Walker Cup: Great Britain & Ireland 6½-5½ USA - Luke Poulter takes crucial point following morning controversy
Great Britain and Ireland are chasing a first win since 2015, but day one will be remembered for Niall Sheils Donegan scooping up a missed putt on the ninth hole without his opponents conceding; Watch the Walker Cup conclusion on Sunday, live on Sky Sports from 8am
Saturday 5 September 2026 21:16, UK
Great Britain and Ireland lead the USA 6½-5½ as day one of the Walker Cup witnessed some early controversy.
Luke Poulter - son of European Ryder Cup star Ian - earned a crucial victory in the last match to conclude on the first day of the two-day event which pits many of the world's top amateur players against each other.
But the day will be remembered for some early controversy involving the GB&I team of Niall Sheils Donegan and Josh Hill at Lahinch Golf Club.
- Latest Walker Cup scores [external site]
- Get Sky Sports or stream golf with no contract
- Latest golf highlights including Walker Cup action
The pair were four up after eight holes of their morning foursomes match against Josiah Gilbert and Ryder Cowan when Sheils Donegan narrowly missed a six-foot birdie putt at the ninth.
The ball finished around 18 inches from the hole and Donegan scooped up his ball believing he had extended the duo's lead, only for his opponents to claim they had not conceded the putt.
Cowan called an official and the USA were controversially awarded the hole, as there had been no verbal communication between the two teams.
Despite the drama, Sheils Donegan and Hill went on to win the match 4&3 to help GB&I win the morning session 2½-1½ and Scotland's Sheils Donegan accepted culpability for the incident.
"It was completely on me," he said.
"I hit the six-footer and missed it like an idiot. I had a foot back, and I just dragged it away like I'm in a Sunday bounce game, but those aren't the rules of golf.
"You screw up, but it's not about how you screw up; it's about how you bounce back and we bounced back amazingly."
Graham Connor and Tyler Weaver were also victorious for GB&I on Saturday morning with a one-hole victory over Jay Leng Jr and Kihei Akina.
Eliot Baker and Stuart Grehan halved their match with Preston Stout and Ethan Fang after 2025 Amateur Champion Fang pushed his par putt wide on the 18th.
Miles Russell and Tyler Watts picked up the USA's only win the foursomes, beating Poulter and Sam Easterbrook thanks to a birdie on the 18th hole.
Poulter takes crucial victory in Saturday singles
Poulter and Russell went head-to-head again in one of the eight singles matches played on Saturday afternoon, but this time it was the British player who came out on top.
Poulter started strongly, but lost the 12th and 13th holes to leave the match all square with five to play, only to win the 15th hole to move ahead again.
With the other seven games concluded and the overall match score level, Poulter then won the 17th hole to seal a 2&1 victory and ensure GB&I were ahead going into Sunday.
"I needed that finish. I was playing really good all day and he played good as well," Poulter said afterwards.
"We're ahead, which is always nice, but we need to reset for tomorrow. It's a new day, so we're going to go out there and do our own thing and try and take an early lead for foursomes.
"It's amazing. This crowd is unbelievable. It's so fun to have them on our back and we're going to give them a show tomorrow."
Earlier, home favourite Grehan came back from three holes down after five holes to beat world No 1 Stout on the last with a birdie four.
The visitors bounced back quickly, however, securing three points in succession thanks to Fang winning by one hole over Jack Whaley, Leng Jr defeating Weaver 2&1 and William Jennings edging out Graham by one hole to take the lead in the match for the first time.
Stewart Hagestad then extended his remarkable record in the Walker Cup to notch up his eighth win out of nine singles matches by overcoming Ben Bolton 2&1 to make it 5½-3½ to the USA.
However, GB&I rallied to secure the final three points of the session as Sheils Donegan impressed against Watts to win 3&2 with Baker following up with a victory by the same margin against Josiah Gilbert before Poulter's late victory.
GB&I captain Dean Robertson said: "I think that's probably the finest day of golf I've ever been involved in. I think the Walker Cup has just been an amazing showcase of what the game is all about in its purest form."
USA captain Nathan Smith responded: "We feel good about how we played today. Some great golf out there and still feel good about a lot of our pairings. We'll be ready to go tomorrow."
Sunday will start with another foursomes session before all 20 players featuring in singles on a final day, which could be impacted by challenging weather conditions.
The last Great Britain and Ireland team to win on away soil in 2001 contained current Ryder Cup captain Luke Donald, former US Open champion Graeme McDowell and Sky Sports Golf presenter Nick Dougherty.
Watch the final day of the Walker Cup on Sunday, live on Sky Sports Golf from 8am. Stream golf and more top sport contract-free with NOW.
Get the best prices and book a round at one of 1,700 courses across the UK & Ireland
