PGA Features

They gave it their best shot but just came up short. Great Britain & Ireland's PGA Cup team reflect on their 13½-12½ defeat at the hands of America at Oconee Course, Reynolds Plantation, Georgia.

GB&I captain Gary Alliss

"They've done their best, battled away to get the point they were in control of but there's not much else they can do.

"But they're golf pros, they know how cruel the game can be and they'll be back. Next week they'll be teeing it up somewhere and this will be I think a happy memory for them."

"I've enjoyed almost every minute of it. Leaving people out of the team is hard and perhaps I would look back over it and think if I'd done something different could I have squeezed an extra point out of it but at the end of the day we've done our best but we just weren't quite good enough."

"This has been the opportunity of a lifetime and the real highlight was just to be able to be here at the Reynolds Plantation.

"And we've come out of the singles having won - that is fantastic, it really is. Perhaps if you look back to where we lost it we just gave ourselves exactly what it shows - a half a point too much to do to retain the trophy."

"I think the spirit of this match - the teams, the players and camaraderie that's the thing that either of our Associations would like to continue.

"Obviously it's bitterly disappointing, I would have loved to have taken the trophy home but we gave it our best shot and it's a cruel game."

Danny Taylor

"It was pretty awesome to beat Mike Small. I'd spoken to Paul Wesselingh about him and we all knew what a great player he was so to get his scalp was terrific, it was just a shame it was in vain.

"But we can take a lot from this performance. These guys have all got two arms and two legs - they're not unbeatable - and we came so close to doing it and we will beat them again in the future. We've shown what a good team we are.

"The whole event has inspired me and given me a lot of confidence. I think it's given me a different perspective, it really has. I've learned a lot from this week and I really want to get back in the team next time - hopefully with a lot of these guys."

John Dwyer

"It was a great week, just disappointing from a personal point of view that I didn't even get half a point."

"From the moment we've got here there's been nothing but good vibes, everybody's been playing well and that was as close a result as you are going to get without retaining it.

"I think this result and the closeness of it has done a huge amount for the competition. It would have obviously been even bigger if we'd won but there's a great desire to win in two years time and then come back and try and win on US soil.

"Highlights for me have just been meeting a great bunch of people, it's great to have been part of the team because us golf pros tend to be a bit concerned with ourselves most of the time so to see grown men hug each other with tears in their eyes - you don't see it very often.

"It's a hugely different sensation, it's just great and something I'd like to do a bit more often."

Michael Nesbit

"It's hard to take, the US certainly know they've been in a game.

"I kind of felt I let him off the hook. I just tweaked a shot on nine, pushed it into the hazard, hit a poor chip and took a six which you just can't afford to do.

"I had a good chance on 12, three putted 13 when he's taken two to get out of the trap and holed to get a four. Then he holed a 25 footer and makes two, I missed and you know it's lights out.

"We had a lot of winners in our team, players used to pressure situations but the Americans just holed their putts at the right time.

"Highlights have been the whole complex, the course was great and there was great team spirit and camaraderie.

"I knew a lot about the PGA Cup. One of the targets at the start of the year was to try and qualify to come out here and play on this course.

"It's a tough result to take. So close yet so far but we've got nothing to be ashamed of."

Andrew Barnett

"I played Lee Rinker and he's a fantastic guy, a pleasure to play with and all the Americans have been great.

"It was a close tight match against Lee. We were about level par after nine holes, not playing great then I started to fire with birdies on 13, 15 and 17 to finish it off.

"We were half a point from taking it home, that's tough but that could have come anywhere in the week.

"The whole thing has been out of this world, from stopping at Manchester and meeting up with the team to coming out to Reynolds Plantation and seeing the course and hotel. Everything has been first class."

Craig Goodfellow

"I was rallying a bit towards the end because I thought my match could be the decider, but when I walked onto the 17th tee I knew that even if I won we would only have 5½ points.

"We really believed that we could win and getting to this stage and only losing by a point it is very hard to take. Everyone's probably got points they should have won, but it's nobody's fault. We're all gutted."

George Ryall

"I think we felt it would probably go to the last game and it turns out it did - it's just disappointing we were on the wrong end of it.

"Their guys played some fantastic golf to win it, which is what the tournament is all about.

"I tried to do the best that I could and get as many points as I could and I'm delighted I got as many as I did, but I'd rather have lost every game and won."

James Whatley

"It's definitely been the highlight of my career, it's been a fantastic experience.

"I've learnt a lot and I think it's made me more of a rounded player. If I can draw on this experience to go back into the PGA regions then I'll be a better player.

"Me and two of the other players on the team (Taylor and Nesbit) have got the European Team Championships to look forward to for England in November. It would be easy to dwell on this defeat and be a bit down, but I think you've got to look ahead."

Duncan Muscroft

"I felt like I had a big responsibility going out in the final game. I'd practiced well, I'd been playing super, but he holed the right putts at the right time and I didn't. I think that was a little bit of negativity on my part, I should have been a bit more all-out-attack.

"I learnt a lot about myself today and about my game.

"This is my day for the other nine lads and I feel like I let them down, I'll take the blame for it. I could have done a lot better than I did today."

Jon Bevan

"We came up short, just. We have lost to a great team, but we are a great team too and we could have won it sounds like it's down to a few small breaks. It was two solid, heavyweight teams throwing a lot of shots and a lot of birdies at each other and someone's got to come out as the loser - it stinks.

"We came here for 14 points or more and what I did makes no odds at all. I if got no points and we'd have won the Trophy I'd have been partying harder than the other guys. It doesn't mean anything at all to me. I just hope we get the chance to do all of this again with hopefully as many of the guys that are here this year."