1926 – St. Andrews

GB&I 5 – 6 USA

June 2-3, 1926
The Old Course, St. Andrews, Fife, Scotland,
6,572 yards / Par 73

Captains: Robert Harris (GB&I) and Robert Gardner (USA)

Day 1 Foursomes (GB&I players first)
Roger Wethered / Sir Ernest Holderness beat Francis Ouimet / Jesse Guildford 4&3
Robert. Harris / Maj. Charles Hezlet lost to Jess Sweetser / George Von Elm 8&7
Cyril Tolley / Andrew Jamieson lost to Bobby Jones Jr / Watts Gunn 4&3
Eustace Storey / Hon. W. Brownlow lost to Robert Gardiner / Roland Mackenzie 1 hole.
GB&I 1 – USA 3

Day 2 Singles
Cyril Tolley lost to Bobby Jones Jr 12&11
Sir Ernest Holderness lost to Jesse Sweetser 4&3
Roger Wethered beat Francis Ouimet 5&4
Maior Charles Hezlet halved with George Von Elm
Robert Harris beat Jesse Guilford 3&1
Hon. William Brownlow lost to Watts Gunn 9&8
Eustace Storey beat Roland McKenzie 2&1
Andrew Jamieson beat Robert Gardner 5&4
GB&I 4 – USA 3

Match Result: GB&I 5 – USA 6

Series Results: USA 4 – GB&I 0 (after Match 4)

British Pathé video footage of the 1926 Match

WC 1926 US Team1926 U.S. Walker Cup Team

(l-r) Bobby Jones, Robert Gardner, Roland MacKenzie, Jesse Sweetser, George Von Elm, Francis Ouimet, Jesse Guilford and Watts Gunn (© Acme News Pictures)

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Match Notes

Prior to the 1926 Walker Cup the visiting USA team played in The St. George’s Challenge Cup at Royal St. George’s and practice matches against The Oxford and Cambridge Golfing Society at Rye and “The Moles” at Woking G.C. “The Moles”, including two GB&I Walker Cup players (Harris and Hezlet), beat the Amercians 6-3.

The 1926 Amateur Championship took place the week before the Walker Cup match at Muirfield. Jess Sweetser became the first American to win the trophy beating A.F. Simpson 6&5 in the Final.

Sweetser’s win would start a long run of success for American players in the Amateur Championship in years when the Walker Cup was played in Britain. It was only broken in 1963 when England’s Michael Lunt won at St. Andrews.

Bobby Jones, who had lost in the Quarter finals of the Amateur to Andrew Jamieson Jr, stayed on to play in the Open Championship.  He qualified at Sunningdale G.C. with his famous round of 66 before winning the claret jug at Royal Lytham & St. Anne’s G.C. Later that summer he won the U.S. Open to become the first player in history to take both Open titles in the same year.

For the first time the American travelling party returned home with the Amateur Championship trophy, the Walker Cup and the Claret Jug from their summer trip to the United Kingdom.

Roger Wethered by MAC

Sir Ernest Holderness by MAC

Major Charles Hezlet by MAC

Cyril Tolley by MAC

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