The USA Walker Cup Team poses with the trophy after defeating Great Britain & Ireland 14-12 at Seminole Golf Club in Juno Beach, Fla. on Sunday, May 9, 2021. (Chris Keane/USGA)

Kinsale’s John Murphy and Kilkenny’s Mark Power ran out of steam in the singles but they could hold their heads up high as the United States of America was forced to sweat blood to clinch a 14-12 win and their third Walker Cup win on the trot at Seminole Golf Club in Florida.

The Irish duo played a stellar role, beating world No 2 Pierceson Coody and No 10 John Pak 1-up in a thriller to claim their second foursomes win from as many outings.

Trailing 7-5 overnight, their win helped Great Britain and Ireland claim the morning foursomes session 1.5-2.5 and go into the final singles just a point behind.

Stuart Wilson’s warriors required six points from ten to become just the third side in the event’s 100-year history to win on US soil.

But while it was not to be as they lost the after session 5.5-4.5 — an out of sorts Power falling 7&6 to Austin Eckroat and an equally tired Murphy falling 2&1 to world No 10 Ricky Castillo — Stuart Wilson’s GB&I side produced the most spirited away performance for years in a match they were expected to lose comfortably.

In truth, they will feel that they had the firepower to pull off a win.

“It’s been a great weekend of golf,” Captain Wilson said. “It's Walker Cup after all. The guys have come out fighting and tried to equip themselves as best they can. Unfortunately wasn't their weekend.

“The guys have been hanging in well. I think looking at it from our perspective, we maybe let the Americans get away with a little but too much and a few slack shots here and there. But hats to have to the USA team and Nathaniel for pulling the victory off.”

Power finished the week with three points out of four while Murphy won both his foursomes he lost his singles to two stars in Cole Hammer and Castillo, who won all four matches.

Handed the honour of leading out the side in the morning, the Irish duo got off the perfect start, going birdie, birdie, eagle to race three-up on Coody and the highly-rated Pak, the low amateur at last year’s US Open.
The Americans roared back to square the match on the 17th but they couldn’t match a closing par four by the Irish pair, set up by Murphy’s stellar five iron to the green.

“As I've said, I'd rather have no one else rather than John by my side,” Power said. “We just tried to keep everything as simple as possible. It's obviously a huge occasion, but for us we want to just enjoy it.

“I know it's a cliche, but if we're having fun and enjoying ourselves out there, normally good golf comes with that.

“I think this morning the start we got off to was just incredible, and we just tried to feed off that all day. Obviously Pierceson and John, great players, they came back at us, but the shot he hit into the last, that 5-iron, it's pretty hard to describe how impressive that was, so definitely going to give credit to my Cork man here.”

The pair have known each other since they first played together in the Munster Under 15s and their close bond was key as they claimed their second foursomes win.

“I mean, we've known each for so long,” Murphy said. “It's just great to be out there with a friend in such a big moment.

“We just had such a good time all day. Even when we were losing holes or dropping shots, we just said, let's just enjoy every moment of this. Let's stay present and make good swings and enjoy it all while we're here, and that's what we did, and thankfully it paid off in the end.”

John Murphy, L, and Mark Power celebrate on the 10th hole during Foursomes at the 2021 Walker Cup at Seminole Golf Club in Juno Beach, Fla. on Sunday, May 9, 2021. (Chris Keane/USGA)

It didn’t go their way in the singles, however, as Power was five-over to two-under by Eckroat, a player who tied for 12th in the PGA Tour’s Mayakoba Golf Classic last year.

Murphy, who plans to turn professional, was devastated to lose 2&1 to Castillo and he may have been emotionally spent after the excitement of the morning as he lost four of the first five holes to pars, his only win coming with an eagle at the third.

He was three down with nine to play but while he got back to two down twice on the back nine, he watched Castillo make a big putt for bogey on the 17th and missed from around eight feet for a win that would have taken the match down the last.

While Joe Long, Matty Lamb, Jack Dyer and Angus Flanagan clinched win and Barclay Brown claimed a half, star player Alex Fitzpatrick crucially finished with zero points out of four and wins for Americans Hammer and Stewart Hagestad at the bottom of the order sealed it for the home side

“It was such an evenly matched contest and our guys were really fired up,” US captain Nathanial Crosby said after his second win as skipper and his third overall having won as a player in 1983. “GB&I, it just means so much to them, and the windy conditions with the firm fast greens, I thought it might be to their advantage a little bit.”

He added: “To come back to my home club at Seminole Golf Club, I been playing golf here since I first set foot out here when I was 14 playing with my dad, and a few years later got four rounds with Ben Hogan.

"So I've been blessed with my golf experiences, and to be able to win a Walker Cup as captain at Seminole Golf Club is just too good to be true.”

48th Walker Cup Match, Seminole Golf Club:

United States def. Great Britain and Ireland, 14-12

Sunday Morning Foursomes

Mark Power and John Murphy, GB&I def. Pierceson Coody and John Pak, USA, 1 up
Ricky Castillo and William Mouw, USA def. Alex Fitzpatrick and Barclay Brown, GB&I, 1 up
Angus Flanagan and Ben Schmidt, GB&I and Davis Thompson and Cole Hammer, USA, tied
Matty Lamb and Jack Dyer, GB&I def. Stewart Hagestad and Tyler Strafaci, USA, 6 and 5

Sunday Afternoon Singles

Austin Eckroat, USA def. Mark Power, GB&I, 7 and 6
Pierceson Coody, USA def. Alex Fitzpatrick, GB&I, 3 and 1
Joe Long, GB&I def. John Pak, USA, 1 up
Matty Lamb, GB&I def. Davis Thompson, USA, 2 up
Quade Cummins, USA and Barclay Brown, GB&I, tied
Angus Flanagan, GB&I def. William Mouw, USA, 1 up
Ricky Castillo, USA def. John Murphy, GB&I, 2 and 1
Jack Dyer, GB&I vs. Tyler Strafaci, USA, 1 up
Cole Hammer, USA def. Ben Schmidt, GB&I, 4 and 3
Stewart Hagestad, USA def. Ben Jones, GB&I, 4 and 2