Sept. 2-3, 2023, Old Course at St. Andrews, Scotland
(USGA Report) St.Andrews, Scotland – The United States of America has won the 49th Walker Cup after defeating Great Britain and Ireland 14.5-11.5 at St. Andrews.
The Americans rekindled memories of their last away win at Royal Liverpool in 2019 with another stunning second day singles display to reverse a three-point overnight deficit and secure victory at the Old Course.
Mike McCoy’s team trailed 7.4-4.5 going into Day Two, but handled the windy conditions over the links superbly to triumph against Stuart Wilson’s GB&I side.
It was the fourth consecutive win for the USA in the biennial international match and they now lead the overall series 39-9-1.
A total of 14,320 fans attended the weekend’s match at the home of golf.
Foursomes
It was a morning that belonged to the visitors. McCoy’s side were desperate for a fast start and they achieved it in the sunny and breezy conditions. At one point over the opening nine holes, they were up in all four matches.
The USA eventually secured the session 3-1, with only the Irish duo of Liam Nolan and Mark Power victorious for GB&I after their 4&3 triumph included four birdies in their last five holes against Dylan Menante and Austin Greaser.
In the opening match, Americans Caleb Surratt and Ben James triumphed 2&1 against John Gough and Matthew McClean. A key moment came at the 12th when Gough found a gorse bush with his drive and the lost ball saw GB&I trail by two holes. When the USA duo birdied the next, they stood firm to close out the tie.
Preston Summerhays and Nick Gabrelcik were also 2&1 victors against James Ashfield and Alex Maguire, helped by a 3-up lead established in the opening six holes as the home team struggled. GB&I were back to one down after the USA bogeyed the par-5 14th, but their birdie at the 16th proved decisive.
Gordon Sargent was vital to the 1-up win for the Americans in match two, inflicting a first defeat on Calum Scott and Connor Graham. He secured his third win of the weekend to highlight why he is the world’s number one male amateur golfer. The 20-year-old holed vital six feet putts at the 16th and 18th as he and US Amateur champion Dunlap celebrated in front of a huge crowd on the final hole.
Singles
Surratt drew the USA level at 8.5-8.5after defeating Scott 3&2 in the first singles match. The American edged ahead early in the match, winning the 2nd hole and was 3-up by the 14th after clinching it with a birdie. Despite dropping a hole back with a bogey on the 15th, Surratt showed his class to see the match out with another birdie at the next hole.
Stewart Hagestad nudged the away team ahead for the first time in the afternoon session after beating Graham 3&2. The Walker Cup veteran held off the advances of the Scottish debutant to close out the encounter with wins on the 15th and 16th holes to give the USA a 9½-8½ lead.
The USA then turned up the heat shortly after as Dunlap fought back from being three down through 14 holes to take Barclay Brown down the last after winning the 15th and 16th before securing a dramatic half point with a birdie on the 18th. Summerhays secured a full point after a convincing 4&3 performance against Ashfield to put his side 11-9 ahead overall.
Sargent and Gough slugged it out in a close contest than swung back and forth with both players holding narrow leads throughout – the highlight coming on the 6th when the Englishman holed out from the fairway for an eagle two.
The match crucially swung the American’s way again on the 17th after Gough went out of bounds and lost the hole after a double bogey. The two players then matched each other with birdies at the 18th to give Sargent a narrow one-hole win and ensure a perfect 4-0 record in the match overall.
Jack Bigham hauled GB&I back to within two points at 12-10 after an impressive 3&2 victory against Gabrelcik, before McClean and Menante halved their match to give both sides a share of the spoils.
It was left to David Ford to win the match overall for the USA, draining a birdie putt on the 16th to seal a 3&2 win against Maguire to give his side an unassailable 13.5-10.5 lead.
Power restored pride for the home side after coming out on top against James by one hole, but it was left to Greaser to put the icing on the cake with a 3&1 victory over Nolan. The USA won the singles 7-3 leave the final score 14½-11½.
The 50th Walker Cup will be held at Cypress Point in Pebble Beach, Calif. on Sept. 5-6, 2025.
Notable
- Stewart Hagestad is the first player since Jay Sigel (1977-87) to be on four consecutive winning Walker Cup teams, and the 16th player overall to play on four winning teams
- World No. 1 Gordon Sargent was the only player to go 4-0
- The USA trailed by 3 points after Day 1, marking the largest second-day comeback since 1965
Quotable
To have the trust from Captain to go out there three times in a row as the first player off and try and get us off on the right foot was just an opportunity you dream of since you were a kid. It is something that I have been dreaming of. So thank you. And I’m very happy to capitalize off of that. – Surratt on the trust from his captain
I think we both kind of embraced the GB&I crowd a little bit. Just kind of using it as motivation. Obviously it was kind of cool to see the number of people out there, and 90 percent of them weren’t rooting for the USA and they were cheering pretty loudly when the GB&I did something good, so you could kind of tell what happened in the match in front of you or behind you. I think for me especially, it gave me motivation. – Sargent on the crowd
They tried their hardest, but they didn’t turn up with their “A” games this afternoon I would say in some matches. They’ll be the ones that will feel it and hurt tomorrow, but the good thing is for them is they’ve got the future. They’ve got tomorrow. I’m sure they can start focusing on the next thing. – Stuart Wilson
“That U.S. Team is unbelievably talented. We all knew how highly ranked they were, and we tried to block it out, but I think they really showed their class this afternoon. We gave it everything. I’ve never been a part as a team — I say this a lot, but I feel like this week the team was just buzzing. Everyone wanted to do it for each other.” – Mark Power
