Calum Scott and Connor Graham were unable to work their magic for a second day as GB&I crashed to a fourth consecutive Walker Cup defeat at the Old Course.
Nairn’s Scott and Blairgowrie’s Graham were pivotal in the home team’s flying start in the opening session of foursomes on Saturday.
But both suffered defeats in the second session of singles when the United States finally justified their status as hot favourites with six wins and two halves in eight of the 10 matches for a 14.5-11.5 victory.
Winners of the 49th Walker Cup, USA 🏆🇺🇸| @USGA pic.twitter.com/YUAF2orPxc
— The Walker Cup (@WalkerCup) September 3, 2023
GB&I captain Stuart Wilson said: “Obviously we’re disappointed. We had a nice lead this morning that we let slide quite a bit in the foursomes.
“But I think the guys will be hurting the most because they’ll know that themselves and I’m sure they’ll be feeling like they haven’t turned up this afternoon in the way we know they can.
“Everything went our way yesterday; six matches went up the last, and we got four and a half points out of them.
“But all the momentum seemed to be on the U.S. side today. To be fair, they are a great side and they handled the conditions a lot better than our guys.”
A commanding afternoon of Singles Matches for the USA team 🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/qHlIrlKaVl
— The Walker Cup (@WalkerCup) September 3, 2023
The cracks started to appear when GB&I saw their overnight lead reduced to a single point when the United States came out in the foursomes with all guns blazing.
Trailing 7.5-4.5 after being out-played in both the opening foursomes and singles, the Americans knew it was crucial that they hit back early to deliver a blow to the home side’s confidence.
Caleb Surratt and Ben James were sent out first against England’s John Gough and Irishman Matthew McClean and duly delivered the opening point with a 2 & 1 success.
Nick Dunlap and world No1 Gordon Sargent followed up with a I hole win over Graham and Scott prior to Preston Summhays and Nick Gabrelik squaring the match when they saw off Welshman James Ashfield and Ireland’s Alex Maguire 2 & 1.
But GB&I regained the initiative in dramatic fashion in the fourth and final morning session.
The Irish duo of Liam Nolan and Mark Power produced a commanding performance to take down Dylan Menante and Austin Greaser 4 & 3 and restore the home side’s narrow advantage heading into the singles.
Scott, the hero of the first day with two wins, was sent out to lead the offensive but the 20-year-old was unable to replicate the form that was key to GB&I’s initial successes.
Graham, who partnered Scott when he became the youngest player to feature in a Walker Cup match at the age of 16, also suffered a 3 & 2 defeat at the hands of Stewart Hagestad.
But Barclay Brown should have brought the hosts back level when he was 3-up with four to play.
Instead, the Englishman suffered a dramatic collapse and ended up having to sink a tricky five-footer on the last for a half.
GB&I’s hopes appeared to rest on John Gough’s shoulders when he was all-square with Sargent with two to play.
But a six at the penultimate hole to Sargent’s allowed the American to eventually claim a 1 hole victory to stretch the US lead to three points.
Gough, GB&I’s highest ranked player at 14th in the world, did produce a moment of magic though when he holed his second shot for an eagle at the sixth.
The hosts were still clinging on when Jack Bigham defeated Gabrelcik 3 & 2 to narrow the gap to two points before McClean halved his match with Menante.
But it was too little too late and after David Ford had sunk the match-winning putt against Maguire, it hardly mattered that Power got the better of James and Austin Greaser took out Nolan.