USA Wins Walker Cup At Royal Liverpool

The USA came back on day two with an 8-2 singles win to comfortably win the Walker Cup for the second match in a row

USA Wins Walker Cup At Royal Liverpool

The United States of America thrashed Great Britain and Ireland in the final singles session to comfortably win the Walker Cup for the second time in a row.

The USA began the second and final day down 7-5 to GB&I but took the morning foursomes 2.5-1.5 and then dominated the singles 8-2.

That took the match score to 15.5-10.5, meaning they had won the Walker Cup away from home for the first time since 2007 at Royal County Down.

Nearly 11,000 fans were in attendance at Hoylake over the two-day match.

The USA leads the overall series 37-9-1.

Singles:

Sandy Scott claimed the first point of the afternoon singles for GB&I after an impressive 4&3 win over Brandon Wu, who was undefeated in his previous three matches this weekend.

The 21-year-old from Nairn found himself 5-up after eight holes, only to lose the next three holes to the American. Scott responded with birdies on the 12^th and 14^th to go 4-up and the match was closed out shortly afterwards when the 15^th hole was halved in par.

The USA responded immediately with John Pak edging out Euan Walker by 2&1 to ensure that the Florida State University student finished undefeated in the match overall with three points from three matches.

After Isaiah Salinda triumphed by two holes against Alex Fitzpatrick, the two sides were level at 9½-9½, before Stewart Hagestad, who was a member of the winning American team two years ago, nudged his side in front after dominating against Harry Hall to win 5&3.

Alex Smalley extended his side’s lead with a 2&1 win over Caolan Rafferty which was immediately followed by Cole Hammer’s emphatic 6&5 victory over Conor Purcell to put the USA 12½-9½ up.

Any hopes of a fightback for GB&I were extinguished when John Augenstein defeated Thomas Plumb 4&3 to clinch the winning point and leave the USA in an unassailable position at 13½-9½.

US Amateur champion Andy Ogletree then notched up another win for the USA after defeating Conor Gough 2&1 to make the score 14½-9½ and Akshay Bhatia pressed home the advantage further for Crosby’s side after taking care of his match by 4&2 against the 2019 Amateur champion James Sugrue.

It was left to Tom Sloman to salvage some pride for the home side and he delivered GB&I’s second point of the singles by beating Steven Frisk by two holes to leave the final score at 15½-10½.

Foursomes:

GB&I’s two-point overnight lead was reduced to a single point as the USA won the morning foursomes session 2½-1½.

The Americans claimed the first point of the session thanks to Smalley and Wu winning their match 2&1 against Fitzpatrick and Purcell.

Despite being behind for long periods of the encounter, they fought back to be all-square at the 14^th and a birdie at the par 5 16^th put the pair ahead in the contest for the first time. A concession on the 17^th by GB&I secured a 2&1 win for the US duo.

Scott and Walker rescued a half point for GB&I after chasing Augenstein and Ogletree for much of their foursomes match.  They found themselves 2-down with four holes to play but pars on the 15^th and 17^th were enough to return the match to all-square. The 18^th was halved in par to give both sides a share of the spoils.

Hagestad and Bhatia put another point on the board for the USA after convincingly defeating Gough and Hall 3&2. The American pair were 3-up after five holes and never looked back as their opponents struggled to stay with them. A birdie at the 16^th sealed the match.

Plumb and Sloman proved too much for Cole Hammer and Steven Fisk as they ran out 5&3 winners in the last foursomes match. They were 4-up by the 7^th and despite dropping one hole back at the 8^th, a birdie at the 14^th followed by a concession by the Americans at the 15^th gave Watson’s side a point.

“I honestly thought that these guys would let their talent come to the surface," USA captain Nathaniel Crosby said.

"I liked the idea that the wind was laying down a little bit this afternoon but these guys have been over here for seven or eight days. The singles were amazing. The guys played great.

“These guys are inseparable and they've got a great memory now. This Walker Cup experience is going to be a memory and a winning memory at that.”

“Obviously the boys are disappointed," GB&I captain Craig Watson said.

"It didn't go quite to plan but they can be proud of their achievements to get in the team first of all and of their performance this weekend. I'm proud of all of them.”

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47th Walker Cup results -

Day One

Foursomes:

Alex Fitzpatrick and Conor Purcell vs. John Augenstein and Andy Ogletree (GB& wins 2&1)

Sandy Scott and Euan Walker vs. John Pak and Isaiah Salinda (USA wins 2&1)

Conor Gough and Harry Hall vs. Akshay Bhatia and Stewart Hagestad (GB&I wins 2&1)

Thomas Plumb and Tom Sloman vs. Alex Smalley and Brandon Wu (USA wins 2&1)

Score:

Great Britain and Ireland 2-2 United States of America

Singles:

Alex Fitzpatrick vs. Cole Hammer (GB&I wins by two holes)

Euan Walker vs. Steven Fisk (GB&I wins by two holes)

Sandy Scott vs. Andy Ogletree (GB&I wins by one hole)

John Augenstein vs. Conor Purcell (USA wins 2&1)

James Sugrue vs. John Pak (USA wins by one hole)

Conor Gough vs. Isaiah Salinda (GB&I wins by two holes)

Coalan Rafferty vs. Alez Smalley (GB&I wins 2&1)

Tom Sloman vs. Brandon Wu (USA wins 4&2)

Score:

Great Britain and Ireland 7-5 United States of America

Day Two

Foursomes:

Alex Fitzpatrick and Conor Purcell vs. Alex Smalley and Brandon Wu (USA wins 2&1)

Sandy Scott and Euan Walker vs. John Augenstein and Andy Ogletree (Halved)

Conor Gough and Harry Hall vs. Akshay Bhatia and Stewart Hagestad (USA wins 3&2)

Thomas Plumb and Tom Sloman vs. Cole Hammer and Steven Fisk (GB&I wins 3&2)

Score:

Great Britain and Ireland 8½-7½ United States of America

Singles:

Alex Fitzpatrick vs. Isaiah Salinda (USA win by two holes)

Euan Walker vs. John Pak (USA win 2&1)

Sandy Scott vs. Brandon Wu (GB&I win 4&3)

Caolan Rafferty vs. Alex Smalley (USA win 2&1)

Harry Hall vs. Stewart Hagestad (USA win 5&3)

Conor Gough vs. Andy Ogletree (USA win 2&1)

Thomas Plumb vs. John Augenstein (USA win 4&3)

James Sugrue vs. Akshay Bhatia (USA win 4&2)

Conor Purcell vs. Cole Hammer (USA win 6&5)

Tom Sloman vs. Steven Fisk

Final Score:

Great Britain and Ireland 15½-10½ United States of America

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