GB&I HOLD NARROW WALKER CUP LEAD AT LAHINCH
Ireland’s Stuart Grehan played a key role for GB&I on the opening day of the Walker Cup at Lahinch Golf Club. (Photo: R&A)
Great Britain and Ireland rallied late in the singles session on the opening day of the 51st Walker Cup match at Lahinch to take a narrow 6½-5½ lead against the United States of America.
Dean Robertson’s side are bidding to win the Walker Cup for the first time since 2015 and were cheered on by 8,000 fans at the iconic links on the coast of County Clare.
Niall Sheils Donegan was the stand-out performer for the hosts earning two points from his two matches while Ethan Fang delivered 1½ points for the USA.
Visit The R&A website for day one scoring from the 51st Walker Cup.
Foursomes
GB&I made a good start to the match by taking a 2½-1½ lead after a closely contested opening foursomes session.
Three of the four matches went the distance with Donegan and Josh Hill delivering the most convincing performance of the morning for the hosts, defeating Josiah Gilbert and Ryder Cowan 4&3 in the bottom match of the draw.
Stuart Grehan and Eliot Baker gained a half point for GB&I against world number one Preston Stout and Ethan Fang after the 2025 Amateur Champion pushed his par putt wide on the 18th. Connor Graham and Tyler Weaver then secured a full point with a one-hole victory over Jay Leng Jr and Kihei Akina thanks largely to a strong putting display by the Scot.
Luke Poulter and Sam Easterbrook produced a determined fightback against Miles Russell and Tyler Watts, recovering from three down after the 10th to draw level by winning the 12th, 13th and 17th holes, but Russell responded at the last, holing a clutch birdie putt to secure the point for the USA.
Singles
The loudest cheer in Lahinch rung around the 18th hole arena as home favourite Grehan fought back from three holes down after five holes in the first singles match to defeat world number one Stout on the last with a birdie four.
The visitors bounced back quickly, however, by securing three points in succession thanks to Fang winning by one hole over Jack Whaley, Leng Jr defeating Weaver 2&1 and William Jennings also edging out Graham by one hole to take the lead in the match for the first time at 4½-3½.
Stewart Hagestad extended his remarkable singles record in the Walker Cup to notch up his eighth win out of nine singles matches by overcoming Ben Bolton 2&1. The American took control of the match with a birdie at the par-3 11th before extending his lead at the 13th with a birdie three and closing out the dual on the 17th to make it 5½-3½.
Despite the two-point deficit, GB&I rallied to secure the final three points of the session and lead the match overall at 6½-5½. Sheils Donegan impressed against Watts to win 3&2 with Baker following up with a victory by the same margin against Josiah Gilbert before Poulter rounded proceedings off by beating Russell 2&1.
The Sunday foursomes draw can be viewed on The R&A website.
Key quotes
Dean Robertson, captain, Great Britain and Ireland
“I think that's probably the finest day of golf I've ever been involved in. I think the Walker Cup has just been an amazing showcase of what the game is all about in its purest form.
“To be ahead, we're thrilled at that. Last year we had the great foursomes session in the morning at Cypress Point and got turned over. This time we're going ahead tomorrow.
“So we're under no illusions. It's going to be extremely challenging. But I think the weather is going to play a factor as well tomorrow, so everybody will have to be on their mettle and it's going to be a tough day. The US team went to 10 in the singles, have always had that depth, but we've got depth and confidence in our preparation as well, so we're ready for tomorrow and looking forward to it.”
Nathan Smith, captain, United States of America
“We need to come out, play well in the morning session and then you got ten points in the afternoon. So we need to be ready to play. We feel good about how we played today. Some great golf out there and still feel good about a lot of our pairings. We'll be ready to go tomorrow. Have some tougher conditions and we'll be ready.
“We feel good. We kind of knew what we were in for, and I feel like everybody, it's right there. A lot of these matches, it seems like the last how many Walker Cups have kind of started like this. I think probably both teams probably feel good about where they are at and just going to go play for it tomorrow.”
The match is being broadcast live on Sky Sports in the UK and Ireland and Golf Channel in the US with live coverage also available on R&A TV and R&A YouTube.