Golf Roundup : British-Irish Team Leads in Walker Cup, 7 1/2-4 1/2

Peter McEvoy, a two-time British Amateur champion, and Eoghan O’Connell each won two matches Wednesday to lead Great Britain-Ireland to a surprising 7 1/2-4 1/2 first-day lead over the United States in Walker Cup competition at Atlanta.

“It is psychologically very important to be out front, to be the leader at the end of the first day,” McEvoy said.

McEvoy, left off the Walker Cup team two years ago, defeated Danny Yates in his singles match and teamed with O’Connell to rout Greg Lesher and Jay Sigel, 6 and 5, in the foursome competition.

Yates, runner-up in last year’s U.S. Amateur, was playing on his home course, the 7,034-yard Peachtree Golf Club.

O’Connell, who plays golf at Wake Forest, posted his singles victory over Ralph Howe, 5 and 4.

The United States holds a commanding 28-2-1 lead in the series, including victories in the last eight meetings.

The British-Irish team has never won on U.S. soil, although it had a tie in 1965 at Baltimore. The last British-Irish victory, by a 13-11 score, came at St. Andrews, Scotland, in 1971.

The American star of the first day was Robert Gamez of Arizona.

Gamez beat James Milligan, 7 and 6, in singles and teamed with Doug Martin of Oklahoma to down Russell Claydon and Darren Prosser, 3 and 2.

One of the singles matches featured the 1988 British and U.S. Amateur champions--Stephen Dodd against Eric Meeks.

Meeks, the U.S. champion, had a 3-up lead at the turn before Dodd won four of the next six holes, losing one along the way, as the two halved the match.

Jack Nicklaus, Lee Trevino and defending champion Ray Floyd will play in this year’s $450,000 Skins Game, the organizers announced in New York.

A fourth entrant in the Nov. 25-26 event at the PGA West course in La Quinta will be named next month.

Nicklaus, who has played in every Skins Game since it began in 1983, won the event in 1984. Trevino triumphed in 1987 after a hole-in-one at the 17th. Floyd took the crown last year with a nine-foot putt on the 16th, worth $165,000.