U.S. claims Walker Cup at Seminole Golf Club for third straight victory
JUNO BEACH, Fla. – Austin Eckroat and Pierceson Coody got the United States off to a fast start, and Cole Hammer and Stewart Hagestad finished off Great Britain & Ireland in the Walker Cup.
Ricky Castillo won again, too, and the Americans took five of the 10 afternoon singles matches and tied another Sunday at Seminole Golf Club for a 14-12 victory.
The Americans won for the third straight time to take a 38-9-1 lead in the biennial event first played in 1922.
Nathaniel Crosby, the son of late crooner Bing Crosby, became the first U.S. captain with back-to-back victories since Buddy Marucci in 2007 and 2009.
Eckroat overwhelmed Mark Power, 7 and 6, in the opening match, and Coody beat Alex Fitzpatrick, 3 and 1, in the second. Castillo topped John Murphy, 2 and 1, to become the only player to finish the two-day event 4-0.
Hammer beat Ben Schmidt, 4 and 3, in the second-to-last match, and Hagestad put the Americans over the top when he was 4 up with four to play in a 4-and-2 victory over Ben Jones.
Quade Cummins gave the U.S. a half-point, winning the 18th with a par to pull even with Barclay Brown.
British Amateur champion Long, Matty Lamb, Angus Flanagan and Jack Dyer won matches for GB&I. Long beat John Pak, 1 up; Lamb topped Davis Thompson, 2 up; Flanagan beat William Mouw, 1 up; and Dyer edged U.S. Amateur champion Tyler Strafaci, 1 up.
Long played Sunday afternoon after missing the first three sessions because of a stomach virus that affected both teams and their captains. Strafaci sat out Saturday.
GB&I took 2 1/2 of the four points in the morning foursomes to pull within a half-point.
Power and Murphy beat Coody and Pak, 1 up; Lamb and Dyer routed Hagestad and Strafaci, 6 and 5; and Flanagan and Schmidt halved with Hammer and Thompson. Ricky Castillo and Mouw topped Fitzpatrick and Brown, 1 up.
GB&I last won on American soil in 2001 at Ocean Forest in St. Simons Island, Georgia.
The 2023 event is set for the Old Course at St. Andrews.