{"id":1188013,"date":"2026-09-05T14:25:19","date_gmt":"2026-09-05T14:25:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1188013\/"},"modified":"2026-09-05T14:25:19","modified_gmt":"2026-09-05T14:25:19","slug":"walker-cup-great-britain-and-ireland-take-lead-after-opening-morning-foursomes-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1188013\/","title":{"rendered":"Walker Cup: Great Britain and Ireland take lead after opening morning foursomes \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

They came in their droves, playing the role of the 11th man to Great Britain and Ireland\u2019s quest to finally halt the recent dominance of the United States in the Walker Cup<\/a>, and the opening day\u2019s foursomes on the Old Course brought a dramatic start which ultimately saw the home team claim a hard-earned 2\u00bd to 1\u00bd advantage.<\/p>\n

Stuart Grehan, the Amateur champion and the lone Irishman on the 10-man GB&I team, had the honour \u2013 and pressure \u2013 of hitting the opening tee shot. \u201cIt was unreal. I was very nervous before I got on the tee, but when I got on the tee, I was actually quite calm, just went into my process,\u201d he recalled.<\/p>\n

And Grehan\u2019s foursomes with team-mate Eliot Baker against world number one Preston Stout and Ethan Fang, last year\u2019s Amateur champion, would set the tone for a morning\u2019s golf of great shot-making and a little bit of needle thrown in. That top match was only resolved on the 18th green where Stout\u2019s birdie putt from 12 feet missed which left the match all-square for a halved point each.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese are moments that I\u2019ll remember forever. I\u2019ve got to relish it and take it all in,\u201d said Grehan, the Offaly man who plays out of Co Louth.<\/p>\n

In the bottom match, Niall Sheils Donegan and Josh Hill combined for a comprehensive 4 and 3 win over Ryder Cowan and Josiah Gilbert. That match also included an edge, after Shiels Donegan swept aside his short putt on the ninth green believing it was conceded only for the Americans to claim the hole. That reduced the GB&I lead from four holes to three, but Shiels Donegan and Hill retained their composure to close the deal on the 15th green.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had a little bit of brainlessness from me on nine, but it wouldn\u2019t really punish us too much. We did a great job in defence of that,\u201d said Shiels Donegan.<\/p>\n

Connor Graham, the Scottish teenager making his third Walker Cup appearance, teamed up with Tyler Weaver, the world number three, for a one-hole win over Jay Leng Jnr and Kihei Akina.<\/p>\n

The lone USA win came at the death, on the 18th green, where Tyler Watts holed a 16-footer for birdie and Sam Easterbrook\u2019s 15-footer for a halved match horseshoed out. That finale meant Watts and Miles Russell claimed a one-hole win over Easterbrook and Luke Poulter, the son of Ryder Cup star Ian.<\/p>\n

Grehan\u2019s role of leader \u2013 with the huge crowd support \u2013 had the 33-year-old again tasked with going out first in the afternoon singles, where he will take on Stout in the top singles match.<\/p>\n

Foursomes: GB&I 2\u00bd USA 1\u00bd<\/p>\n

Stuart Grehan<\/b>\/Eliot Baker halved with Preston Stout\/Ethan Fang<\/p>\n

Connor Graham\/Tyler Weaver bt Jay Leng Jnr\/Kihei Akina 1 hole<\/p>\n

Luke Poulter\/Sam Easterbrook lost to Miles Russell\/Tyler Watts 1 hole<\/p>\n

Niall Sheils Donegan\/Josh Hill bt Josiah Gilbert\/Ryder Cowan 4&3<\/p>\n

Afternoon singles<\/p>\n

2.02pm:<\/b> Grehan v Stout<\/p>\n

2.12pm:<\/b> Jack Whaley v Fang<\/p>\n

2.22pm:<\/b> Graham v William Jennings<\/p>\n

2.32pm:<\/b> Weaver v Leng Jnr<\/p>\n

2.42pm:<\/b> Ben Bolton v Stewart Hagestad<\/p>\n

2.52pm:<\/b> Poulter v Russell<\/p>\n

3.02pm:<\/b> Sheils Donegan v Watts<\/p>\n

3.12pm:<\/b> Baker v Gilbert <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"They came in their droves, playing the role of the 11th man to Great Britain and Ireland\u2019s quest…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1188014,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[4106],"tags":[2826,221290,79,16,15,109238],"class_list":["post-1188013","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-golf","tag-golf","tag-lahinch","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-walker-cup"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/117218897472240364","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1188013","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1188013"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1188013\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1188014"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1188013"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1188013"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1188013"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}