The despondent mood of those around him was entirely alien to Joe Carr, the supreme competitor. He sensed how Jay Sigel must have been feeling as he negotiated those crucial, finishing holes under a burning sun at Peachtree, for he, too, had faced Walker Cup combat as a 45-year-old.

"It was a terribly hot, humid afternoon and in his fourth match in two days, I suspected Sigel must have been feeling the pinch," recalled Carr. And he was right. From a position of two up with four to play against Scotland's Jim Milligan, the American could manage only a half in the final match on the course.

So, on an occasion that was as unexpected as it was joyously unique, Britain and Ireland had triumphed on American soil for the first time since the Walker Cup was inaugurated in 1922. And despite a highly successful career as a professional on the US Seniors' Tour where he currently plies his craft, Sigel still looks back on that 1989 collapse, as the biggest disappointment of his playing career.

That is a measure of how significant those 1989 matches were to the Americans, who had known only two previous defeats on the other side of the Atlantic - in 1938 at St Andrews, where Jimmy Bruen and Cecil Ewing were members of the triumphant home team, and again at the same venue in 1971, when Roddy Carr captured a then record three and a half points out of four.

"I have the record of being present at all three of those British and Irish victories," declared Charlie Yates, who, prior to the St Andrews matches, had beaten Ewing in the final of the 1938 British Amateur at Troon. "Is that a record?" It most certainly is, though a fourth victory was achieved against the odds at Royal Porthcawl four years ago, the last time the matches came to these shores.

Known throughout the golfing world as the grand old man of Augusta National, Yates is a native Atlantan who grew up in the shadow of the great Bobby Jones. Indeed, he also had the distinction of captaining the victorious US Walker Cup team of 1953 at the Kittansett Club in Massachusetts where Ken Venturi, Harvie Ward and Gene Littler were among his leading players.

In the event, Peachtree is a very private club on the outskirts of Atlanta. During the years immediately after World War II and before the onset of the disease which crippled and twisted his handsome body, Jones formed Peachtree GC with some friends. Among them was Yates.

Four months prior the actual staging of the Walker Cup, I happened to be among a group of journalists from these islands who were invited to Peachtree after the US Masters of that year. It was a notable occasion for the fact that we were presented with a commemorative shirt which, for the first time in the history of the Walker Cup, carried the Irish tricolour as part of the logo.

At a time when career amateurs were more the norm than the exception, links between various Walker Cup teams became an inevitable part of the biennial challenge. In keeping with that tradition, England's Geoff Marks, who was a member of the victorious team at St Andrews in 1971, became captain of the 1989 line-up which was built around the victorious Eisenhower Trophy side of the previous year.

That team had included Garth McGimpsey and Eoghan O'Connell who, between them, would be involved in contributing four points to the British and Irish cause.

Though a dramatic tie had been achieved at Baltimore in 1965, when parity was achieved by Clive Clark with an outrageous, 34-foot birdie putt on the 18th, the prospect of a breakthrough on American soil remained daunting. Still, a decidedly promising pattern of success had been set by the Curtis Cup team at Prairie Dunes in 1986 and by the Ryder Cup team at Muirfield Village the following year.

Even the most ardent supporters of the visiting team, however, could hardly have envisaged the development of the match. Marks watched his players move steadily ahead by three points after the first day and, remarkably, by six points with only the eight singles remaining. The US could permit no more than two matches to be halved, if the necessary tie were to be achieved which would ensure retention of the trophy.

The singles battles had yet to take on a perceptible pattern when a visiting supporter made a decidedly ill-conceived and potentially ruinous remark. Returning to the clubhouse, part of which had been occupied by General Sherman during his punitive march through Georgia in the American Civil War, he said of the Americans: "Their heads are really down. They could be in for a proper thrashing."

Fortunately, Marks was sufficiently experienced to measure level-headed caution against legitimate expectations. The British and Irish skipper cautioned each of his players: "Don't make the false assumption that if you lose it won't matter. Be sure you win your point. Don't leave it to others."

