Incredible escape shot was highlight of Walker Cup for Gavin Tiernan

County Louth's Gavin Tiernan was the only Great Britain and Ireland player to win a point in the Sunday singles at the Walker Cup.

Mon, 08 Sep, 2025 - 16:49

PJ Browne

Gavin Tiernan was the only Great Britain and Ireland player to win a match in the Sunday singles at the Walker Cup. The County Louth golfer beat Michael La Sasso 2&1 as the USA won 17-9 to claim victory in the competition for the fifth consecutive time. The USA had led 8.5-7.5 going into the singles.

On the 16th, Tiernan's ball ended up on the beach at Cypress Point nestled between some rocks. Remarkably, Tiernan managed to extricate himself from the situation to halve the hole. At that stage, most of the GB&I team, including his fellow clubman Stuart Grehan, were out watching Tiernan play.

"It was pretty rocky down there," said Tiernan.

"We didn't think there was any chance really, and then we were kind of looking in the long grass, and Cody, my caddie, went down and was like, I see it here, and it was just sitting perched on top. There was a couple of rocks around, and then obviously when I got it out of there and heard the cheer from the boys, that was pretty funny. That was definitely one of my favorite moments."

Tiernan added that getting to play at Cypress Point was "surreal".

"You have to be so dialed in on your approach play, and it demands a lot of you around the greens," he said.

"Every time I think I got out on some of these holes, it's still tough to believe that it's a real place sometimes. Just kind of taking away how really lucky we all are to be able to play a course like this in the Walker Cup I think is just very cool.

"Obviously we come here to win, and obviously everyone is a little disappointed, but I think we can look back knowing that we all gave it 100%, and I think that's all that really matters."

The 2026 Walker Cup is being played at Lahinch.