LAHINCH, County Clare — Josh Hill's approach to the 18th found the greenside bunker. Behind him, a match. Behind that, a Walker Cup.
He splashed out to three feet. Tyler Watts, from long range, could not convert his birdie. And when Hill holed the last putt of the last match of the weekend, Great Britain & Ireland had won the 51st Walker Cup 13½–12½ — their first since Royal Lytham in 2015, their tenth in the series, and the end of five consecutive American victories.
Five hours earlier it had looked impossible.
The morning that should have settled it
GB&I went into Sunday a point ahead at 6½–5½, having taken the Saturday foursomes 2½–1½ and split the singles 4-4. Then the United States produced the session of the match.
Nathan Smith's side swept the Sunday foursomes 4-0 — the first clean sweep of a foursomes session by the USA since Royal County Down in 2007. Not one of the four matches reached the 17th tee.
Stout & Fang def. Grehan & Baker, 3&2
Leng Jr. & Akina def. Poulter & Easterbrook, 4&3
Russell & Watts def. Weaver & Graham, 3&2
Jennings & Cowan def. Sheils Donegan & Hill, 4&3
Preston Stout and Ethan Fang set the tone in the leadoff match with an eagle two at the par-4 13th. It was Saturday morning in reverse: almost exactly the same eight pairings that had opened the match, with only William Jennings replacing Josiah Gilbert alongside Ryder Cowan, and a session GB&I had won 2½–1½ came back 4-0 the other way. Sheils Donegan and Hill, who had produced GB&I's most emphatic win of Saturday with a 4&3, were beaten by exactly that margin.
A one-point deficit had become a three-point lead. The USA went to lunch at 9½–6½, needing three and a half points from ten singles to retain the Cup. GB&I needed seven.
What Robertson did at lunch
By his own account, Dean Robertson tore up the order.
The GB&I captain said afterwards that he changed the singles draw at the interval to bring energy into the session, and named the players he sent out to supply it: Stuart Grehan, Luke Poulter, Jack Whaley and Tyler Weaver. He was equally clear that the morning had not broken the room — the American golf, he said, had been sensational, and there was no despondency, only a need to tip the cap and go again.
It is the sort of claim captains make in victory and that nobody can ever quite test. What is not in doubt is what happened next.
Seven points from ten
Jack Whaley went first. The US Amateur champion, who had lost his opening singles match by a hole on Saturday and then sat out the Sunday foursomes, took William Jennings apart 8&7 — a margin the R&A records as equalling the second largest in Walker Cup singles history. The deficit was two.
Grehan followed. Two down early to the world number one, the only Irishman in the side won 2&1 in the top match of the draw, and the noise around the 18th arena told the rest of the course what had happened. Poulter's 3&1 over Fang drew the sides level at 9½-9½. Weaver's 4&3 over Leng Jr. put GB&I in front.
Then it tightened again. Niall Sheils Donegan held on at the last for a half against Kihei Akina after the American missed a short putt to win the match outright. Josiah Gilbert answered for the USA with 4&3 over Sam Easterbrook. Eliot Baker birdied the 18th to beat Stewart Hagestad by a hole. And Ryder Cowan's 3&2 over Ben Bolton left the visitors needing a single point from the last two matches on the course.
Sunday singles — GB&I 7, USA 3
Stuart Grehan (GB&I) def. Preston Stout, 2&1
Luke Poulter (GB&I) def. Ethan Fang, 3&1
Jack Whaley (GB&I) def. William Jennings, 8&7
Tyler Weaver (GB&I) def. Jay Leng Jr., 4&3
Kihei Akina and Niall Sheils Donegan halved
Eliot Baker (GB&I) def. Stewart Hagestad, 1 hole
Miles Russell and Connor Graham halved
Josh Hill (GB&I) def. Tyler Watts, 1 hole
Ryder Cowan (USA) def. Ben Bolton, 3&2
Josiah Gilbert (USA) def. Sam Easterbrook, 4&3
The half point nobody will remember
Connor Graham was three down to Miles Russell at the 11th. By the 17th he was two down with two to play, which in match play is the same as being finished.
He won the 17th. Then he birdied the 18th to halve the match.
That half point is the Walker Cup. Without it GB&I finish on 13, and 13-13 is a retained Cup for the United States. Graham does not appear in the photographs of the celebration on the 18th green and his name will not lead the reports, but had he shaken hands on the 17th, Hill would have been playing the last for a tie.
Grehan and Stout, three times
The individual story of the weekend belongs to Stuart Grehan.
On Saturday morning, partnering Eliot Baker, he helped hold Preston Stout and Ethan Fang to a half in the leadoff foursomes. On Saturday afternoon he went three holes down after five to Stout and beat him on the 18th with a birdie four. On Sunday afternoon, in the top match again, he beat him 2&1.
Three meetings across two days. The world's leading amateur did not take a single full point off him.
The other numbers
Stewart Hagestad arrived at Lahinch for a sixth Walker Cup with a singles record of eight wins and one defeat. He beat debutant Ben Bolton 2&1 on Saturday to make it eight from nine, having trailed for the opening seven holes and then found three birdies in a six-hole stretch between the 8th and the 13th. On Sunday, Eliot Baker birdied the last to beat him by a hole. He leaves 8-2 in ten singles matches, which remains the best record of any American of the modern era.
Niall Sheils Donegan took 2½ points from four, both of his wins arriving on Saturday, when he was the standout player of the opening day.
Around 8,000 spectators watched the Saturday play on the County Clare coast. Considerably more were around the 18th at the finish.
What the captains said
Robertson said pride was the word he would use, and spoke of a lot of emotion and a lot of happy tears. He described Hill's recovery at the last as a Matt Fitzpatrick bunker shot.
Smith called it a tale of two days and did not look for excuses in the afternoon. GB&I, he said, were a great team and a deep team, capable of anything, and they played great — and all you can do is tip your cap.
What it means
The United States still leads the overall series comfortably. But a run of five straight American wins is over, and GB&I have a tenth victory, secured on a links where the crowd was close enough to the golf to be part of it.
The 51st Walker Cup was decided by a bunker shot to three feet, on the last hole, in the last match, after 26 points and two days. There is not a fairer way for a match like this to end.
