Great Britain and Ireland just pulled off one of the biggest turnarounds in Walker Cup history. Trailing by three points heading into the final session at Lahinch, the home side won six of ten singles matches and halved two more, earning seven of the ten points on offer, to steal the 51st Walker Cup. Moreover, this time it comes with a record chase attached. U.S. amateur winner Jack Whaley's 8-and-7 dominating win over William Jennings became the largest margin of victory in the Walker Cup in 47 years. Here's how it turned out.
Golf journalist Cameron Jourdan summed up the victory on X: "U.S. Amateur champion Jack Whaley has a dominating 8-and-7 victory against William Jennings to get the first GB&I point on the board. It's the largest margin of victory in a Walker Cup match since 1979 and tied for the second-largest victory ever. Also the biggest by a GB&I player."
It's a big moment for GB&I, as they won the match 13½-12½. Notably, it's their first win since 2015. But the match was not expected to end the way it did.
The United States entered Sunday needing just three and a half points from ten singles to retain the cup, while Great Britain & Ireland needed seven. Certainly, that gap looked comfortable for Americans, especially after they swept Sunday morning foursomes 4-0, their first clean sweep in that session since 2007. A one-point deficit overnight turned into a three-point cushion by lunch. The cup, by every reasonable projection, was headed back to America. The things flipped when Jack Whaley took over the singles.
The US amateur had a rough start on Saturday, losing to Ethan Fang by a single hole. As a result, he sat out the Sunday morning foursomes entirely. When he returned in the afternoon, he completely reversed his form.
Whaley birdied the first hole with a four while Jennings made five, giving Whaley an early lead, and never trailed again. He won the first three holes outright to move three up early. But the competition was strong as both players birdied the par-5 4th to keep the gap where it was.
Whaley won holes 5, 6, and 7 with a birdie, par, and birdie, while Jennings couldn't match him on any of them. That put Whaley six up after just seven holes.
The 8th and 9th holes were each halved, one in matching birdies and the other in matching eagles, so the margin held steady. The 10th hole broke it open further. Whaley made an eagle to Jennings' par, stretching the lead to seven up. One hole later, on the 11th, Whaley birdied again to go to eight up with seven left to play, closing the match on the spot, 8-and-7.
As highlighted by Jourdan, that number carries real weight in Walker Cup history. It ties Doug Clarke's 8-and-7 win from the 1979 match in Muirfield, the second-largest margin ever recorded in the event. No result since then has come close, which is why Whaley's win instantly became the largest margin in 47 years. It is also the biggest winning margin ever posted by Great Britain & Ireland in the competition's history.
That being said, Whaley's point gave the home crowd belief that the morning's damage could be undone. It also set a tone that the rest of his teammates carried throughout the afternoon.
Stuart Grehan kept his personal duel with world number one Preston Stout going for a third time in two days and beat him again, this time two and one. Grehan's repeated victories over Stout became the emotional centerpiece of the week. In fact, Grehan had already halved with Stout on Saturday foursomes and beaten him in Saturday singles from three down, meaning the top-ranked amateur in the world never took full point off him across three ties.
Furthermore, Luke Poulter added another point with a 3-and-1 win over Ethan Fang, and Tyler Weaver made it to four in a row with a 4-and-3 win over Jay Leng Jr. Great Britain & Ireland suddenly led every match.
The crux of the match came down to two closing holes. Connor Graham was dormie two down to Miles Russell, and won both the 17th and 18th to salvage a half, without which Great Britain and Ireland could not have reached the number they needed.
With that, Great Britain & Ireland finished the singles 7-3, exactly the tally required, and reclaimed the Walker Cup for the first time since Royal Lytham and St Annes in 2015. It was their first Walker Cup win on Irish soil. The competition had been held in Ireland twice before, at Portmarnock in 1991 and Royal County Down in 2007, and the United States won both times. Lahinch itself was a debut host, backed by crowds of around 8,000 fans a day.
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