Team Great Britain & Ireland Lead By Three Points At The Walker Cup

Team Great Britain & Ireland claimed both the foursomes and singles sessions on Saturday to take a three point lead going into the final day at St Andrews.

The golf on display at the Old Course had been superb and, following a 3 - 1 victory in the morning foursomes, Team GB&I took the afternoon singles 4.5 - 3.5, with Stuart Wilson's men now needing 6 points on Sunday to reclaim the title that they haven't held since 2015.

In the morning foursomes, it was Team GB&I who took the early advantage, as they picked up three points out of a possible four. The first game, which featured World No.1 Amateur, Gordon Sargent, saw him and American partner, Dylan Menante, cruise to a 3&2 win, but that was the only scalp the Americans could claim in the morning wave.

The matches were indeed tight though, with Calum Scott & Connor Graham picking up a 3&2 win, whilst the pairs of Matthew McClean & John Gough and Alex Maguire & James Ashfield both claimed 1-up victories on the 18th hole.

Leading 3-1, Team GB&I were looking to replicate their morning form in the singles, but it was American, Caleb Surratt, who took the first point of the afternoon, with a 4&3 win over 22-year-old, Barclay Brown.

Although the lead was halved, home-hero, Scott, managed to claim a 2&1 victory over Nick Gabrelcik to get it back to two, before a huge turning point came in the third match between Jack Bigham and World No.1 Sargent on the final hole. Out the blocks, Sargent led, but Bigham fought back to lead 1-up with two holes to play. However, the American claimed the 17th before a birdie at the last gave Sargent a crucial 1-up win.

With the first three singles decided, there soon came a crucial passage of play, with two of the next three games all-square with a handful of holes remaining. Before those concluded though it was Gough who decimated the US Amateur champion, Nick Dunlap, 6&5, whilst the US got some payback with a 4&3 Stewart Hagestad victory to put the scores 5-4 in GB&I's favour. 

Attention now turned to the three crucial games and, in the first to conclude, it was GB&I's Liam Nolan who birdied the 18th to win 1-up and guarantee that GB&I would lead going into Sunday. Not long after, his teammate, Mark Power, got the better of David Ford to put GB&I 7-4 up with Preston Summerhays and McClean left to go.

Both men were all-square playing the 18th following Summerhays' par at the 17th and, after both left short birdie attempts at the last, the duo would hole their putts that meant GB&I would take a 7.5-4.5 lead into the final day on Sunday.

On the final day, we see four foursomes in the morning, with 10 singles taking place in the afternoon and, for those wondering, Team GB&I must make it to 13.5 points if they are to win, whilst the American side need to get to 13.