Irishman Gavin Moynihan teamed up with Jack Hume
to defeat the McCoys 3-and-2 (USGA/John Mummert)
LYTHAM SAINT ANNES, England — Great Britain
& Ireland
began the 2015
Walker Cup Match with the start they were
looking for, securing
victories in three of four matches in Saturday
morning's
Foursomes at Royal Lytham & St. Annes.
The United States captured one point thanks to
Beau Hossler and
Denny McCarthy, who defeated Irishmen Paul
Dunne and Gary
Hurley 3-and-1. Otherwise, the U.S. dropped all
other foursome
matchups. In the afternoon singles, there was
virtually no blood across the board as the teams
halved two matches, and each finished with
three victories to their name.
“We saw we were the only red match on the
board. We knew in our head
that our match was going to be pretty
important,” McCarthy told the
USGA. “We played really steady golf today and
we were under par for
alternate shot in the wind, which is really good
out here. It was a grind
and Paul and Gary gave us a good fight. But we
hit some really quality
shots coming in to get the point.”
Later, despite being 1-up through 8 on Jimmy
Mullen, the Englishman won holes 9, 11,
12, and 13 before finishing off the reigning
Porter Cup winner 2-up.
Mullen and 2014 European Amateur champion
Ashley Chesters paired up to
hand Maverick
McNealy and
Hunter Stewart a 3-and-2 loss in the morning,
while Cormac
Sharvin (Ireland)
and Jack McDonald (Scotland) wrapped up the
most lopsided
match of foursomes, beating Jordan Niebrugge
and Robby
Shelton 5-and-4 in a match that was all-square
just once — on the
first tee.
“I was more nervous hitting that one than I was
at the Open
(Championship),” Mulllen told the USGA of
striking the first shot of the
match for Great Britain and Ireland at the par-3
first. “It was a horrible
shot, I was just happy to get it down there. I
made up with the (par)
putt.”
McCarthy's foursome partner Hossler, the 2014
Western Amateur champion and
University of Texas sophomore, moved to 2-0
thus far with a come-from-behind victory
over Irishman Jack Hume. Hossler was 3-down
through 10 before winning four of his
next six holes and squeak by with a 1-up win.
Hume and fellow Irishman Gavin Moynihan
paired up to face the USA's "Two McCoys" in
the morning. Georgia senior Lee
McCoy and perennial
USGA competitor Mike McCoy never
led in the match, halving the first two holes
before
Hume/Moynihan slowly
built their lead to eventually win 3-and-2 with a
birdie at the par-4
16th.
Moynihan, the 2015 Irish Open Amateur winner,
moved to 2-0 on Saturday with a 4-
and-2 win over Oklahoma State senior Jordan
Niebrugge.
The United States also received precious points
from 2014 U.S. Mid-Amateur champ
Scott Harvey (2-and-1 over Grant Forrest) and
2015 Northeast Amateur winner Hunter
Stewart (2-up over Paul Dunne).
More to come later this afternoon. Follow the
link below for live hole-by-hole scoring
from Royal Lytham & St. Annes.
View results for The Walker Cup
ABOUT THE The Walker Cup
The Walker Cup Match is a biennial 10-man
amateur
team competition between the USA and a team
composed of players from Great Britain and
Ireland
and selected by The R&A. It is played over two
days
with 18 singles matches and eight foursomes
(alternate-shot) matches.
The first United States Walker Cup Team, which
in
1922 defeated the GB&I side, 8-4, at the
National Golf
Links of America, is considered among the best
teams
ever and included Francis Ouimet, Bob Jones,
Charles
“Chick” Evans and Jess Sweetser. Many of the
game’s
greatest players have taken part in Walker Cup
competition, including U.S. Open champions
Jack
Nicklaus, Tiger Woods and Jordan Spieth for
the
USA
and Graeme McDowell, Rory McIlroy and Justin
Rose
for Great Britain and Ireland.
View Complete Tournament Information