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Walker Cup
Walker Cup: GB&I trail USA by narrow margin after day one
07 Sep 25
5 mins
At least as far as Great Britain and Ireland sides have been concerned, the formula for Walker Cup victory over the United States of America in the USA has always included convincing success in foursomes play.
Which sounds good until a glance at the history books reveals that, in the 102 years history of this biennial encounter, GB&I has only twice emerged victorious away from home. Still, on both occasions the foundation of those wins was clear superiority in the alternate shot format. In 1989 at Peachtree the visitors won five and halved two of the eight matches. And in 2001 at Ocean Forest, the Americans won only two and halved one. So it is that, if such precedent is to be our guide, the latest GB&I squad led by non-playing captain, Dean Robertson, has taken some positive steps towards a third victory on US soil. In what is the 50th Walker Cup, GB&I won three of the four first morning foursomes at Cypress Point. “The first session after the foursomes, we were delighted with our performance,” confirmed GB&I skipper, Dean Robertson. “At lunchtime we just regrouped, went through the same process that we would do for any round, checked out the new pin positions, worked out a strategy and then sent the guys out there with a 0-0 in the singles.” There was, however, a challenge ahead, namely those afternoon singles. Recent history in particular tells us that the Americans often dominate head-to-head contests in the Walker Cup. Only once in the last ten matches - en route to claiming the trophy at Royal Lytham & St Annes in 2015 - has GB&I “won” the singles. Which perhaps goes a long way to explaining why, at the end of day one this time round, it is the Americans who lead, albeit by the narrowest of margins. The score is 6.5 - 5.5, the home side having taken the singles by 5.5 to 2.5
USA hold the advantage after the opening day.
“At lunch I can’t really say I had much of a message,” admitted USA captain, Nathan Smith. “The guys knew what they had to go. There is still a long way to go. But it was clear we needed a good session. And my guys delivered.”
Still, for all that the American captain was ultimately making positive noises, Robertson was far from discouraged. His team is clearly competitive, although the former Italian Open champion had to feel that a chance had been missed in the singles. Stuart Grehan missed from six feet on the 18th green and had to settle for a half-point against Amateur Champion Ethan Fang. And in the final match of the day, Eliot Baker's putt skirted the hole on the final green as he was edged out by Jase Summy.
“It was a brilliant day,” said Robertson. “We just fell short on a few putts and things went the other way. If we'd holed a couple more, things might be a little bit different. I'm slightly disappointed that we are one point behind.
"However, I'm exceptionally proud of the way that the team performed. Tonight I'm going to ask them how much fun they had out there and we're going to reiterate that tomorrow and reaffirm to them to go and be yourself, play your own game and enjoy it because tomorrow is going to be a hell of a day.”
There were bright spots too for the visitors. Most notably, Connor Graham saw off Ben James 3&2 and, in a repeat of their quarter-final match at the recent US Amateur, Niall Shiels Donegan defeated Jacob Modleski on the last green.
Niall Shiels Donegan celebrates with friends and family after his victory.
“It does seem like there isn’t much between Jacob and I,” said Donegan, who sat out the morning foursomes. “Both our matches have gone at least the full distance. What separated us today was my wedge play. I made up-and-downs from what seemed like everywhere. And I holed out well. Overall though, it was a grind. I’m just glad I kept myself in it.
“It is always hard to sit, especially in a big event like the Walker Cup. But Ian Poulter put it best when he talked to the media the other night. Egos stop at the door in team events. We’re all wearing the badge and whatever Dean thinks is best is best for the team.”
On day two the four morning foursomes are followed by ten rather than eight singles. The draw and live scoring is available here.