The first session of the 51st Walker Cup at Lahinch Golf Club wasn’t short on drama.
While the Americans are the clear favorites on paper, they face their stiffest test in some time against a Great Britain and Ireland team that is hungry to end Team USA’s five-tournament winning streak. Saturday morning’s foursomes session opened with World No. 1 amateur Preston Stout and Ethan Fang facing Stuart Grehan and Eliot Baker. The two teams traded blows for 15 holes, with Grehan and Baker taking a 1-up lead with three holes to play. But the Americans won 16 and 17 to reach the final hole in position to put an early point on the board.
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After GB&I got in with a birdie four on the par-5 18th, Stout had a short birdie putt to tie the hole and win the match for the Americans. But his attempt slid past the hole, and GB&I salvaged a big half-point to open the competition.
Both of the next two matches also went the distance. First, Tyler Weaver and Connor Graham defeated Jay Leng Jr. and Kihei Akina 1 up to put the first full point on the board for GB&I. But the Americans responded when World No. 2 amateur Tyler Watts and Miles Russell took down Luke Poulter and Sam Easterbrook with a birdie on the par-5 18th.
“It was huge,” Watts said of the point he and Russell secured in the morning session. “I was looking at that leaderboard on 18 tee box, and we kind of knew we needed to win that match just to see some red on the board. Yeah, that putt was pretty big.”
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With both sides having 1.5 points, the fourth and final match was left to determine who struck the first blow in Ireland.
Niall Sheils Donegan and Josh Hill got out of the blocks quickly against Ryder Cowan and Josiah Gilbert, taking a 4-up lead through eight.
Then, things got interesting on the par-4 ninth hole.
Sheils Donegan had a makeable birdie putt but missed it on the high side. Thinking it would be conceded, Sheils Donegan scooped up his ball and went to re-hit the putt he just missed. But Sheils Donegan didn’t get the thumbs up from Cowan and Hill first, and Cowan immediately jumped in to say that the putt hadn’t been conceded when it was scooped. A rules official was called in, and the hole was awarded to the Americans.
The early scoop didn’t cost GB&I, though, as Sheils Donegan and Hill went on to win the match 4 up and give GB&I a 2.5-1.5 lead after the morning session.
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“Those were massive holes for us,” Sheils Donegan said after the match of the birdies at 7 and 8 that predated his scoop. “Unfortunately, I had a little bit of brainlessness from me on 9, but those two birdies were massive for us to build a good margin where nine could happen and it wouldn’t really punish us too much. We did a great job in defense of that.”
GB&I hasn’t won the Walker Cup since 2015, but captain Dean Robertson’s group got off to the kind of start needed to upset a loaded American team. Even an early scooped putt by Sheils Donegan couldn’t derail what was close to a dream start for GB&I.
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