Galway Golf Club’s Liam Nolan contributed two points from three games in his Walker Cup debut at the Old Course in St Andrew’s last weekend, but it was not enough to prevent Great Britain & Ireland from slipping to a 14.5 to 11.5 defeat to the USA as the visitors retained the trophy.

The 23-years-old, who became the first golfer from a Galway club to take part in the historic amateur team competition, sat out Saturday morning’s Foursomes, which Europe won 3-1, before taking on Austin Greaser in that afternoon’s singles.

A birdie on the 18th sealed a 1up victory for the Galway man as Europe took the session 4.5 to 3.5 to take a lead of 7.5 to 4.5 heading into Sunday.

Nolan bounced back from losing the opening hole with a bogey to level the match on the third with a birdie 3. Birdies on the par 5 5th for Greaser and the par 7th for Nolan left the pair level at the turn, both having also birdied the par 4 9th.

A par 4 on the 10th and a birdie 3 on 12th saw Greaser take a two-hole lead in the match, but Nolan finished in style, levelling the match with birdies on the par 5 14th and par 4 15th, and after both players parred the par 4 16th and 17th holes, Nolan took the point for Europe with a birdie on the 18th in what was the only time he led in the match against the man rankled number 10 in the world amateur rankings.

“I was very nervous on the first hole. I made a really bad bogey. But then as soon as that happened, all the nerves just kind of left, and I settled into it. It’s absolutely everything I hoped it would be, the most special golf venue you can ask for, and an amazing Walker Cup debut,” Nolan said after this Saturday match.

That turned out to be the first of three games the pair contested over the weekend, after they were drawn together in both the foursomes and singles on Sunday. Nolan – who is ranked 135th in the world, teamed up with Kilkenny GC’s Mark Power (ranked 96th) for the foursomes, with the Irish pair running away with a stunning 4&3 win over Greaser and Dylan Menante, who is ranked 6th in the world, with a run of four consecutive birdies from the 11th sealing the win.

Pictured: Galway Golf Club’s Liam Nolan.