The expectations were high before the USA Walker Cup Team was fully assembled. Boasting eight of the top 10 players in the World Amateur Golf Ranking®, Captain Mike McCoy brought one of the best American Walker Cup sides to the Old Course at St. Andrews in Scotland for the 49th edition of the biennial competition.
It was all but expected that his group would secure the USA its fourth consecutive victory against its Great Britain and Ireland counterparts.
But Day 1 on Saturday didn’t go as planned. The gritty, underdog GB&I squad came out fighting, jumping out to a three-point lead after four foursomes (alternate-shot) matches and eight singles matches.
“It wasn't the day we were looking for,” said McCoy afterward.
But Sunday brought a new day, and the USA, which historically struggles in foursomes given the format is rarely played on this side of the Atlantic Ocean, began to quickly show why the expectations were so strong to start the week. Jumping out to a lead in all four of the morning matches, the visitors secured three of the four available points in the session, closing GB&I’s advantage to just one point heading into the 10 afternoon singles matches.
“Our connection and our positivity towards each other really drove us to get on top in this Match, and I think that's how we ended up coming out with a victory,” said Nick Gabrelcik, who partnered with 2019 U.S. Junior Amateur champion Preston Summerhays for one of the three new foursomes partnerships McCoy put out Sunday morning.
With the pressure now squarely back on the home team’s shoulders to stop the American tidal wave of momentum, the USA’s Caleb Surratt drew first blood for the USA in the afternoon. The 2022 U.S. Junior Amateur runner-up and All-American in his freshman season at Tennessee (2022-23) defeated Calum Scott, 3 and 2, to even the Walker Cup for the first time since Saturday morning. The red points on the board would continue, with 32-year-old Stewart Hagestad, a two-time U.S. Mid-Amateur champion competing in his fourth consecutive Walker Cup, , earning another point for the USA, and Summerhays quickly following with a dominant, 4-and-3 win of his own.
That trend would continue the rest of the afternoon, with the Americans eventually posting a 6-2-2 margin in the competition’s final session. Gordon Sargent, the No. 1-ranked amateur in the world, watched his opponent, John Gough, hit his tee shot out of bounds on the famous Road Hole to win the 17 th hole, and then drove the green on No. 18 with a 3-wood to earn a critical 1-up victory over GB&I’s highest-ranked player. It capped off an undefeated, 4-0 weekend for the 2023 McCormack Medal recipient for being the top-ranked male amateur.
“To go 4-0 is really special, and it definitely means a lot,” said Sargent, who joined the like of Collin Morikawa and Rickie Fowler to have a perfect record in a single Match for the USA. “Getting four points for your country means a lot, and obviously you've seen just how much it means to all the guys on the team. I think you don't really focus on those four points. You more so focus on the fact that we won the Walker Cup.”
The USA now leads the series 39-9-1. The 50th Walker Cup Match will be held at Cypress Point Club in Pebble Beach, Calif., on Sept. 5-6, 2025.
