Wild Swings at Cypress Point Keep Walker Cup Drama Alive
The U.S. team holds a narrow 8.5-7.5 lead over Great Britain & Ireland heading into Sunday singles at the Walker Cup after the teams split the morning foursomes session 2-2 at Cypress Point Club.
“It’s been all over the place,” U.S. captain Nathan Smith said. “Some of the matches we thought we’d win, we lost, and same for them. Everything was flipping, and it’s been so exciting for everybody.”
All four matches reached the 17th hole in what can only be described as wild alternate-shot play. The intensity was evident in the anchor match between GB&I’s Niall Shiels Donegan and Cameron Adam against Americans Michael La Sasso and Jase Summy. La Sasso laid his putter down on the third green after making a short putt he felt should’ve been conceded. The Scottish pair built a commanding 5-up lead through 12 holes before securing a 2-and-1 victory.
The Americans got their first point of the morning when Mason Howell, the 18-year-old U.S. Amateur champion, and Jacob Modleski defeated GB&I’s Eliot Baker and Stuart Grehan by the same 2-and-1 margin. Howell provided late fireworks, draining a long birdie at the par-3 15th before holing out for a walk-off eagle on the par-4 17th.
This continues Howell’s remarkable run at Cypress Point, where he’s made long birdies at 15 and 16 in Saturday singles, just a day after making an albatross on the second hole during practice.
As Howell was closing out his match, teammates Jackson Koivun and Tommy Morrison were staging a comeback in the leadoff match. Down two holes to Tyler Weaver and Connor Graham after 10, the American pair slowly clawed back. Morrison holed a crucial par save to win the 17th—the same hole where he’d spun an approach back into the water during Saturday morning foursomes.
“That was huge,” Morrison said. “I’m so thrilled with the way we stayed in that fight.”
Koivun sealed their 1-up victory with a quick 4-footer on 18, ensuring the Americans would maintain their lead heading into singles.
That point helped offset a massive comeback by GB&I’s Luke Poulter and Charlie Forster, who rallied from 4-down after 10 holes against Preston Stout and Ethan Fang. The momentum shifted when Fang missed a 4-foot par putt at 11, triggering a slide where the Americans lost five of six holes.
“We kind of just held our hands up at that point,” Forster admitted about being 4-down.
GB&I captain Dean Robertson delivered a timely pep talk, telling his players to “trust what got you here.” They responded with clutch birdies at 13 and 15 while the Americans struggled.
“We knew that if we just trusted our game, anything can happen,” Poulter said. “… And it did.”
“Whoever plays better this afternoon is going to win, but we feel great about where we’re at,” Smith said. “We wanted to win the session or hold serve this morning, and we did that. Just have to get it done this afternoon.”
History favors the Americans in Sunday singles. The U.S. has won seven of eight final singles sessions since the format expanded to 10 matches in 2009. GB&I’s only final singles victory in that span came in 2015.
The visitors face an even steeper historical challenge. GB&I hasn’t won a Walker Cup after trailing through three sessions since 2003 at Ganton, when they overcame a two-point deficit with just eight matches to play. More daunting still, they’ve never won on U.S. soil when entering the final session behind.
Robertson remains optimistic: “The momentum switches quickly, and we’re behind. How? I don’t know, but we need to keep our concentration and be tighter coming down the stretch. It’s going to be a fun afternoon. These guys have got to go out and believe in themselves. They’re all good golfers, they’re up against some seriously talented individuals, but they’re capable, and they’ve got to believe.”
“And if they can believe, they can achieve.”
