Stewart Hagestad of Newport Beach captured both of his singles matches and helped the United States come from behind on the final day to capture the 49th Walker Cup on the Old Course at St. Andrews in Scotland.
The U.S. has won the last four Walker Cups and Hagestad has been part of each winning team.
The American, who were trailing, 7½-4½, after first day, won three of the four Saturday Foursomes matches in the morning before routing Great Britain and Ireland, 6-2-2, in Saturday Singles to claim a 14½-11½ victory to take a 39-9-1 lead in the series.
“No one needed to tell as reminder how good they were,” said Hagestad, who scored the winning point for the Americans in their 14-12 victory over GB&I in the 2021 Walker said Cup at Seminole Golf Club in Juno Beach, Fla. “We knew that if we could just scare them, win in the morning, and get some good momentum going heading into the afternoon, then we would be right there in the afternoon.
“It was so soon after Saturday’s matches that we got our confidence back. It was so quick. When you go in and do media, it’s tough because you’re de-compressing, and I think it takes a little time to get there. I can see visually why people would think that, but that’s the natural progression. … You almost need an hour or two, but we did it.
“And then we came out and got it done today.”
The 32-year-old Hagestad defeated Graham Conner, 16, 3 and 2, in Sunday singles, after defeating Alex Maguire, 4 and 3, in singles the day before. His only loss came alongside Nick Dunlap, 1 down, to Matthew McClain and John Gough in Saturday Foursomes.
David Ford of Peachtree Corners, Ga., scored the winning point for the Americans by sinking a 15-foot birdie putt on the 16th hole to clinch a 3-and-2 victory over Maguire.
“I was praying the whole time,” said Ford, who was suffering from a fever on Sunday morning before making birdies of his final six holes wrap up the title for the United States.
Caleb Surrat of Indian Trail, N.C., defeated Calum Scott, 3 and 2, and finished with a 3-1 record; Gordon Sargent of Birmingham, Ala., beat Gough, 1 up, and had a perfect mark of 4-0; Preston Summerhays of Scottsdale, Ariz., downed James Ashfield, 4 and 3, to wind up at 2-1-1; Austin Greaser of Vandalia, Ohio, scored a 3-and-1 victory over Liam Nolan to finish at 1-2; Dylan Menante to Carlsbad and Pepperdine halved with Matthew McClean for a 1-1-1 record, while Nick Dunlap of Huntsville, Ala., halved with Barclay Brown to finish at 1-2-1.
Jack Bigham of GB&I scored a 3-and-2 victory over Nick Gabrelcik of Trinity, Fla., who wound up at 1-2, while Mark Power scored a 1-up victory with birdie to turn back Ben James of Milford, Conn., who had a record of 1-2.
“We knew we needed a good morning to get back in the match,” U.S. Captain Mike McCoy said. “It was really just pretty straightforward. The guys really demanded it, frankly. They didn’t want people out there playing just to get their turn. They wanted the best teams on the golf course.”
“Our tenacity won the day.”
Veteran Hagestad, after his four consecutive Walker Cup victory, told his teammates on the famed 18th green at St. Andrews, where the United States has won this event seven of nine Walker Cups played on the most famous golf course in the world: “You guys are so impressive. You’re going to remember this for the rest of your lives.”
The Walker Cup returns to California in 2025 at Cypress Point Golf Course in Pebble Beach, before being played again in the United Kingdom a year later in 2026 at Lahinch Golf Club in the city of Lahinch in County Clare, Ireland.
For complete results, visit: https://www.randa.org/championships/walker-cup-live-scoring
