United States retain Walker Cup in thrilling finish

GB&I GO DOWN BY ONE POINT AFTER GREAT
COMEBACK IN FINAL SINGLES

Great Britain & Ireland narrowly lost one of the best Walker Cup matches of recent times by 12 1/2-11 1/2 over the Royal County Down links in Northern Ireland today.
United States advanced the first-day scoreline of 6-6 to 10-6 by making a clean sweep of the four foursomes - and that, in the final analysis, was to prove the deciding session of play.
Skipper Colin Dalgleish's men made a great effort to make up the 4pt leeway in the final session of eight singles but came up only an agonising point short of levelling the scoreline.
Lloyd Saltman, the only Scot in the GB&I team, was dropped from the second-day foursomes after losing in both sessions of Saturday play but he responded with a winning performance in the Sunday singles.
Great Britain & Ireland's dramatic fight-back in the final series of singles matches came to an end when America's Jonathan Moore fired a superb long-iron into the par-5 18th and holed from less than four feet for an eagle and a one-hole win over Nigel Edwards to give the United States the extra point they needed for outright victory.
The classic links of Royal County Down resounded with the cheers of 10,000 spectators as GB&I battled almost impossible odds in the final singles.
GB&I's Sunday afternoon target was to collect six and a half points from the eight at stake. They came so close with victories for Rory McIlroy, Rhys Davies, Lloyd Saltman, Jonathan Caldwell and David Horsey and a fighting half from Daniel Willett.
Buddy Marucci, the USA captain, said: "These are just great matches. It's wonderful golf. It's so great for the game. It was a great performance from the GB&I team. I just feel so fortunate to have won on foreign soil. I have to give alot of credit to our guys."
GB&I team captain Colin Dalgleish said: "I'm gutted for the team. I said to them whatever happened today I would be proud of them. This morning cost us big time. To lose the foursomes 4-0 was an absolute killer. The US played very well this morning so credit to them. Coming back from four points down is a tough shout but we made a very good run at it and we just ended up losing by a point. The US team were great and we congratulate them whole-heartedly."
In the end, amateur golf was the real winner. There is still a big place for the unpaid game even in this world of Tiger Woods & Co.
SUNDAY SINGLES RESULTS
McIlroy bt Horschel 4 and 2.
Davies bt Fowler 3 and 2.
Willett halved with Knost.
Saltman bt Kuehne 2 and 1.
Caldwell bt Stanley 2 holes.
Edwards lost to Moore 1 hole.]
Moul lost to Lovemark 4 and 3.
Horsey bt Simpson 1 hole.
GB&I 5 1/2, UNITED STATES 2 1/2
Overall: GB&I 11 1/2, UNITED STATES 12 1/2