Team International carries narrow one-point lead through opening round of 27th Arnold Palmer Cup
LIGONIER (KDKA) -- With the first day of the 27th Arnold Palmer Cup in the books, Team U.S.A. trails Team International by a narrow margin of 6 & 1/2 points to 5 & 1/2 points.
Mixed four-ball play began just after 7 a.m. at Laurel Valley Golf Club with the United States jumping out to an early lead.
That early lead would be short-lived, however, as Team International battled back and evened things up relatively quickly and ultimately ended the day with the lead.
The course's penal design would rear its ugly head at times, with players visibly frustrated when things weren't going their way.
It wasn't all doom and gloom, however, as we saw just before 11 a.m., finding a bunker wasn't a death sentence as Team U.S.A.'s Caleb Surratt made the best of things, turning a short sided sand shot into a hole-out for birdie.
Surratt, along with teammate Megan Schofill pocketed Team U.S.A.'s first points of the day with a 4&3 win over Team International's Herman Sekne and Mirabel Ting.
"We played really solid golf and had a lot of fun on the course today," Schofill said. "Par is a good score on a lot of these holes, and whenever I felt like I was in a little bit of trouble, he (Surratt) made a lot of great putts and played phenomenal."
As the final groups were making the turn and starting the back nine holes, the match sat tied 5-5.
The two teams would trade shots back and forth through the later matches of the day, until the final pairings were on the 18th hole, when Team International's Max Kennedy made a 2-foot eagle putt to halve the match, giving his team the narrow lead they'll take into the second day of competition.
"That was special," Kennedy said. "We were under the gun coming down to the last (hole), and I hit a good (approach) shot. Lauren's been keeping me in it all day, so it was my time to give a little back."
Tomorrow morning, the second round of competition will begin at 7:30 a.m. with foursome pairings teeing off of both the front and back nines.
The third round, consisting of mixed foursomes pairings is scheduled to begin at 1:30 p.m.
The groupings and tee times for Friday are as follows:
Round 2 -- Foursomes Pairings
7:30 am (#1)
Caley McGinty/Lauren Walsh (International) vs. Rachel Kuehn/Emilia Migliaccio (USA)
7:30 am (#10)
Christiaan Maas/Tyran Snyders (International) vs. David Ford/Preston Summerhays (USA)
7:40 am (#1)
Ryan Griffin/Max Kennedy (International) vs. Nick Gabrelcik/Gordon Sargent (USA)
7:40 am (#10)
Caitlyn Macnab/Lorna McClymont (International) vs. Ashley Menne/Megan Schofill (USA)
7:50 am (#1)
Charlotte Heath/Lottie Woad (International) vs. Jennie Park/Crystal Wang (USA)
7:50 am (#10)
Mats Ege/Herman Sekne (International) vs. Maxwell Moldovan/Alex Price (USA)
8:00 am (#1)
Frederik Kjettrup/Christo Lamprecht (International) vs. Ben James/Caleb Surratt (USA)
8:00 am (#10)
Karisa Chul-Ak-Sorn/Mirabel Ting (International) vs. Olivia Mitchell/Ashleigh Park (USA)
8:10 am (#1)
Carla Bernat/Julia Lopez Ramirez (International) vs. Amari Avery/Antonia Malate (USA)
8:10 am (#10)
Josele Ballester/Sampson Zheng (International) vs. Tommy Kuhl/Derek Hitchner (USA)
8:20 am (#1)
Santiago de la Fuente/Mateo Fernández de Oliveira (International) vs. Cole Anderson/Austin Greaser (USA)
8:20 am (#10)
Maddison Hinson-Tolchard/Chiara Tamburlini (International) vs. Zoe Campos/Amanda Sambach (USA)
Round 3 -- Mixed Foursomes Pairings
1:30 pm (#1)
Tyran Snyders/Chiara Tamburlini (International) vs. Ashley Menne/Preston Summerhays (USA)
1:30 pm (#10)
Madison Hinson-Tolchard/Christiaan Maas (International) vs. Nick Gabrelcik/Jennie Park (USA)
1:40 pm (#1)
Mats Ege/Caitlyn Macnab (International) vs. Megan Schofill/Caleb Surratt (USA)
1:40 pm (#10)
Christo Lamprecht/Caley McGinty (International) vs. Olivia Mitchell/Alex Price (USA)
1:50 pm (#1)
Ryan Griffin/Lorna McClymont (International) vs. Amari Avery/Gordon Sargent (USA)
1:50 pm (#10)
Herman Sekne/Lottie Woad (International) vs. Tommy Kuhl/Crystal Wang (USA)
2:00 pm (#1)
Charlotte Heath/Frederik Kjettrup (International) vs. Ben James/Ashleigh Park (USA)
2:00 pm (#10)
Karisa Chul-Ak-Sorn/Santiago de la Fuente (International) vs. Austin Greaser/Antonia Malate (USA)
2:10 pm (#1)
Mateo Fernández de Oliveira/Julia Lopez Ramirez (International) vs. Cole Anderson/Rachel Kuehn (USA)
2:10 pm (#10)
Mirabel Ting/Sampson Zheng (International) vs. Zoe Campos/Maxwell Moldovan (USA)
2:20 pm (#1)
Josele Ballester/Carla Bernat (International) vs. Derek Hitchner/Emilia Migliaccio (USA)
2:20 pm (#10)
Max Kennedy/Lauren Walsh (International) vs. David Ford/Amanda Sambach (USA)
