{"id":838835,"date":"2026-09-06T21:44:08","date_gmt":"2026-09-06T21:44:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/838835\/"},"modified":"2026-09-06T21:44:08","modified_gmt":"2026-09-06T21:44:08","slug":"2026-walker-cup-gbi-wins-in-a-stunner-as-u-s-putters-run-cold-during-singles-at-lahinch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/838835\/","title":{"rendered":"2026 Walker Cup: GB&I wins in a stunner as U.S. putters run cold during singles at Lahinch"},"content":{"rendered":"

Americans painted the scoreboard red at Lahinch during Sunday morning\u2019s foursomes<\/a> only to be capsized by a blue wave in the afternoon singles that saw Great Britain and Ireland rally to win the 51st Walker Cup, 13 1\/2 to 12 1\/2.<\/p>\n

Trailing by three points after being swept in alternate shot, the home team got off to a blazing start in the final session on a gusty Irish day, winning each of the first four singles matches.<\/p>\n

Stuart Grehan topped Preston Stout for the second straight day<\/a> and Jack Whaley recorded a historic, 8-and-7 runaway victory over William Jennings. <\/p>\n

Then came two more wins for Team GB&I \u2014 Luke Poulter beat Ethan Fang when the latter\u2019s putt on No. 17 came up just short. Moments later, Tyler Weaver closed out his match over Jay Leng Jr. with a 4-and-3 win.<\/p>\n

That kick-started the largest final-session comeback in competition history.<\/p>\n

Josh Hill was the one who got to play hero, sealing the win for the home squad by getting up and down from a greenside bunker on the par-5 18th to give GB&I its first Walker Cup victory since 2015. He won the point over American Tyler Watts, snapping a run of five consecutive Walker Cup victories for the red, white and blue. <\/p>\n

\u201cI have a lot of confidence in my bunker game but I don\u2019t know how I handled myself for that 3-footer because I was shaking,\u201d Hill said. \u201cI\u2019m just glad it went in to be honest because this is absolutely incredible.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hill said he and his teammates still felt like they could go out and win despite the disappointing morning results. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe were still hyped up, we still felt we could go out and win,\u201d Hill added. \u201cWe had that belief to go out and win, and we did it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Captain Dean Robertson told Hill before his bunker shot on No. 18 that GB&I needed the full point to win the Walker Cup. Moments earlier, Connor Graham tied American teenager Miles Russell that left both teams sitting at 12 1\/2 points with one singles match left. <\/p>\n

A tie between Hill and Watts would have resulted in a half point for each side, and a 13-to-13 tie on the scoreboard \u2014 a result which would have allowed the Americans to retain the Walker Cup.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen he said we needed a win, I said, \u2018Alright let\u2019s do it,\u2019\u201d Hill recalled of the conversation with Robertson before he set himself up with the tournament-winning putt on the 18th green.<\/p>\n

He didn\u2019t allow himself much time to stand over the putt and overthink it.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just tried to hit it quick,\u201d said Hill before extending his hand back toward the raucous crowd at Lahinch that was cheering him on.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt doesn\u2019t get any better than this.\u201d<\/p>\n

Russell-Graham tie proves pivotal<\/p>\n

Hill said the sounds from the crowd celebrating Graham\u2019s made putt on No. 18 helped motivate him finish off the final hole.<\/p>\n

Had Graham not won the final hole over Russell, the Americans would have held a 13-12 advantage nullifying the importance of a Hill win over Watts.<\/p>\n

Russell carried a 2-up advantage into the final two holes, where he bogeyed at the par-4 17th and parred the final hole.<\/p>\n

Graham went birdie-birdie to finish. <\/p>\n

Of course, it wasn\u2019t the only lost half point for the U.S. on Sunday afternoon in Ireland. <\/p>\n

Kihei Akina and Niall Sheils Donegan also tied their match, one which saw Akina\u2019s 2-up lead on the back nine also whittle away. <\/p>\n

American winners<\/p>\n

Ryder Cowan and Josiah Gilbert were the only two Americans to secure full points in their singles matches. <\/p>\n

Gilbert, who was in the final singles match of the afternoon with Sam Easterbrook, completed a 4-to-3 win that left the U.S. in need of just two more points to retain the trophy.<\/p>\n

Cowan overcame a two-shot deficit through five holes against Ben Bolton to seal a 3-to-2 win and get the red, white and blue to 12 points. <\/p>\n

Russell\u2019s half-point was the last American addition to the scoreboard.<\/p>\n

Baker hands Hagestad rare singles loss<\/p>\n

Walker Cup veteran Stewart Hagestad, who had been on the previous five winning American teams, got himself to 8-1 all-time in singles matches on Saturday when he took down Bolton.<\/p>\n

The 35-year-old Hagestad was in prime position for another star role on Sunday but Eliot Baker had other plans.<\/p>\n

Baker, who showed frustration at times during his Sunday morning foursomes, got to 2 up after five holes and didn\u2019t relinquish that lead until after they were done at No. 17.<\/p>\n

Baker and Hagestad were tied entering the last hole but the 22-year-old Brit got his birdie putt to drop as Hagestad\u2019s came up just short.<\/p>\n

\u201cI believed in this team the entire time, they\u2019ve worked so hard and played so well,\u201d said Robertson, GB&I\u2019s captain. \u201cI\u2019m just so proud of every one of them, this is so special.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Josh Hill and GB&I complete biggest comeback ever to win Walker Cup at Lahinch<\/p>\n

Josh Hill’s final putt on No. 18 sealed the win for Great Britain and Ireland and completed the biggest comeback in Walker Cup history to reclaim the trophy at home.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Americans painted the scoreboard red at Lahinch during Sunday morning\u2019s foursomes only to be capsized by a blue…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":838836,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[71],"tags":[427,99],"class_list":["post-838835","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-golf","tag-golf","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/838835","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=838835"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/838835\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/838836"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=838835"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=838835"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=838835"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}