Lahinch was the big winner as it prepares for the 2026 Walker Cup after the biggest crowds yet seen at the Arnold Palmer Cup saw the USA exert their dominance in the singles to retain the trophy.
The venerable Co Clare links is eagerly counting down to the biennial clash between Great Britain and Ireland and the United States and the Arnold Palmer Cup was the perfect dress rehearsal as huge galleries watched the US win the singles battle 14.5-9.5 to claim the title 32.5-27.5.
Tied 18-18 overnight, no fewer than 13 of the 24 matches went to the final hole with the Americans gleaning seven and a half points that proved the difference in the end.
International coach Barry Fennelly felt the late great Arnold Palmer would have been smiling down on the scene.
“Oh, I think so,” he said. “Looking beyond these matches for a moment at all these people in Lahinch on the west coast of Ireland, this is what it’s all about. This is why you get out of bed in the morning.
“I am very proud of what happened here; how the games were played, the people coming out to watch and the kids getting inspired. I hope he is looking down and giving us the thumbs up.”
As for the result, the Maynooth University coach knew the Internationals faced a tough task when they failed to take the lead out of Saturday’s session of foursomes and mixed foursomes, and while players like Josele Ballester, Calum Scott and Filip Jakubcik put early points on the board, the US had too much strength in depth.
World number one Gordon Sargent was an estimated eight-under-par in sunny, windless conditions as he beat Bastien Amat 5&4.
The result was still far from clear late in the afternoon until the Americans edged it in their favour late in the day, with Irish players heavily involved.
Maynooth’s Ryan Griffin fell by one hole to Maxwell Ford before recently crowned Women’s Amateur champion Melanie Green produced an otherwordly putting performance to beat Douglas’ Sara Byrne one-up.
Byrne was three-up after 11 holes but Green had nine single putts in a row and played the last seven holes in four-under to turn the match on its head.
After making birdies at the 12th and 13th to cut the gap to one hole, Green made an 18-footer for a half at the 14th, then drained a 40-footer to win the 15th and level the match as Byrne missed from eight feet.
The American made a 10-footer to halve the 16th, then made a 12-footer at the 17th to edge in front as Byrne lipped out before closing out the match with a par at the 18th.
“I wanted to throw that putter into the Atlantic!” Byrne confessed. “She had nine single putts in a row, nearly ten, which is hard to beat, but I gave it my all.
“I tried to go in after her, but mine just lipped out, and hers lipped, and that’s the way it was.
“Honestly, I played really, really well. I am proud of myself for rallying on as much as I did, but again, the putts just didn’t drop when they needed to.
“She made an 18-footer on 14 and a nice 40-footer on 15, and I was just laughing at that point and thinking, ‘What am I supposed to do?’”
Max Kennedy halved his match with world number four Ben James with his half in par at the 17th the key to a great battle.
With the American 35 feet away, the Royal Dublin man faced an impossible recovery from greenside rough on the right but eventually made a right-to-left breaking 30-footer for par before the last was halved in birdies.
“I didn’t have a whole lot to work with with with the chip shot,” Kennedy said of a game he led one-up until James birdied the 15th from eight feet. “And then that putt was pretty cool.
“I thought I could make it, though! It had a good three or four feet of break right to left. And it was phenomenal and just dropped in the edge. It was a great putt.”
Kennedy headed straight to the airport for this week’s European Amateur Team Championships in Turin proud of his performance.
“I played well all week,” he said. “Today, me and Ben had a really good battle and went head to head for the entire day. There wasn’t more than one in it all day and I think a half was a fair result today.
“It’s one of the best weeks I’ve ever had, especially being here in Ireland. Being here in Lahinch, which is probably the home of golf in Ireland, I couldn’t have asked for a better week.”
Both Byrne and Kennedy walked away blown away by the quality of the golf and the participants.
“This is one of the biggest events in the world, honestly,” Byrne said. “You have the best men and women in the world, and not only has it been the most fun ever, but it has also been an unbelievable experience, knowing my ball striking is up there with the best.
“So many of my matches came down 18 here, and some days, the putts dropped for them, and others, they dropped for us. It’s been an absolutely insane week, and these players are the best in the world.
Coach Fennelly was disappointed not to leave Lahinch with a win but he admitted Saturday was the turning point.
“A bit of a cushion (going into Sunday) would have been lovely,” he said. “To be honest, I can’t fault our guys. They gave it 100 per cent. They started so well, won the first three games, had great momentum.
“I would say with four or five games left on the course, we had a great chance if everything went our way, but unfortunately, we were four light at the end. The 18th wasn’t kind to us in the last hour.
“They were certainly better down the stretch today and managed to turn around and close out a couple of games, so it was very, very tight.
“I think both sides were very evenly matched, but it’s a pity. We’d have loved to give the Irish fans and home support something to cheer about but hopefully they’re proud of the effort.”
“But overall, what a week. We can’t thank the golf club, the Palmer Foundation and everybody involved enough.”
Surveying the huge crowd at the 18th, he said: “Just a shout out to Lahinch. Look at this. Look at the matches, look at the moments this event has created and hopefully it inspires people to take up the game.
“Hopefully it inspires kids who have been out here watching to get involved in golf, that’s what it’s all about.
“I was very fortunate two years ago in Geneva when we had Ludvig Aberg on the team and he’s gone on to the upper echelons of the world of pro golf but even to be around him and watching him play and how handles himself, that was a treat.
“There’s no doubt we’re looking at future stars here, so many good players, and this has proved to be such a great stepping stone to greatness in the game, Ryder Cup players, major winners, so note down these names this week.
“Max Kennedy has showed what a competitor he is. A clubman of mine and just so proud of how he’s handled himself, of how he played. He’s one to watch.
“He really rose to the occasion and to be fair Sara was fantastic, Ryan and Kate got a brilliant victory on day one. Unfortunately, just a couple of matches yesterday and today were very tight, but our Irish did us proud for sure.
“Melanie, who won the Women’s Amateur last week, I heard she had nine one-putts. So the standard of golf from these guys was amazing.
“In the Wenyi Ding match (in which he lost 1 up to Jackson Koivun), they were 12 or 13 under par better ball. That’s just serious golf.”
