U.S. takes lead over Great Britain & Ireland at Walker Cup

PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. — U.S. Novice champion Mason Howell birdied each par 3s alongside the ocean at Cypress Level to shut out his match and Jace Summy received twice Saturday because the People rallied in singles to construct a 6 1/2-5 1/2 lead over Nice Britain & Eire after the opening day of the Walker Cup.

Howell earned his spot on the U.S. crew when the 18-year-old highschool senior in Georgia received the U.S. Novice final month up the coast on the Olympic Membership.

He sat in the course of the morning foursomes session, when GB&I constructed a 3-1 lead, and felt the nerves within the afternoon singles, however solely briefly.

Howell was 1 up over Luke Poulter, the Florida junior and son of Ryder Cup stalwart Ian Poulter, when he birdied the quick fifteenth alongside the ocean, after which holed a 45-foot birdie putt on the enduring sixteenth, which requires a tee shot over the ocean, to shut out the match.

“I might be mendacity if I stated I wasn’t tremendous nervous on the primary tee,” Howell stated. “However no, what a day. What an attractive time out right here. It has been superior.”

The infamous marine layer over the Monterey Peninsula lifted after the morning session, offering majestic views of Cypress Level, among the many most picturesque programs in golf.

And the celebs have been out for this Walker Cup, returning to Cypress for the primary time since 1981. Hal Sutton, who performed in these ’81 matches, was on the course. So was Bryson DeChambeau, Matt Kuchar and Juli Inkster, a three-time U.S. Girls’s Novice champion.

It was fairly the opening day, with GB&I renewing hopes of successful on U.S. soil for the primary time in 24 years, successful three of the 4 alternate-shot matches.

Connor Graham teamed Tyler Weaver to win three straight holes on the again 9 as they knocked off top-ranked novice Jackson Koivun and Tommy Morrison on the seventeenth gap. Graham additionally received two matches for GB&I, taking down Ben James in singles.

Stuart Grehan and Eliot Baker held on to win on the 18th towards Preston Stout and Ethan Fang. However those self same two gamers for GB&I got here inside a fraction on inch of staving off the American rally in singles.

Grehan had a 6-foot birdie putt on the 18th towards Ethan Fang, just for the putt to graze the appropriate fringe of the cup as they settled for a halve.

Within the closing match, Baker was all sq. with Summy and in bother left off the tee and left of the inexperienced. He chipped to 12 toes, and needed to make that when Summy two-putted for par. His par putt appeared good all the best way till turning off on the final flip.

“We simply knew we needed to have a superb session and so they delivered,” U.S. captain Nathan Smith stated of his groups successful 5 of the eight singles matches and halving one other.

The People have received the final 4 occasions — it was at St. Andrews in 2023 — and have dominated the collection because it started in 1924. The final GB&I victory away from house was at Ocean Forest on the Georgia coast in 2001.

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Niall Shiels Donegan, the Scot who grew up in San Francisco, had one other cheering part as he beat Jacob Modleski for the second time — he additionally beat Modleski in 19 holes within the quarterfinals of the U.S. Novice.

Shiels Donegan glanced over at a leaderboard early on the again 9 and noticed it stuffed with American blowouts. Koivun took down Weaver, 4 and three. Stewart Hagestad and Stout each closed out their matches on the thirteenth gap.

Shiels Donegan and Graham did their half in successful factors and retaining GB&I shut.

“I noticed the board left of 11 as I used to be strolling down and noticed we weren’t performing one of the best in singles,” Shiels Donegan stated. “I feel for me in that scenario I obtained a bit extra like I’ve to do my job, let’s actually concentrate on getting my job completed, get any level for the crew and see what we will do for the remainder of the week.”

Sunday’s closing session has 4 foursomes matches within the morning adopted by all 10 gamers competing in singles.