U.S Retains Palmer Cup

The United States retained possession of the Palmer Cup on Tuesday in dramatic fashion.

Playing in the final pairing, Georgia Tech sophomore Bryce Molder holed a 7-foot birdie putt on the 18th hole of the Old Course at St. Andrews to halve his match against Max Harris of England.

The matches ended 12-12, but the United States retained the cup by virtue of its 19-5 victory over Britain and Ireland last year at Bay Hill Club in Orlando, Fla.

The Palmer Cup matches, patterned after the Ryder Cup, are for college players from the United States and United Kingdom. In only its second year, it could not have had a more dramatic finish.

With wind gusting to 40 mph, five of the eight singles matches came down to the 18th hole. The United States at one time trailed 10-6, but went 3½ in thefour afternoon singles matches to retain the cup.

U.S. Amateur champion Matt Kuchar defeated Robert Duck 2 and 1 to win his afternoon match. Kuchar lost his singles match earlier Tuesday on the New Course at St. Andrews, and was 2-2 for the matches.

That makes it two victories in two days for American amateurs. On Sunday, American women amateurs regained the Curtis Cup from Britain and Ireland during the match-play event in Minnesota.