Americans were on a mission at Lahinch on Sunday morning, where the red, white and blue turned the tables and earned all four points in the Walker Cup’s Day 2 foursomes.
The clean sweep puts the U.S. just 3 and 1/2 points away from retaining the Walker Cup crown — for the sixth straight tournament.
Teenagers Miles Russell and Tyler Watts completed the dominant sweep for the Americans over Tyler Weaver and Connor Graham on the 16th hole to give the U.S. a 9 1/2 to 6 1/2 point lead over Team GB&I entering Sunday afternoon’s singles.
The weather never impacted the U.S. team who seemed to adjust to high winds and rain on Sunday morning.
“I wouldn’t say it doesn’t favor us, I feel like we all have to play in it,” said Kihei Akina, talking about how he and his teammates have embraced the conditions at Lahinch.
GB&I played constantly under pressure throughout the morning, with the first two American foursomes getting to 10 under par over the first five holes.
Russell and Watts won, 3 and 2, earning a full point for the U.S. for the second straight day to grab the last point available before the afternoon singles session.
“Our games kind of line up nicely,” said Russell. “He hits it very solid and I can chip it pretty solid and, when you put those two together, we make a very good team.”
Point breakdown
Fellow Americans William Jennings and Ryder Cowan were also dominant.
Jennings, who the big move for captain Nathan Smith ahead of Sunday morning, rolled in a birdie putt on the 15th green. Jennings and Cowan won, 4 and 3, to give the U.S. its third point.
The shot of the day came at the par-4 13th hole, where Preston Stout’s tee shot landed just a few feet from the pin. The 22-year-old Stout set the Americans up with an eagle to go 2 up on the match.
“It was a good shot, my best shot of the week,” Stout said, after wrapping up victory in the opening foursomes contest of the morning.
“We talked about making [GB&I] earn every hole,” Stout added. “They made some big putts, and a couple of eagles too, but we were okay with that. We just tried to make a birdie on every hole, and we did a pretty good job of that. We didn’t make very many bogeys.”
Stout and partner Ethan Feng got the Americans on the scoreboard first when they bested Stuart Grehan and Eliot Baker, 3 and 2.
The second point came from Akina and Jay Leng Jr., the 2026 U.S. Amateur runner-up.
Akina and Leng Jr. landed a 4 and 3 win over Luke Poulter and Sam Easterbrook.
Look ahead
GB&I captain Dean Robertson will lean on Stuart Grehan at the start of Day 2 singles matches.
Grehan will lineup again against Stout, who he beat on Saturday in a thrilling comeback. Grehan won the last three holes to edge the world’s top-ranked amateur.
“I feel like I played really solid yesterday, played pretty much perfect for 15 holes and he just clipped me,” Stout said of the loss to Grehan.
As for his win in the foursomes with Feng, Stout said he and Fang felt like they were in good form throughout the week.
“Even though we didn’t win yesterday, we knew we were playing well and came out of the gates hot and played really well this morning,” he said.
The final singles match between American Josiah Gilbert and Englishman Sam Easterbrook is set to tee off at 10:05 a.m. ET
Here’s a full look at the lineup for Sunday singles:
