PEBBLE BEACH, California: The Americans seized control in the sunshine and kept right on rolling through the fog at Cypress Point on Sunday, eliminating any drama in beating Great Britain & Ireland for their fifth consecutive victory in the Walker Cup.
US Amateur champion Mason Howell capped off his amazing summer by scratching out a halve with Connor Graham in a tight match of 18-year-olds, going 2-0-1 for the week.
Stewart Hagestad, the veteran of this US team, holed a 20-foot birdie putt on the par-3 15th for a 4-and-3 victory that assured the Americans keeping the cup, and Preston Stout secured an outright win when he held off Luke Poulter, 2 and 1.
This is the longest winning streak for the Americans since they won eight in a row from 1973 through 1987. Unlike the Walker Cup two years ago at St. Andrews, the powerful US team didn’t need any Sunday heroics.
Howell delivered more big moments in the Sunday morning foursomes, holing a 35-foot birdie putt on the 15th and holing out from the fairway on the par-4 17th. Jackson Koivun and Tommy Morrison turned what looked like a sure loss into a 1-up win.
The morning session ended in a draw, and the Americans took a one-point lead into singles matches of all 10 players.
Under a brilliant blue sky on America’s most picturesque golf course, the scoreboard quickly filled with red scores. The matches were all relatively close, but it was a daunting site for a GB&I team looking to win on US soil for the first time since 2001.
That will have to wait four more years.
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