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8 SEPTEMBER 2007

All square after the morning foursomes

"I was pretty calm over the putt. Just your standard five-foot right-to-left for a half in the Walker Cup. Rory likes to keep me sharp," was Jonathan Caldwell's reaction to the putt that brought a vital half to the Great Britain & Ireland cause against the United States and kept the overall match score at two points each at the conclusion of the first foursomes session.

Two down with three to play Caldwell and his Irish team-mate Rory McIlroy got out of jail with a fine birdie at the 337-yard 16th and a scrambled par at the last. "We’ve only been beaten once in the last three years," said McIlroy. "The crowd were absolutely fantastic. We wanted to give them something to cheer about."

Their half point against the strong pairing of Colt Knost and Dustin Johnson was a fine result after losing the opening hole to a birdie and never once being ahead.

The top match had gone decisively in favour of the Americans with Billy Horschel and Rickie Fowler always in front from the third. Birdies at the fourth and 12th helped them to a four hole lead and although Lloyd Saltman and Rhys Davies won the short 14th they lost the next to go down by 4 and 3.

John Parry and David Horsey fought back from one down after five to be two ahead at the turn, but they lost the 12th and 13th and the match was all square on the 16th tee where a par was good enough to take the hole from Trip Kuehne and Kyle Stanley. A birdie at the tough 17th clinched GB&I's only outright win of the morning.

Jamie Moul and Daniel Willett were in control from the start against Webb Simpson and Jonathan Moore in the final match, birdies at three of the short holes putting them three ahead with four to play. But the Americans, who started poorly with dropped shots at the two opening holes, came into their own late in the game, winning the 15th in par and snatching a half with a birdie at the 17th and an eagle at the last.

US captain Buddy Marucci commented: "It turned out as well as we could have expected at the end. We should be pretty happy with where we stand. Now everyone can loosen up a bit."

Colin Dalgleish, GB&I captain, said: "Some morning, I didn't think I could take much more of it. The half Rory and Jonny got was incredible, but you see that kind of thing happen so often in foursomes with short putts missed on the last and the game can turn so easily. That's why it's such a great format. Then of course we had the huge putt by the Americans on the last in the final game. But credit to them, they did what they had to do. It's nicely balanced and we would've been happy with that at the start of the day."