The United States split the morning foursomes matches with Great Britain and Ireland on the first day of the 46th Walker Cup on the North Course at Los Angeles Country Club.
Collin Morikawa of La Canada and Cal teamed with Norman Xiong of Canyon Lake and the University of Oregon to get the Americans off to a great start with an 8-and-7 rout of Harry Ellis and Alfie Plant, both of England.
“We just hit really good shots and didn’t miss too many,” Xiong said.
Added Morikawa: “It’s really easy to play with Norman. When you hit good shots, it’s a lot easier.”
Morikawa and Xiong won four of the first five holes and went on to the most lopsided victory in Walker Cup history.
Maverick McNealy of Portola Valley and Stanford and Doug Ghim of Arlington. Ill., the 2017 Pacific Coast Amateur champion, got the U.S. its second point by beating David Boote of England, McNealy’s former Stanford teammate, and Jack Davidson of Wales, 5 and 4.
Connor Syme of Scotland and Paul McBride of Ireland got the visitors on the scoreboard by defeating 2017 U.S. Amateur champion Doc Redman or Raleigh, N.C., and Will Zalatoris of Plano, Texas, 3 and 2.
Scott Gregory and Jack Singh Brar, both of England, earned Great Britain and Ireland a 2-2split of the morning matches with another 3-and-2 victory, over Scottie Scheffler of Dallas and Cameron Champ of Sacramento and Texas A&M.
