PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. – Wild.
That was the word from U.S. captain Nathan Smith but also the unanimous sentiment felt across Cypress Point Club on Sunday morning, as both sides split the second foursomes session, 2-2, to keep the Americans a point clear after a wild bunch of alternate-shot matches.
“It’s been all over the place,” said Smith, whose team is up 8.5-7.5 with 10 singles points on the line in the afternoon. “Some of the matches we thought we’d win, we lost, and same for them. Everything was flipping, and it’s been so exciting for everybody.”
All four matches reached the 17th hole, including the anchor match between GB&I’s Niall Shiels Donegan and Cameron Adam and Americans Michael La Sasso and Jase Summy. It was a spirited match, during which La Sasso laid his putter down on the third green after making a short putt that he felt he should’ve been given. The Scottish duo went 5 up after 12 holes before hanging on for a 2-and-1 win.
The third match was probably the least competitive, though Mason Howell, the 18-year-old U.S. Amateur champion, delivered some fireworks late by birdieing the par-3 15th – he drained long birdies at Nos. 15 and 16 in Saturday singles, a day after making an albatross on the second hole in practice – before holing out for a walk-off eagle on the par-4 17th to seal a 2-and-1 win for he and Jacob Modleski over GB&I’s Eliot Baker and Stuart Grehan, who chipped in on No. 16 to peel the deficit, as much as 4 down, to 2 down.
As Howell was getting the first U.S. point on the board on Sunday morning, teammates Jackson Koivun and Tommy Morrison were up on the green in the leadoff match. Two down to Tyler Weaver and Connor Graham after 10 holes, the American pair slowly chipped away, tying things when Morrison holed a crucial par save to win No. 17, where he’d spun an approach back into the water in the first foursomes session on Saturday morning. Koivun holed a quick 4-footer on No. 18 to clinch a 1-up win.
“That was huge,” Morrison said. “I’m so thrilled with the way we stayed in that fight.”
That point meant that the Americans would lead heading into Sunday singles and helped diffuse some momentum obtained by GB&I in a massive comeback by Luke Poulter and Charlie Forster over Preston Stout and Ethan Fang. The Oklahoma State teammates were 4 up after 10 holes before Fang missed a 4-footer for par at No. 11 to gift GB&I that hole and start a slide of five losses in six holes.
“We kind of just held our hands up at that point,” Forster said of going 4 down.
But after a quick pep talk from GB&I captain Dean Robertson, who told his guys to “trust what got you here,” they responded with huge birdies at Nos. 13 and 15 while the Americans struggled to stay afloat.
“We knew that if we just trusted our game, anything can happen,” Poulter said. “… And it did.”
Now, though, GB&I must beat the Americans in their best format. The U.S. have won seven of eight Sunday singles since the session moved to 10 matches in 2009. GB&I’s only final singles victory came in 2015.
GB&I has also not won a Walker Cup after trailing through three sessions since 2003 at Ganton, when they made up a two-point disadvantage with just eight matches to play.
But when it comes to away Walker Cups, GB&I has never won on U.S. soil when entering the final session behind.
“Whoever plays better this afternoon is going to win, but we feel great about where we’re at,” Smith said. “We wanted to win the session or hold serve this morning, and we did that. Just have to get it done this afternoon.”
Added Robertson: “The momentum switches quickly, and we’re behind. How? I don’t know, but we need to keep our concentration and be tighter coming down the stretch. It’s going to be a fun afternoon. These guys have got to go out and believe in themselves. They’re all good golfers, they’re up against some seriously talented individuals, but they’re capable, and they’ve got to believe.
“And if they can believe, they can achieve.”
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