How Many Times Has Great Britain & Ireland Won The Walker Cup In The US?

Wins in the US for Great Britain & Ireland have been few and far between. Here are the details

The 1989 Great Britain & Ireland Walker Cup team
Great Britain & Ireland won in the US for the first time in 1989
(Image credit: Getty Images)
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One of the most prestigious amateur contests, the Walker Cup, marks its 50th edition at Cypress Point in 2025.

The two-day match played between top male amateurs from the US and Great Britain & Ireland began in 1922.

Since then, it has been largely dominated by the US, with an overall record of 39 wins, just nine defeats and one tie. But how often has the Great Britain & Ireland team beaten the US in its backyard? Here are the details.

Such was the early dominance of the Americans in the match that Great Britain & Ireland didn’t get its first win either home or away until the 10th edition, when John Beck’s team triumphed 7.5-4.5 at the Old Course, St Andrews in 1938.

It was another 27 years until Great Britain & Ireland came close again, this time in the 1965 contest in the US at Baltimore Country Club. The match finished tied 12-12, meaning that the hosts retained the trophy as the defending champions.

While that might have hinted at more successful times to come on its travels for Great Britain & Ireland, it proved a false dawn, with the team's first Walker Cup victory in the US having to wait until 1989, when the match was held at Peachtree Golf Club in Atlanta.

On that occasion, Geoff Marks’ team edged out Fred Ridley’s hosts by 12.5-11.5 to finally triumph on US soil and claim just its third-ever victory in Walker Cup history.

While it didn’t open the floodgates for Great Britain & Ireland's success in the US, a second win in the country came in 2001 at Ocean Forest Golf Club in Sea Island, Georgia, when Peter McEvoy’s side beat the hosts 15-9.

The 2001 Great Britain & Ireland Walker Cup team

The team won for a second time in the US in 2001

(Image credit: Getty Images)

Three more Great Britain & Ireland victories have come since that occasion, in 2003, 2011 and 2015, but on each occasion, it was on home soil. Meanwhile, the US went into the 2025 Walker Cup looking for its fifth consecutive win.

While that outlines the daunting task facing the visitors this year, another omen not working in its favour is the one other time Cypress Point hosted the match. That came in 1981, when the US ran out 15-9 victors.

Mike Hall
Mike Hall
News Writer

Mike has over 25 years of experience in journalism, including writing on a range of sports throughout that time, such as golf, football and cricket. Now a freelance staff writer for Golf Monthly, he is dedicated to covering the game's most newsworthy stories. 


He has written hundreds of articles on the game, from features offering insights into how members of the public can play some of the world's most revered courses, to breaking news stories affecting everything from the PGA Tour and LIV Golf to developmental Tours and the amateur game. 


Mike grew up in East Yorkshire and began his career in journalism in 1997. He then moved to London in 2003 as his career flourished, and nowadays resides in New Brunswick, Canada, where he and his wife raise their young family less than a mile from his local course. 


Kevin Cook’s acclaimed 2007 biography, Tommy’s Honour, about golf’s founding father and son, remains one of his all-time favourite sports books.

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