Meanwhile, his US counterpart, Fred Ridley, was telling his troops: "You've been written off. Now's your chance to make history."

As a steamy afternoon progressed, the state-of-the-matches board indicated a resurrection that would have made the return of Lazarus appear nothing more than an awakening from a cat-nap. The Americans led in all eight singles, a fact which came as a decidedly sickening shock to supporters who had anticipated a short, sharp and painless advance towards inevitable success.

Robert Gamez, at number one for the Americans, sank a 30-foot putt from short of the 18th green for a birdie three to beat Stephen Dodd by one hole. As is so often the case in team golf, the knock-on effect of that result was to spread renewed hope and confidence through American ranks.

So it was that in rapid succession, Russell Claydon, Peter McEvoy, Neil Roderick and Craig Cassells, all lost before the 17th. Not surprisingly, the 4 and 2 win by Charlie Yates's nephew, Danny, over Roderick, brought quite a cheer from his fellow Peachtree members. For an hour that must have seemed like an eternity, Marks waited in vain for one of his team to win a hole.

Eventually, there was a glimmer of light when Andrew Hare, after being two down with two to play, won back both holes with brilliant approach play against David Martin. And O'Connell was deprived of a winning point against no less an opponent than Phil Mickelson when the American holed from 10 feet at the last for an improbable half.

Now the teams were level with one match left on the course. With nine wins and only two defeats - one of which was against Philip Walton at Hoylake six years previously - from his 12 Walker Cup singles, Sigel watched Milligan hole a 14-footer on the 15th. But the Scot remained two down and seemingly with no prospect of salvation.

The ensuing half an hour was not the sort of situation cardiologists would recommend for heart patients. And from a British and Irish perspective, the problems encountered by Sigel over those critical, closing holes were reminiscent of Hoylake, where he experienced repeated problems with his wedges, including a few unmentionables.

In this context, there could be more than passing relevance in the fact that since a severe accident during his college days, Sigel has only about 50 per-cent strength and feeling in his left hand.

Anyway, the clinging, Bermuda collars around the last three greens, exacted a forbidding price from Sigel. Milligan chipped dead to win the long 16th and then holed a 30-footer to draw level at the next. Down the last, both players missed the green to the right, but where the Scot chipped to 12 feet, Sigel took two to reach the putting surface.

Against all the odds, Milligan had two putts for the half, to immortalise himself and his compatriots. And he used them. On this occasion, Sigel's seventh appearance was proving to be a match too far, yet he would go on to play on two further occasions, at Portmarnock in 1991 and Interlachen in 1993.

Rated by many Americans as their best amateur since Jones, he was the first recipient of an Arnold Palmer scholarship at Wake Forest University and was honoured as playing captain of the 1983 and 1985 Walker Cup teams. His full Walker Cup record is: Foursomes - played 7, lost six, halved 2; Singles - played 11, lost 4, halved 3.

Much analysis was done in the wake of the Peachtree triumph as to why a long-awaited breakthrough should have come at that time. It was acknowledged that a core of solidity was provided by the victorious Eisenhower Trophy quartet of McGimpsey, O'Connell, McEvoy and Milligan. But otherwise, the team was unremarkable.

It is clear, however, that the side benefited greatly from the maturity of Marks, who had been an uncertain captain at Sunningdale two years previously. Sensible preparation and realistic expectation were instilled into receptive players. And the outcome was a breakthrough victory in this, the 16th challenge on American soil.

When the Americans were beaten at St Andrews in 1938, Charlie Yates endeared himself to Scottish hearts as a sporting loser when he insisted on giving a rousing rendition of A Wee Doch and Doras at the presentation of the trophy. He did the same thing again, in defeat, at Peachtree.

But Charlie's time eventually came at Quaker Ridge two years ago, on the occasion of a crushing 18-6 win by the American side. I had the considerable pleasure of being among the attendance when the Association of Golf Writers made a special presentation to this wonderful old man, who was set to celebrate his 84th birthday a month later.

And after expressing his gratitude, he burst into song - with A Wee Doch and Doras, naturally.