Golf Walker Cup Britain and Ireland 12½, United States 11½Fate is a curious creature. It plays with your emotions, bringing you on a roller-coaster ride that combines fear with joyful anticipation and, until it is reached, nobody knows what lies at journey's end.
Yesterday, in a thrilling 39th Walker Cup match that unfolded over the glorious heathland course at Ganton, a Britain and Ireland team that had been on the ropes for much of the encounter with the United States finished as 12 ½-11 ½ winners to create history.
Never since the match was instituted in 1922 had a Britain and Ireland team won the famed old trophy on three successive occasions. Yet, just as they did at Nairn in 1999 and Sea Island, Georgia, in 2001, they overturned a deficit in the decisive singles - taking five and a half points from a possible eight - to claim victory.
"We pulled everything out of the fire," said their captain, Garth McGimpsey. "Really, in my wildest dreams, I didn't think we could pull it off." All weekend, the destination of the trophy had been as bewildering as a David Blaine illusion. The home side grabbed the initiative by taking the opening morning's foursomes 3-1, but that advantage was short-lived as, in Saturday's singles, Britain and Ireland managed just one outright win and two halves to trail 7-5 overnight.
"I was a shattered man at that stage," confessed McGimpsey.
After yesterday's foursomes, halted for over an hour as a morning mist enveloped the course, the US retained that lead going into the final phase of singles. Given how they'd outplayed the hosts in man-to-man battle the previous day, one could understand why their players headed to the first tee in the afternoon with a swagger.
In such moments, as Europe discovered in last year's Ryder Cup, heroes emerge from the shadows.
Heroes? There were many, but none finer than the Welshman Nigel Edwards. Two years ago, he had endured a miserable debut in the competition, playing just once and losing.
This time, the 35-year-old was unbeaten - taking three points from four, two wins and two halves - and claiming the vital halved point that was required for outright victory. Indeed, he magnanimously spared his opponent, Lee Williams, the torture of facing an eight-footer on the last, once he realised a halved match was sufficient to claim the overall win.
The necessary points for victory came from some expected sources but also some unexpected ones. Oliver Wilson and Gary Wolstenholme were put out in the top two matches in the hope of getting, as McGimpsey put it, "a fast start". Wilson, a student at Augusta State, trumped US college hot-shot Bill Haas by one hole; Wolstenholme taught the teenager Casey Wittenberg a rare lesson, winning 3 and 2.
Nobody got the crowds yelling louder than Michael Skelton, a 19-year-old from Middlesbrough with the largest personal gallery. Known as "Tilty", he more than kept his balance as he beat Adam Rubinson 3 and 2.
"Skelton's win was a real bonus, it was awesome," said McGimpsey. And, in taking the top three matches, Britain and Ireland had resurrected their hopes of victory.
While Noel Fox (who had opened his campaign with a win alongside Moriarty in Saturday's foursomes - they beat Rubinson and Wittenberg 4 and 2 - before the gorse bushes began to attract his drives) was omitted from the singles, the other Irishman on the team, Moriarty, fought long and hard - "I didn't get a break all week," he remarked - but lost his match with Brock Mackenzie.
Moriarty's last gesture as an amateur was to stoop down on the 17th green and retrieve the marker of Mackenzie, who won 3 and 1. Moriarty took just one point from a possible four, though that bare statistic disguises a gritty effort from the Athlone player, who will make his professional debut in this week's Challenge Tour event at Clandeboye, Co Down.
Others, though, were seeing the job through. Scotland's David Inglis, another US collegiate player, was a remarkable seven under par in seeing off Ryan Moore by 4 and 3. And, so, it all came down to the two Welshmen - Edwards and Stuart Manley - to finish the job.
"They were put there for a reason. We were hanging on by our fingernails going into the singles but I knew they would be up to it if it came down to them," said McGimpsey.
Manley, who like Moriarty and Fox is destined for the European Tour's qualifying school, beat Trip Kuehne 3 and 2.
He was three up at the turn and, although brought back to just a one-hole lead after the 14th, responded by winning the 15th and 16th to claim a win that ensured Britain and Ireland would at least draw.
But Edwards secured the outright win. If anyone deserved a rub of the green, it was Edwards, and he got it. He chipped in on the 14th for birdie to draw level with Lee Williams and, then, after going one down again at the 15th, proceeded to hole a 60-footer from off the green on the 17th for a birdie that brought him all square again.
He played a wonderful approach to the green on the last and two-putted for par and, once informed that a halved match was sufficient, conceded Williams the eight-footer he faced for his par.
"Nigel's a great team man," said McGimpsey afterwards, "which is why he was out at number seven. I knew we could draw on his experience."
That faith was more than rewarded, and the historical superiority the US have enjoyed in the Walker Cup has been replaced by a long-awaited Britain and Ireland dominance.
"This is the biggest of the lot," claimed Peter McEvoy, the captain for the previous two wins and now the chairman of selectors, "(because) it was the hardest of the lot (to win)."
For all concerned, it is a moment in time that won't be forgotten.
DAY ONE
(Britain and Ireland names first)
Foursomes: Gary Wolstenholme and Michael Skelton lost to Bill Haas and Trip Kuehne 2 and 1; Stuart Wilson and David Inglis bt Lee Williams and George Zahringer 2 holes; Nigel Edwards and Stuart Manley bt Chris Nallen and Ryan Moore 3 and 2; Noel Fox and Colm Moriarty bt Adam Rubinson and Casey Wittenberg 4 and 2
Foursomes result: Britain and Ireland 3, United States 1
Singles: Wolstenholme lost to Haas 1 hole; Oliver Wilson halved with Kuehne; Inglis lost to Brock Mackenzie 3 and 2; S Wilson halved with Matt Hendrix; Edwards bt Zahringer 3 and 2; Moriarty lost to Nallen 1 hole; Fox lost to Rubinson 3 and 2; Graham Gordon lost to Wittenberg 5 and 4
Singles result: Britain and Ireland 2, United States 6
Match position at end of first day: Britain and Ireland 5, United States 7
DAY TWO
Foursomes: Wolstenholme and O Wilson bt Haas and Kuehne 5 and 4: Fox and Moriarty lost to Mackenzie and Hendrix 6 and 5; S Wilson and Inglis halved with Wittenberg and Rubinson;Edwards and Manley halved with Williams and Zahringer
Foursomes result: Britain and Ireland 2, United States 2
Singles: O Wilson bt Haas 1 hole;
Wolstenholme bt Wittenberg 3 and 2;
Michael Skelton bt Rubinson 3 and 2;
Moriarty lost to Mackenzie 3 and 1;
S Wilson lost to Hendrix 5 and 4; Inglis bt Ryan Moore 4 and 3; Edwards halved with Williams; Manley bt Kuehne 3 and 2
Singles result: Britain and Ireland 5½, United States 2½
Overall Result: Britain and Ireland 12½, United States 11½
