Permanent link All PostsShe battled at San Francisco G.C., Royal Lytham and St. Annes, St. Pierre, Denver C.C., Royal St. George’s and Somerset Hills. She fought for the flag at Royal Liverpool, The Honors, Killarney, Minikahda, Ganton and Fox Chapel. No matter the terrain or the strange rolls of unfamiliar greens, if the Curtis Cup Match is not a war, it is at least a friendly but serious rivalry in which every stroke for your country counts. No one knows this better than Carol Semple Thompson of Sewickley, Pa., the 12-time USA Curtis Cup player and two-time captain. Dubbed “Ca-ROLE” by her friends and “CST” by a media seeking to shorten her name, she strolled near the tee as the first foursomes match of the 2010 Curtis Cup was sent off. This time, she was outside the ropes, a rare occurrence since 1974 when she first made the USA team. This morning she watched closely, a small American flag stuck in her visor. “So, how is it, not participating?” a friend asked. “It’s alright,” said CST with a resigned air. “It really is. It’s sort of like when I donated my putter (with which she made the winning putt at Fox Chapel in the 2002 Match) to the USGA Museum. It had its time and now it’s time to go on.” Does she miss playing? “No, but I do miss the interaction with the players, and with the young players on the team when I was captain,” Thompson said. She watched carefully as a ball whistled down the first fairway, then sailed sedately down the rough line, composed, intense, the air of a champion still apparent.