Georgia pair helps U.S. take Walker Cup lead

By

Posted 9:39AM on Sunday, August 14, 2005

WHEATON, ILLINOIS - Kim and Brian Harman of Savannah, Ga., who will be a freshman at Georgia this fall, overcame a three-hole deficit with eight to play to halve their match with Edwards and Davies Saturday after the first day of the Walker Cup matches at Chicago Golf Club. John Holmes beat longtime Britain and Ireland player Gary Wolstenholme 1-up to help the United States take a 6.5-5.5 lead. The United States, trying to end a three-match losing streak in the biennial competition, led 2.5-1.5 after the morning alternate-shot matches and maintained the one-point lead by splitting the eight afternoon singles matches. The two-day competition will conclude Sunday with four more morning alternate-shot matches and eight afternoon singles matches. The United States needs 12.5 points to win, and Britain and Ireland needs 12 to retain the cup. Holmes, coming off his senior year at Kentucky, birdied the par-4 17th hole to take the lead and matched Wolstenholme with a par on No. 18. The 44-year-old Wolstenholme is making his sixth straight appearance. He played Tiger Woods twice in Britain and Ireland's 1995 victory at Royal Porthcawl, winning 1-up and losing 4 and 3. Anthony Kim, Jeff Overton and Lee Williams also won singles matches for the United States. Kim beat England's Gary Lockerbie 6 and 5, Overton defeated Wales' Nigel Edwards 5 and 4, and Williams edged Ireland's Brian McElhinney 2 and 1. England's Oliver Fisher, the youngest player in Walker Cup history at 16 years, 11 months, beat Michael Putnam 2-up. Fisher played the last five holes in 4 under, winning the 14th, 16th and 18th. Wales' Rhys Davies, England's Matthew Richardson and Scotland's Lloyd Saltman also won their matches for Britain and Ireland. Davies beat Matthew Every 4 and 3, Richardson defeated Nicholas Thompson 5 and 4, and Saltman edged Billy Hurley 1-up. At one point in the afternoon, the United States led four matches and was all square in three others, but Britain and Ireland rallied to remain a point back. ``We could have been out of it,'' Britain and Ireland captain Garth McGimpsey said. ``We could have been dead and buried. We're not. It's almost feeling like we're ahead. ``By the nature of our countries, we're fighters. We're island people. We'll fight to the death to hold on to this trophy.'' In the morning alternate-shot matches, Kim and Brian Harman of Savannah, Ga., who will be a freshman at Georgia this fall, overcame a three-hole deficit with eight to play to halve their match with Edwards and Davies. ``It was a very key half-point,'' U.S. captain Bob Lewis said. ``Any time you can get up on GB in alternate shot, it's an advantage. ``I've been preaching getting a half-point for two years now. So many times in the Walker Cup, you can think of a specific moment when a half-point would have changed everything.'' AT 18, Harman is the youngest ever for the U.S. in the Walker Cup competition.