Great Britain and Ireland were unable to claim an early advantage as they looked to regain the Walker Cup against the United States at Royal Liverpool.
England's Alex Fitzpatrick and Ireland's Conor Purcell led from the front in the opening foursomes, defeating John Augenstein and Andy Ogletree 2&1.
And although the English pair of Harry Hall and Conor Gough beat Stewart Hagestad and Akshay Bhatia by the same score, defeats for
Scotland's Euan Walker and Sandy Scott and England's Tom Sloman and Thomas Plumb left the match score at 2-2 ahead of eight afternoon singles matches.
Fitzpatrick and Purcell raced four up after eight holes and were still ahead by the same margin with six to play, but lost the 13th to a birdie and then bogeyed the 15th to see their lead cut in half.
However, Purcell's superb pitch on the par-five 16th set up a vital birdie and victory was secured with a par on the next.
"We knew that it was going to be an important match and it was nice to get a point on the board for the rest of the boys to see," said Fitzpatrick, whose older brother Matt, the five-time European Tour winner and Ryder Cup player, was among a sizeable crowd.
READ MORE: Scots duo raring to go at Walker Cup
"They were always going to come back at us at some point but we were playing good golf all day and were both confident in each other's abilities."
As for the presence of his brother, Fitzpatrick added: "I saw him sneak under the ropes on one of the tees and I was tempted to go and tell him to get back with everyone else but I let him off with that one."
Walker and Scott held an early lead thanks to a birdie on the fourth but lost four of the next six holes without opponents John Pak and Isaiah Salinda making a single birdie on their way to a 2&1 defeat.
Hall and Gough were never behind to Hagestad and Bhatia, while Sloman and Plumb fought hard against Brandon Wu and Alex Smalley before eventually losing on the 17th.
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