It’s been eight long years since Team Great Britain & Ireland’s last Walker Cup triumph over the United States at the 2015 match at Royal Lytham and St. Annes, but they’re off to a good start at this year’s match at the Old Course at St. Andrews, thumping Team USA 3-1 in the morning foursomes session.
Americans Gordon Sargent and Dylan Menante were the lone bright spot for the red, white and blue in the morning, winning their match against Barclay Brown and Mark Power 3&2, giving the U.S. its only point on the board thus far.
It was a different story for their teammates, though the matches were a bit closer than the total score indicates. Americans Ben James and Caleb Surratt fell to GB&I’s Calum Scott and Connor Graham 3&2 to even the score, 1-1.
Then Team USA’s Preston Summerhays and David Ford narrowly missed securing a half-point against GB&I’s Matt McClean and John Gough, who won the match 1-up.
How to watch the Walker Cup at St. Andrews this weekend
And in the final foursomes match of the morning, Walker Cup veteran Stewart Hagestad and newly-minted U.S. Amateur champion Nick Dunlap battled GB&I’s Alex Maguire and James Ashfield to the 18th hole, where Maguire drained a 12-footer to clinch a 1-up victory.
And just like that, GB&I enjoys a commanding lead.
The Americans now have a tough task ahead of them: clawing their way back from a 3-1 deficit — a difficult but not impossible task. There are 22 points left up for grabs over the next day-and-a-half: eight singles matches on Saturday afternoon, then a whopping 14 points on Sunday across four morning team matches and 10 singles matches.