2019 Walker Cup: Team GB&I takes 7-5 lead at match’s halfway point

After a morning foursomes session that saw Team USA and Team GB&I in a 2-2 deadlock, the afternoon singles matches were a different story, with GB&I taking the lead at the Walker Cup’s halfway point, 7-5.

GB&I took control from the very beginning, winning three points in the first three matches. Alex Fitzpatrick, Euan Walker and Sandy Scott defeated Cole Hammer, Steven Fisk and Andy Ogletree 2-up, 2-up and 1-up, respectively.

Team USA’s John Augenstein and and John Pak then got two more points on the board for the Americans with 2&1 and 1-up wins over GB&I’s Conor Purcell and James Sugrue in matches 4 and 5, but GB&I came right back with two more wins in matches 6 and 7, with Isaiah Salinda and Alex Smalley of Team USA falling to Conor Gough and Caolan Rafferty 2-up, and 2&1.

The biggest margin of victory for the day was Brandon Wu’s of Team USA, who defeated GB&I’s Tom Sloman 4&2 to bring Team USA to within two points of GB&I’s lead.

Sunday is the final day of play at Royal Liverpool, and a whopping 14 points are up for grabs. Four foursomes matches will be played in the morning, followed by all ten of each team’s players facing off in afternoon singles matches.

Team USA has a 36-9-1 advantage over the course of the Walker Cup’s history, but has not won overseas since 2007 at Royal County Down in Northern Ireland. As defending champions, Team USA only needs to get to 13 points on Sunday in order to retain the Cup.

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