If your club professional is nowhere to be seen around the local course this morning then cut them a bit of slack. They’re probably still recovering from a quite astonishing conclusion to the 27th PGA Cup at CordeValle as Great Britain & Ireland triumphed on American soil for the first time in the event’s 42-year history.
In the searing heat of California, the biennial battle between the club pros from either side of the Atlantic came down to the last hole of the last match as the visitors clinched a slender 13 ½ - 12 ½ victory. It was GB&I’s first win in the transatlantic tussle since 2005. That last success was achieved in Ireland. In 2015 it was an Irishman who ended the drought in the parched Santa Clara Valley.
Niall Kearney, whose last taste of team competition came during his amateur days when he was part of the GB&I side that lost heavily to the US in the 2009 Walker Cup, was the ultimate hero in a team packed with them. The 27-year-old Dubliner kept his head when everybody peering on were probably losing theirs amid the unbearable tension. With the match finely balanced at 12 ½ - 12 ½, Kearney found himself protecting a one hole advantage coming on to the par-5 18th tee in his match with Alan Morin. History was in his hands but he almost let it slip through his fingers.
With Morin on the green in three, Kearney’s wedge approach from the light rough came out hot, bounced over the back of the green and left him with a perilous pitch over a bunker. By this stage, the finger nails in the GB&I camp were being chewed into calloused stumps and the weight on Kearney’s shoulders was almost as heavy as the load old Atlas had to burden. The Irishman stood firm, though. He flopped a delightful effort to about eight-feet and when Morin missed his long birdie putt, Kearney rolled in a nerveless putt to halve the hole, win the match and spark scenes of unbridled joy. It may not command the same profile as the Ryder Cup, the Solheim Cup, the Walker Cup or the Curtis Cup but this victory meant a huge amount to a huge amount of people. After the rousing 13-13 draw at Slaley Hall in 2013, this titanic clash over three days of terrific golf has breathed new life into a contest that the Americans have dominated down the years.
“I’d actually practised that shot from behind the green in the build up to the event and I was fortunate that I had a good lie,” said Kearney, who was the calmest man in the CordeValle cauldron. “In the circumstances, it had to be the best shot of my career because you’re not doing it for yourself, you’re doing it for the whole team.”
In had been a real team effort. “Niall is looking at eight feet of California real estate like it’s the easiest thing in the world and that’s the reason he was at No 10 because he is so calm,” said a jubilant GB&I captain Jon Bevan, who was part of the GB&I team that lost by a similar one point margin in America back in 2007. “He doesn’t get the nickname ‘two beats’ for nothing. There’s not a lot going on in the chest area when he’s playing but I might have a word with him about playing the last an easier way. He coped with every situation and I'm proud of him. I’m proud of every one of them. They gave everything and they have left everything in CordeValle. There’s nothing left.”
Tied at 8-8 going into the final ten singles, it was the hosts who started brightly and were up in seven of the matches early on. The pendulum can quickly turn in matchplay golf, of course, and GB&I began to seize the initiative.
Gareth Wright, the Welsh Tartan Tour campaigner, lost the top match 2&1 to Michael Block but David Dixon got GB&I back on terms with a 4&3 win over Stuart Deane.
Scotsman Graham Fox was equally as inspired. Two down after eight against Ben Polland, Fox conjured a sizzling surge of five birdies in a row from the ninth to power in front and claim a crucial 4&2 success. “I noticed that there was a lot of American red on the board and I had to make something happen,” said Fox. “I told our vice-captain to inform the rest of the boys on the course that if I can make five birdies in a row, then they can too.”
Englishman Jason Levermore also mounted a remarkable salvage operation as he pitched in with a super point. Three down after 10 against Jamie Broce, the 36-year-old holed his second shot on the par-4 11th to ignite his charge before another eagle at 15, a birdie at 16 and another birdie on the last completed a magical turnaround and gave him a one hole win.
It was captivating stuff all round and, given the tightness of the duels, it was inevitable that there would be a dramatic denouement on the last. It had been a thoroughly captivating day. There was even a bit of controversy flung in for good measure. In the Dixon and Deane match, Dixon picked up his ball that was sitting barely three inches from the hole in the belief that the putt had been conceded while Deane maintained it hadn’t. Some 5,500 miles in Germany at the Solheim Cup, all hell broke loose during a similar incident over a ‘gimme’ that wasn’t. Here in California, any lingering issue was nipped in the bud. The American captain, Allen Wronowski, stepped in and told Deane to concede a hole, which he did on the 14th. The incident clearly riled Dixon – “I’ve never experienced anything like it in 15 years as a professional” – but there would be no repeat of the Solheim shenanigans. “We always say that someone will walk away with the trophy but the ultimate winner always has to be golf,” said Wronowski.
“I’m so pleased with what Allen did,” added Sandy Jones, the chief executive of the PGA. “It took out any debate and stigma. It’s ironic that it happened today of all days but maybe it just demonstrates how the game should be played.”
PGA Cup, USA v Great Britain & Ireland, CordeValle, Final day results
USA 12 ½ - Great Britain & Ireland 13 ½
Singles (US names first)
M Block bt G Wright 2&1
S Deane lost to D Dixon 4&3
B Polland lost to G Fox 4&2
J Broce lost to J Levermore 1 hole
O Uresti bt M Watson 1 hole
M Dobyns bt C Clark 2&1
S Dougherty halved with L Clarke
B Sowards bt P Hendriksen 2 holes
G Sturgeon lost to A Wrigley 3&1
A Morin lost to N Kearney 1 hole
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