Stewart cites ‘passion’ of Edwards as key to memorable triumph

The Welshman had come in for criticism in the build up to the event after the controversial decision to omit David Law, the two-time Scottish champion and a Royal Aberdeen member, from the ten-man team.

But Stewart, who provided one of the crucial final-session singles wins over the Balgownie Links, said the GB&I captain had played a key part in the 14-12 victory.

“Nigel is so passionate about the Walker Cup,” said the Ayrshireman. “When you’ve got someone like that as your captain, it is easy for the players to be passionate about the event as well. His preparation was second to none and it was a pleasure to play for him.”

Stewart, who picked up two-and-a-half points from his four matches, played down the fact GB&I had managed to beat an American team reckoned to be one of the strongest in the event’s history. “We didn’t think at any point that we were underdogs,” added the 21-year-old. “We never paid any attention to what others were saying. We focused on what we were doing and it paid off.”

Banchory’s James Byrne, the other Scot in the winning team, said: “I’ve been dreaming about this for four or five years. To do it at home makes it even more special.”

In four appearances as a player, Edwards won twice and lost twice. “This gets my nose in front in the series,” said the Welshman. “I said to [R&A chief executive] Peter Dawson that I’d prefer to be playing but that wasn’t possible and, thankfully, I was able to leave it down to these boys.”

Edwards said he had told his players to ignore the hype about an American side that contained the world’s top four players as well as two winners on the Nationwide Tour this year.

“I knew what people had been saying and what had been written but I told the players to focus on what they were doing and forget about anything else,” he added. “They have proved this week they are special people. They are a credit to themselves, their families and their countries.”

Edwards said the two squad sessions he had held at Royal Aberdeen had paid dividends, especially as the Americans were blown off course by a strong wind yesterday morning.

“We prepared properly,” he said. “That was the whole idea of asking the R&A if we could come here twice. We were used to the conditions out there and the boys did brilliant today.”

Englishman Stiggy Hodgson was the sole survivor from the GB&I team that had lost heavily at Merion two years ago and he said: “Two years ago it really hurt but this is unbelievable and it couldn’t have happened to a better bunch of players.”

Jim Holtgrieve, the US captain, admitted his players had struggled in the wind as they lost the second-day foursomes 3.5-0.5. “Even though we had played in similar conditions, I think it takes time to get used to them,” he said. “They [GB&I] are used to these conditions and I think that maybe gave them an edge. Some of the shots we hit should probably have been run a little bit more, but that’s experience.”

He also reckoned that GB&I had holed more important putts over the two days. “They didn’t make as many today as yesterday but, overall, they got real hot with the putters.”

Two of his players, Peter Uihlein and Jordan Spieth, said the Americans had still been confident despite trailing 10.5-5.5 heading into the singles.

“We still thought we had a great chance,” said Uihlein, last year’s US Amateur champion. “Historically I think the singles have tended to favour us.”

Two-time US Junior champion Spieth added: “We got pretty close and, given how far back we were, it was a great fight.”