beat world No. 1 Patrick Cantlay and Chris Williams 5&3.
“A tremendous job again by the lads,” said GB&I captain Nigel Edwards. “As I’ve said all week, I’ve got a lot of faith in them and they are enjoying it and that’s the way it should be.”
The singles largely went, as expected, the way of the US team, but Pugh and Michael Stewart crucially won their matches. Cutler, Senior and Steven Brown also halved their holes to ensure a glorious victory for GB&I against their star-studded counterparts.
Captain of the US team Jim Holtgrieve could only point to the wind as a reason for his side’s failure, although he did concede that his men had been outclassed when using the short stick.
“Obviously, they are used to playing the wind,” Holtgrieve commented. “I was talking to Captain Edwards and he said: ‘Can you imagine playing 72 holes in this?’ Does it give them an advantage? Maybe a little bit.
“I think in regards to chipping that trying to make some of your shots happen with the wind, they outperformed us this morning. Their putting has been exceptional for a day and half.”
