One of the most prestigious amateur contests, the Walker Cup, marks its 50th edition at Cypress Point in 2025.
The two-day match played between top male amateurs from the US and Great Britain & Ireland began in 1922.
Since then, it has been largely dominated by the US, with an overall record of 39 wins, just nine defeats and one tie. But how often has the Great Britain & Ireland team beaten the US in its backyard? Here are the details.
Such was the early dominance of the Americans in the match that Great Britain & Ireland didn’t get its first win either home or away until the 10th edition, when John Beck’s team triumphed 7.5-4.5 at the Old Course, St Andrews in 1938.
It was another 27 years until Great Britain & Ireland came close again, this time in the 1965 contest in the US at Baltimore Country Club. The match finished tied 12-12, meaning that the hosts retained the trophy as the defending champions.
While that might have hinted at more successful times to come on its travels for Great Britain & Ireland, it proved a false dawn, with the team's first Walker Cup victory in the US having to wait until 1989, when the match was held at Peachtree Golf Club in Atlanta.
On that occasion, Geoff Marks’ team edged out Fred Ridley’s hosts by 12.5-11.5 to finally triumph on US soil and claim just its third-ever victory in Walker Cup history.
While it didn’t open the floodgates for Great Britain & Ireland's success in the US, a second win in the country came in 2001 at Ocean Forest Golf Club in Sea Island, Georgia, when Peter McEvoy’s side beat the hosts 15-9.
Three more Great Britain & Ireland victories have come since that occasion, in 2003, 2011 and 2015, but on each occasion, it was on home soil. Meanwhile, the US went into the 2025 Walker Cup looking for its fifth consecutive win.
While that outlines the daunting task facing the visitors this year, another omen not working in its favour is the one other time Cypress Point hosted the match. That came in 1981, when the US ran out 15-9 victors.
