For most of Saturday, Miles Russell looked every bit like the highly favored teenager he was when he arrived at Lahinch. Then, with his singles debut at the 51st Walker Cup hanging in the balance, everything unraveled on the 17th hole. Russell’s tee shot disappeared into the native rough, and the mistake came at the worst possible time.
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The damage was done, and Luke Poulter, the son of European Ryder Cup star Ian, walked away with the match. Golf Channel captured the moment on video, posting the clip with a caption that summed up how the hole turned out for Russell.
“Miles Russell consulted with a rules official before taking the penalty drop on the 17th hole. Poulter went on to defeat Russell 2&1.”
The footage shows Russell and his caddy combing through thick dune grass well off the fairway, bending over and searching, while Poulter awaits nearby.
Russell’s tee shot on the par-4 17th drifted into Lahinch’s unforgiving rough, the kind of gnarled waist-high grass that swallows golf balls whole. With his round on the line, he needed help from rules officials just to establish where and how he could proceed.
The search dragged on long enough to become a story of its own. Officials eventually found the ball, and rather than rule it lost, which would have sent Russell back to replay the shot, they determined the lie was unplayable.
He took a one-stroke penalty drop in the same spot, then couldn’t convert his next shot to save the hole.
The 17th became a crucial advantage for Poulter, who had been waiting for the opportunity. This was fitting, as the pair had been tied for a long stretch on the front nine before the 17th.
Poulter had sealed a 15-foot birdie on the 15th, then got up and down from a tough spot on the par-3 16th to stay in front. By the time Russell’s ball vanished into the rough at 17, Poulter used his cushion to close out with 2&1.
The loss on the 17th had a crucial impact on the team. Had Russell won or tied the hole, Team USA would have either entered the final day with a 6.5 score or with a tied 6 score, instead of the 6.5-5.5 deficit they carried into Sunday.
The loss was unexpected given how the morning had panned out. Russell had partnered with Tyler Watts in foursomes to beat Poulter and Sam Easterbrook with a birdie on the 18th. A result Watts called “pretty big” given where the leaderboard stood.
Foursomes’ shared pressure had let Russell lean on Watts down the stretch; alone in singles, with no partner to share the 17th-hole scramble, the margin for error disappeared. Poulter’s singles win was effectively the receipt for that loss, and it came alongside a late GB&I surge.
Furthermore, Niall Sheils Donegan and Eliot Baker also closed out wins in the final matches on the course to swing the session 4-4 and hand the hosts a 6.5-5.5 lead heading into Sunday.
Miles Russell: The resume behind his rising stardom
That being said, for Russell, the loss doesn’t erase what has been a breakout year. The 17-year-old from Jacksonville Beach ranked 5th among the world’s amateurs after finishing T39 at the U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills this summer. For that, he has drawn praise from his playing partner Padraig Harrington, who said Russell “looked like he could hit it down the rope.”
Moreover, he’s already committed to Florida State and was one of just two Walker Cup debutants on the American side, alongside Watts.
Now Sunday gives them another chance to answer back. GB&I needs just six and a half more points to complete their first Walker Cup win on home soil since 2015. The Americans will need players like Russell to bounce back quickly if they hope to retain the cup at Lahinch.
For years, the name ‘best high-schooler since Spieth’ has followed Russell, and his junior resume makes a strong case for it. He has already collected two Junior Invitationals at Sage Valley, two AJGA Junior Players titles and a Junior PGA, putting him just one step away from what would amount to a career Grand Slam of junior golf. His final piece of the puzzle nearly came this summer, when he finished runner-up at the U.S. Junior Amateur.