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| The GB&I's Eamonn "Stiggy" Hodgson reacts in disbelief after his 18th-hole putt curled to the right at the last second. (John Mummert/USGA) |
By David Shefter, USGA
Ardmore, Pa. – As the ball rolled toward the wicker flackstick, Stiggy Hodgson’s eyes brightened. The large gallery surrounding Merion Golf Club’s 18th green slowly began to roar, the volume increasing with each foot the ball advanced.
Hodgson raised his 5-hybrid in the air and wanted to unleash a fiery fist-pump similar to the one he demonstrated at the 10th hole when his 12-foot birdie disappeared from sight.
But the miracle shot was not to be. The ball curled to the right – amidst a large groan (or sigh depending on the rooting interest) – and the American duo of Rickie Fowler and Bud Cauley managed to escape their Great Britain and Ireland counterparts’ late surge for a 1-up foursomes (alternate shot) victory Sunday morning at the 42nd Walker Cup Match.
The one point gave the USA a commanding 11-5 lead going into the final 10 singles matches of the biennial competition. As the defenders, the Americans need only 13 points to retain the Cup and 13½ to win it outright.
Unless past GB&I stalwarts Luke Donald, Paul Casey, Nick Dougherty and Padraig Harrington somehow get their amateur status back within the next few hours, the situation looks bleak for the visitors.
“We have 10 points to play for in the afternoon,” said Hodgson’s partner Niall Kearney of Ireland, “so we’ll see what happens.”
Getting Hodgson’s chip to fall would have certainly helped. Hodgson and Kearney fell 2 down after 14 holes, but still managed to take the match to 18.
“I thought it was going to turn in and I was going to have to drop [my 30-foot birdie putt],” said Fowler, a 20-year-old from Murrieta, Calif. “Like I said, they played awesome.”
Even with the 1-up lead at 18 and Hodgson’s near-heroics, the Americans still needed to get down in two to secure the point. Fowler’s lag putt rolled 3 feet beyond the hole. The 19-year-old Cauley wasn’t faced with a difficult come-backer, but he still had plenty of eyes looking over the par attempt, including USA Captain George “Buddy” Marucci, a Merion member.
Once he settled on the correct line, Cauley calmly stroked the ball into the hole.
“I wanted as many opinions as I could get,” said Cauley, a Jacksonville, Fla., resident who is a sophomore at the University of Alabama. “It really just came down to trying to make a good stroke. It was a pretty simple putt.”
It appeared as if Fowler/Cauley might run away from their opponents after taking a 2-up lead at the turn when Fowler holed a 6-foot birdie putt at the par-3 ninth. But Hodgson made his 12-footer at No. 10 right before Fowler missed from 6 feet and then Kearney’s brilliant pitch from behind the par-4 11th green set up a winning par.
Even with the American winning holes 13 and 14 – Fowler made a 5-foot birdie at 13 and GB&I conceded the 14th after a poor drive into a fairway bunker – Fowler found himself in unfamiliar territory. For the first time in three matches this week, Fowler actually had to play what members call the “Tragedy.”
The first six holes are deemed the “Drama”, with the next seven the “Comedy” because that stretch features several short, but devilish holes. The final five holes - four long par 4s and the 248-yard par-3 17th - are the “Tragedy,” mainly due to their brute length and difficulty.
In Saturday’s sessions, Fowler played just 25 holes in winning his foursomes match with Cauley ( 6 and 5) and his singles match against Sam Hutsby (7 and 6). Nevertheless, Fowler quickly got reacquainted with Merion’s punishing finish, even if hadn’t seen the holes since Friday’s final practice session.
At the par-4 16th, a hole that features a second shot over an old quarry, Cauley’s approach from the right rough left Fowler an uphill 15-footer for birdie. Meanwhile, Kearney had knocked his second shot from a near-impossible angle left of the fairway to 6 feet, setting up a sure birdie.
The experienced Fowler, who played on the victorious 2007 Walker Cup team, rolled in the birdie, forcing the 19-year-old Englishman Hodgson to make his putt to keep the match going. He did hole the putt and the GB&I team won No. 17 with a two-putt par from 60 feet, taking the match to 18.
“I had more than enough time on the last holes out here,” said Fowler. “I just got lucky [on Saturday]. To win two matches that big doesn’t happen all too often. It was a lot of fun to play those last few holes. It was a fun match. They made some clutch putts on 16 and 17 … and Stiggy almost holed it from off the green on 18. Bud saved my butt on the last hole here.”
And now Fowler is in position to close out his amateur career with one of the best winning percentages in Walker Cup history. He posted a 3-1 mark in 2007 in the Americans’ one-point victory at Royal County Down in Northern Ireland and he’s 3-0 in 2009. The last player on either side to post a 7-1 record in consecutive Walker Cups was Donald (1999 and 2001).
“This is why I stuck around,” said Fowler, who plans to make his professional debut next week at the Albertsons Boise (Idaho) Open on the Nationwide Tour. “ I think a lot of the guys knew it was a cool thing and a cool experience to be in the Walker Cup, but now that they are experiencing it, they know why I stuck around.”
David Shefter is a USGA Digital Media staff writer. E-mail him with questions or comments at dshefter@usga.org.
