Stewart Hagestad of Newport Beach and Isaiah Salinda of South San Francisco and Stanford won their matches as the United States claimed eight of 10 singles points while rallying to defeat Great Britain and Ireland, 15½ to 10½ in the 47th Walker Cup at Royal Liverpool Golf Club http://www.royal-liverpool-golf.com in Hoylake, England.
The Americans won in the United Kingdom for the first time since 2007 and leads, 37-9-1, in the biennial event. The U.S. won, 19-7, two years ago at Los Angeles Golf Club.
John Augenstein of Owensboro, Ky., scored the winning point with a 4-and-3 victory over Thomas Plumb of England.
“It really doesn’t matter who clinches it,” said Augenstein, lost to Andy Ogeltree of Littlerock, Miss., 2 and 1, last month in the United States Amateur final at Pinehurst No. 2. “The fact is that we’re a team and we won the Walker Cup for each other and for the United States and whoever else that we’re representing. It was really cool, and it was a special moment, but I did not know exactly that I had clinched it.
“ … I knew there was a lot of red up there (on the scoreboard).”
Salinda defeated Alex Fitpatrick of England, 2 up; John Pak of Scotch Plains, N.J., beat Euan Walker of Scotland, 2 and 1; Alex Smalley of Greensboro, N.C., downed Caolan Rafferty of Ireland, 2 and 1; Hagestad trounced Harry Hall of England, 5 and 3; Ogeltree got past Connor Gough of England, 2 and 1; Akshay Bhatia of Wake Forest, N.C., defeated James Sagrue of Ireland, 4 and 2, and Cole Hammer of Houston routed Conor Purcell of Ireland, 6 and 4.
Great Britain and Ireland earned its singles points on the second day when Sandy Scott of Scotland beat Brandon Wu of Scarsdale, N.Y., and Stanford, 4 and 3, and Tom Sloman of England defeated Steven Fisk of Stockbridge, Ga., 2 up.
Pak finished with the best record of the weekend, 3-0-0, while Scott led Great Britain and Ireland at 2-1-1.
The American rally started with a 2-1-1 edge in Sunday morning foursomes.
“I honestly thought that these guys would let their talent come to the surface,” said U.S. captain Nathaniel Crosby, the 1981 U.S. Amateur champion, who was born and raised in Hillsborough. “I liked the idea that the wind was laying down a little bit this afternoon, but these guys have been over here for seven or eight days. The singles were amazing. The guys played great.
“These guys are inseparable and they’ve got a great memory now. This Walker Cup experience is going to be a memory, and a winning memory at that. … I’m really excited. I havenwon won anything in about 38 years.”
Great Britain and Ireland took a 7-5 lead after the first day of matches.
For complete results, visit http://www.walkercup.org/#!teamcup
