Grehan delivers as Great Britain and Ireland take one-point lead over USA in Walker Cup

The Irishman led the way at Lahinch. 

Stuart Grehan of Great Britain and Ireland makes his way to the 8th green at Lahinch Golf Club. Pic: Ramsey Cardy/Sportsfile

Great Britain & Ireland will take a one-point lead over USA into Sunday’s final two sessions at Lahinch as they bid to win the Walker Cup for the first time since 2015.

British Amateur champion Stuart Grehan, Ireland’s sole representative on the GB&I team, delivered a memorable 1.5 points to his side’s 6.5 to 5.5 lead on Saturday, all of them taken off world number one ranked men’s amateur Preston Stout. Grehan and England’s Eliot Baker halved their opening foursomes match against Stout and Ethan Fang on the first morning before the Irishman came from three holes down after 10 holes, and two down with three to play in his singles duel with the world number one to win 1 Up at the last.

GB&I had won the foursomes session 2.5 to 1.5 in benign conditions in Co. Clare and dug deep during the eight afternoon singles to halve the session 4-4 with further wins for Luke Poulter, Niall Sheils Donegan of Scotland and England’s Eliot Baker.

Poulter, in front of his father the European Ryder Cup legend Ian Poulter, defeated world number four Mike Russell, the 17-year-old who made the halfway cut at this summer’s US Open while Donegan took down number two-ranked Tyler Watts and Baker completed a similar win over Josiah Gilbert to leave the matches finely poised ahead of Sunday’s play.

With 10 points up for grabs in the afternoon singles and the Americans traditionally dominant in that format, last year winning the corresponding session 8.5 to 1.5 to win 17-9 at Cypress Point, GB&I could not afford to be behind on the overnight leaderboard. Yet the USA needs just eight points from a possible 14 across both Sunday sessions to reach the 13-point threshold necessary to retain, while GB&I need seven points to reach 13.5 and wrest the trophy away from the Americans, preventing them from a sixth win in a row in the process. Conditions are also set to worsen after a relatively mild opening day in Co. Clare, giving hope of a more even footing between the two camps on Sunday in addition to the inspiration given GB&I from a big home crowd.

“For the players who played in the South (Of Ireland, in July) and played in the nasty weather, if that's what it's going to be like, they will have experienced that before,” GB&I captain Dean Robertson said. “Playing in that kind of weather requires grit and you need to be able to adapt and just keep the ball moving in front of you.

“A lot of the time it can become a bit damage limitation. Irrespective, it's going to be exciting, because there will be a lot of people here and it's match play, so it's man against man and it's the low score each hole. So we have a plan and we'll be prepared.” Those people set to provide big galleries on Sunday have already proven their worth as far as Niall Sheils Donegan is concerned. The Scot won two points for GB&I on day one of his second Walker Cup appearance and said: “I think this is obviously different from Cypress last year.

“There is a lot more people out here, so you can really tell when there is something going on ahead of you. We're walking down 13 you just hear the biggest roar of your life over on 18 and I go to my caddie, ‘I think Stuart (Grehan) just won that’.

“But I think it's amazing to hear those cheers from across the golf course. Just gives that you little extra boost of energy when you might be a little bit down or you just want a little bit extra momentum. I think it's something if you approach it the right way, it can be very positive.” Grehan echoed his team-mate and said a fervent home crowd would be needed to make the difference for GB&I at Lahinch.

“It's incredible. Yeah, it's like everything good we do is echoed and you hear it around the golf course, it kind of spurs you on as well so it's really cool.

“A chorus of ‘Ole Ole Ole’, I think might be a bit early for that now, but it's good to hear. We need all the support we can get… tomorrow.” 

SUNDAY FOURSOMES PAIRINGS 

Match 1, 08:05 – Preston Stout & Ethan Fang (USA) v Stuart Grehan & Eliot Baker (GB&I) 

Match 2, 08:20 – Jay Leng Jr & Kihei Akina (USA) v Luke Poulter & Sam Easterbrook (GB&I) 

Match 3, 08:35 - Miles Russell & Tyler Watts (USA) v Tyler Weaver & Connor Graham (GB&I) 

Match 4, 08:50 – William Jennings & Ryder Cowan (USA) v Niall Sheils Donegan & Josh Hill (GB&I)