2026 Walker Cup: 3 takeaways from the first session

LAHINCH, Ireland — The population of Lahinch is a little over 1,000 people. However, on Saturday morning at the local golf club, more than 8,000 spectators walked the fairways for the opening foursomes matches of the Walker Cup.

And the home crowd had reason to cheer.

The Great Britain and Ireland team took an early 2.5 points to 1.5 lead after the morning session. If you were still asleep for the start of play, here’s three takeaways from the opening play.

1. The home side had the rub of the greens

Dean Robertson, captain of the GB&I side for the second consecutive time at the Walker Cup, has preached to his team about the importance of preparation. Well, it seemed early that the home side listened.

Scotland’s Connor Graham holed nearly 100 feet of putts before 10 a.m. He and partner Tyler Weaver birdied the opening four holes to before outlasting the U.S. side of Jay Leng Jr. and Kihei Akina by one hole.

While the lead pair for the home side stumbled with a rare missed putt by Eliot Baker from short range on the 17th hole, the World No. 1 amateur, Preston Stout, on the U.S. side returned the favor from short range on the 18th, halving the match.

2. The rules infraction didn’t have an impact

Momentum is a funny thing in match play. When you have it, the hole looks bigger and the game feels easy. When you don’t, matches can feel like uphill battles.

Niall Sheils Donegan had all the momentum early in their match against Americans Ryder Cowan and Josiah Gilbert, however they risked losing it over a controversial moment on the ninth green.

However, the young GB&I pair didn’t let it impact them, adding another birdie and hole win at the 12th hole and closing out their match 4&3.

3. The young guns saved the U.S. side

Nathan Smith’s American team did get its first full point in the final match of the morning to finish. Despite having a combined age of just 35, left handers Tyler Watts and Miles Russell birdied the 18th hole to win one-up over Luke Poulter and Sam Easterbrook.

Both sides will turn their focus to the afternoon singles session with home team one point ahead. GB&I have now won or tied the opening session of the Walker Cup in each of the last nine editions, last losing the opening foursomes at Merion in 2009.

However, with 18 of the 26 total points available in singles play, it’s likely that both afternoon sessions will determine who wins this year’s event.

However, the home side have the early advantage.