GB&I Leads Team USA 6.5-5.5 After Walker Cup Day One

Great Britain & Ireland leads the United States 6½-5½ after the first day of the 51st Walker Cup at Lahinch, having won the opening foursomes session before splitting Saturday's singles matches. The hosts now carry that lead into Sunday's singles, where they will try to close out their first Walker Cup win since 2015.

How did Saturday's singles play out?

GB&I's most dramatic point came from Stuart Grehan, who fell 3 down after three holes against Preston Stout, the world's top-ranked amateur, and still trailed by two with three holes to play. Grehan won all three closing holes, including a birdie putt on 18, for the biggest GB&I singles win of the day. Luke Poulter added a point by closing out Miles Russell 2 and 1, while Eliot Baker and Niall Sheils Donegan also won their singles matches for the hosts.

The Americans answered in the same session. Ethan Fang, William Jennings, Jay Leng Jr. and Stewart Hagestad all won singles points, with the 35-year-old Hagestad improving to 8-1 all-time in Walker Cup singles play.

What does GB&I need to win on Sunday?

Fourteen points remain in Sunday's session, 10 of them in singles and four in a final foursomes session. GB&I needs 13½ of the 26 total points across the match to take the Cup for the first time in more than a decade. The last four times GB&I held a day-one lead, the Americans rallied to win the match outright.

GB&I has led entering the final day in each of the last five editions and converted only once, in 2015.

"We're ahead, which is always nice," Poulter said after his win. Weather is forecast to turn on Sunday, with gusty winds and heavy rain replacing Saturday's lighter conditions at the seaside links.