Great Britain and Ireland have defeated the United States of America by 16½-9½ to win the 45th Walker Cup Match at Royal Lytham & St Annes Golf Club and achieve their greatest winning margin in the match since it was first played in 1922.
Leading 7-5 going into the final day, GB&I secured the victory with a dominant final day performance that saw them win the final morning foursomes 3-1 to take a four point lead going into the afternoon singles, where they won a further 6 ½ points.
Captain Nigel Edwards achieved his second win in his three matches in charge after leading the team to victory at Royal Aberdeen in 2011.
England’s Jimmy Mullen, who was GB&I’s leading points-scorer with a perfect 4-0 record, led the team’s afternoon domination of the singles in which they won five, halved three and lost just two matches. England’s Ashley Chesters, at 26, the oldest GB&I player (3½), and Cormac Sharvin of Ireland (3) were the other leading GB&I performers.
Mullen joined Paul Casey and Luke Donald among the small group of GB&I players who have achieved 4-0 records in a single match.
College All-Americans Bryson DeChambeau, the 2015 U.S. Amateur and NCAA Division I men’s individual champion, and Beau Hossler were the only USA players to win their matches in the final singles. Hossler (3), DeChambeau (2½) and Robby Shelton (2) were the leading point-scorers for the USA.
GB&I has now won five of the last six matches played on home soil, dating back to 1999. The only American win in that stretch was in 2007 at Royal County Down in Northern Ireland. With the GB&I victory, the two teams now stand at 7-7 in the 14 matches since 1989. The USA leads the overall series 35-9-1.
Nigel Edwards said: “I’m delighted with the victory. We had a very strong front and we have strength throughout the team. I said last night to the team that as long as the lads keep doing what they have been doing all week, playing their own games, their short games are fantastic, which is probably what has given us the edge. Some of the bunker shots have been exceptional but also the standard of play here has been fantastic.”
John “Spider” Miller said: “I don’t think we handed them anything. I think they went out and played well, very well, and they won it. I’d feel bad if we were three-putting and giving them holes. I think our guys played well. They just played very well. They outplayed us and earned it.”
For the full results from the match visit www.walkercup.org.
The 2017 Walker Cup Match will be played on 9 and 10 September at Los Angeles Country Club in California.
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