Trailing 6.5-5.5 after day one, when they won the opening foursomes session 3-1, Great Britain and Ireland tied the Sunday foursomes 2-2 to trail 8.5-7.5 heading into the final 10 singles.
But they couldn’t deal with US firepower in the final session.
Connor Graham managed to halve his match with US amateur champion Mason Howell and Tiernan beat world number 9 Michael LaSasso 2&1, having lost his only other match 7&6 to veteran Stewart Hagestad on Saturday.
But with his County Louth clubmate, Stuart Grehan, losing 5&4 to Amateur champion Ethan Fang in singles, having followed a foursomes win and a singles tie on Saturday with another foursomes defeat on Sunday, Tiernan admitted Great Britain and Ireland left Cypress Point disappointed.
“Obviously, we come here to win, and obviously everyone is a little disappointed,” said Tiernan (19), who will be hoping to make the team next year and win back the trophy when Lahinch hosts the matches from September 5-6 .
“But I think we can look back knowing that we all gave it 100 percent, and I think that’s all that really matters.”
Grehan teamed up with Eliot Baker to beat Fang and Preston Stout 1 up in the Saturday foursomes before going to halve his singles with Fang on Saturday afternoon.
The USA Team poses with the trophy during the closing ceremony of the 2025 Walker Cup at Cypress Point Club in Pebble Beach, Calif. on Sunday, Sept. 7, 2025. (Chris Keane/USGA)
But the reinstated amateur lost 2&1 with Baker to US amateur champion Howell and Jacob Modleski in Sunday’s foursomes, then fell to Fang in singles to end the week with one and a half points from his four matches.
The matches were much closer than the final scoreline would suggest.
While they lost by eight points, Great Britain and Ireland were just one down in five matches and two down in another two just 90 minutes before the Americans closed them out.
“I’m just blown away,” said USA captain Nathan Smith. “They showed up all weekend, in both singles matches in the afternoon, and I don’t know if I’ve ever seen a Walker Cup team bring it like they did this afternoon in singles.”
The USA’s 8.5-1.5 singles session win was the largest margin of victory in a final session in the history of the matches.
While Great Britain and Ireland dominated the foursomes 5-3, they lost the two singles sessions by a combined 14-4.
The USA has now won five consecutive Walker Cups since five Irishman —Gavin Moynihan, Paul Dunne, Cormac Sharvin, Jack Hume and Gary Hurley – helped GB&I to victory at Royal Lytham and St Annes in 2015.
The Americans lead the series 40-9 with one match tied and Great Britain and Ireland captain Dean Robertson admitted they didn’t putt well enough to claim just their third away win in the contest’s 50th edition.
“We came here with a focus to raise our standard, to emulate what’s only been done twice in 100 years, which is to beat the US (away from home),” Robertson said.
“But Nathan’s team, big congratulations to them. They’ve played fantastic.
“We were in it. We fought hard. Our foursomes performances were exceptional. But for a few putts, I think the big difference for us is we need to be better putters.”
