Stuart Grehan (file photo). Alamy Stock Photo

Grehan and Tiernan the Irish in action as USA lead by a point at Walker Cup

Great Britain & Ireland trail narrowly in California.

TEAM USA RALLIED in singles for a one-point lead after day one at the Walker Cup.

Great Britain & Ireland trail narrowly at Cypress Point Golf Club, Pebble Beach, California.

Stuart Grehan and Gavin Tiernan are the Irish players in action. They experienced mixed opening days at the 50th Walker Cup match.

After a disappointing 1-3 foursomes session, USA turned an early two-point deficit into a 6.5-5.5 lead.

The hosts — led by world number one Jackson Koivun and a decisive point from Jase Summy in the final match — secured 5.5 of the available eight singles points.

Grehan tied his match with Amateur Championship holder Ethan Fang: the Irishman missed a downhill six-foot birdie putt that would have secured a full point for Great Britain & Ireland. He also teamed up with Eliot Baker to hold off Fang and Preston Stout.

Grehan was name-checked by GB&I captain Dean Robertson afterwards.

“The standard of golf today has been exceptional,” said Robertson. “Morning foursomes played off of Connor [Graham] and Tyler [Weaver]. Their back nine was sensational, followed by Luke Poulter and Charlie Forster, [Stuart] Grehan and [Eliot] Baker. Fantastic.

“This afternoon the Americans played fantastic. The sportsmanship out there was exemplary. The weather was tremendous. The golf course is firming up even more so. It was a brilliant day. We just fell short on a few putts there, and things went the other way. If we’d holed a couple more, things might be a little bit different. However, [I’m] exceptionally proud of the way that the team performed.”

Tiernan, meanwhile, suffered a 7-and-5 defeat to Stewart Hagestad.

On Sunday’s second and final day of the biennial tournament, Team USA need 13 points to retain the title. GB&I require 13.5 to win for the first time since 2015. Four foursomes matches will precede 10 singles duels.

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