Bravo GB & I. Bravo Captain Dean Robertson. The 11-year victory wait is over.
Yes, it’s been 11 long years in the waiting but the Walker Cup is back in GB & I hands after the home team’s stunning come-from-behind one point victory in the very last match at Lahinch on the west coast of Ireland.
The Dean Robertson superbly led GB & I side winning 13 1/ to USA 12 1/2 in the 51st hosting of the Walker Cup.
The GB & I team rallied from an almost uncertainty to capture the championship for a first occasion since 2015 and in doing so pulled off the biggest comeback in the history of the competition that was first staged in 1922.
BRAVO GB&I, BRAVO DEAN ROBERTSON ….
The 11-year @WalkerCup drought is over as ‘Deano’s’ @DeanoGolf99 men pull off stunning victory in the final match of the cup’s 51st hosting
It is also the biggest comeback to claim victory in the 51-year history of the competition… pic.twitter.com/L4SXMQKBFE
— Fatiha (@TOURMISS) September 6, 2026
Securing the precious one point victory was England’s Josh Hill who was all-square with USA rival Tyler Watts heading down the last until the sheer delight for the majority watching on when Hill holed his four foot birdie putt to secure victory.
Helping steer the ‘home’ side to success was the Sunday Singles efforts of GB & Is first four players in Stuart Graham, Luke Poulter, Jack Whaley and Tyler Weaver winning their respective matches 2 & 1, 3 & 1, 8 & 7 and 4 & 3.
The four went out first in the scheduled last round of 10 matches.
Earlier GB & I headed into Sunday leading by just one point but losing all four Sunday morning Foursome encounters to be down 9 1/2 to 6 1/2.
That all changed thanks to four GB & I wins in the first four Singles encounters turning the score around for GB & I to go one clear at 10 1/2 and from there the Dean Robertson led team were not going to be denied and this despite the apparent negativity eminating from TV coverage of the event that GB & I would pull-up shy of success.
Yes, the USA easily won the seventh and also the last two matches very comfortably while Niall Sheils Donegan halved his match for the score to be 12 1/2 apiece and one match still to be completed.
That match was match 8 of 10 and Hill and knowing he needed a birdie as a half would have sealed it for the visitors to retain the cup if the matches ended 12 1/2 apiece.
Hill had found a greenside bunker with his approach shot but then produced a stunning up-and-down from the bunker ahead of throwing his right arm skyward in holing his four-footer birdie to deliver Dean Robertson’s men the most remarkable success.
The comeback win sparked comparisons to the Medinah Ryder Cup in 2012 and ended a run of five successive victories for the United States. It was Great Britain & Ireland’s first victory in the match since 2015 at Royal Lytham – and their first ever on win on Irish soil at the third attempt.
Deano was shedding tears of joy as he greeted his men.
“I believed in the team the whole time,” he said.
“They worked so hard and played so well. This morning, the Americans were so good, but I am just so proud of every one of them. This is so special.”
The result is a super reward for Deano after his 2025 side was crushed by eight points a year ago at Cypress Point.
“I believed in the team the whole time,” he said. “They worked so hard and played so well. This morning, the Americans were so good, but I am just so proud of every one of them. This is so special.”
And here’s what Paul McGinley had to say on the Golf Channel …
And what a celebration it now promises for Robertson’s men tonight in Lahinch and in the days, weeks and months ahead.
One award that could be heading the team’s way is the prestigious Association of Golf Writers (AGW) ‘Golfer/Team of the Year’ honour and yes, in a year Rory McIlroy captured a second Masters title.
The Sunday Singles results from the 51st hosting of The Walker Cup. (Image Walker Cup)
