Manchester-by-the-Sea, Mass. – The USA swept all six of Saturday’s matches to take an 8½-3½ lead over Great Britain and Ireland into Sunday’s singles encounters in the 36th Curtis Cup Match at the 6,247-yard, par-70 Essex County Club.
The USA team needs only 1½ points to guarantee a tie and re-claim the cup it won at St. Andrews in Scotland in 2008. An outright win demands that the USA win two of the eight points that are on the line Sunday.
The GB&I Team must win seven of the eight points at stake on Sunday to reclaim the cup it last won in 1996. The current six-Match losing streak is the second-longest in the biennial competition’s history that dates to 1932.
Rachel Jennings of GB&I, who was on the losing end of two matches today, said the margin is surmountable. There’s no reason we can’t win all eight matches, said Jennings. It will be tough, it will be hard, but it can be done.
Following the American sweep, USA captain Noreen Mohler praised her players for winning all three four-ball (best-ball) matches in the morning and three foursomes (alternate-shot) matches in the afternoon. I told them the greens were our friends, Mohler said. It was who was making the putts.
Jennifer Johnson and Tiffany Lua won the closing point for the USA Saturday when they edged Jennings and Sally Watson, 3 and 2. The USA team won the 14th, 15th and 16th holes with pars to clinch the match.
Lua said she and Johnson changed strategy when the match was all square with five holes to play. At the 14th, we said, ‘Let’s refocus,’ and we got a good par save.
While the USA peppered the scoreboard with birdies in the morning four-ball matches, the more difficult foursomes produced higher scores. Jennifer Song and Stephanie Kono defeated Hannah Barwood and Holly Clyburn, 3 and 1, with birdies on three of the last five holes. Song had recorded nine birdies on her own ball in the morning four-ball match.
Alexis Thompson and Jessica Korda eased past McVeigh and Leona Maguire, 3 and 1, with birdies at the 15th and 17th. Thompson thus far has the best record of this match with three wins, no losses, and one halve.
GB&I captain Mary McKenna was philosophical about her team’s lack of points. The Americans started this morning birdie, birdie, birdie in the top match and birdie, birdie in the second match, McKenna said. That’s hard to overcome.
McKenna said she was putting her strongest players at the top in Sunday’s lineup in a quest to staunch an American landslide. GB&I’s Danielle McVeigh plays Song, the 2009 U.S. Women’s Amateur and U.S. Women’s Amateur Public Links champion. Sally Watson takes on Thompson, the 2008 U.S. Girls’ Junior champion, who at 15 is the USA’s youngest player. GB&I’s Rachel Jennings goes against Johnson and Lisa Maguire, 15, plays Kimberly Kim, who won the 2006 U.S. Women’s Amateur when she was 14.
Results
Manchester-by-the-Sea, Mass. – Results of the second round of four-ball and foursomes matches at the 2010 Curtis Cup Match, played Saturday at the par-70, 6,247-yard Essex County Club.
Four-ball
Match 1
Alexis Thompson, Coral Springs, Fla., and Jessica Korda, Bradenton, Fla. (USA) def. Danielle McVeigh, Ireland, and Pamela Pretswell, Scotland (GB&I), 2 and 1
Match 2
Jennifer Song, Ann Arbor, Mich., and Cydney Clanton, Concord, N.C. (USA) def. Leona Maguire, Ireland, and Lisa Maguire, Ireland (GB&I), 3 and 2
Match 3
Stephanie Kono, Honolulu, Hawaii, and Kimberly Kim, Pahoa, Hawaii (USA) def. Sally Watson, Scotland, and Rachel Jennings, England (GB&I), 2 up
Foursomes
Match 1
Alexis Thompson, Coral Springs, Fla., and Jessica Korda, Bradenton, Fla. (USA) def. Danielle McVeigh, Ireland, and Leona Maguire, Ireland (GB&I), 3 and 1
Match 2
Jennifer Song, Ann Arbor, Mich., and Stephanie Kono, Honolulu, Hawaii (USA) def. Hannah Barwood, England, and Holly Clyburn, England (GB&I), 3 and 1
Match 3
Tiffany Lua, Rowland Heights, Calif., and Jennifer Johnson, La Quinta, Calif. (USA) def. Sally Watson, Scotland, and Rachel Jennings, England (GB&I), 3 and 2
Pairings
Manchester-by-the-Sea, Mass. – Pairings for the singles matches, to be played Sunday at the par-70, 6,247-yard Essex County Club (times are EDT):
Singles
Match 1
11:30 a.m. – Danielle McVeigh, Ireland (GB&I) vs. Jennifer Song, Ann Arbor, Mich. (USA)
Match 2
11:40 a.m. – Sally Watson, Scotland (GB&I) vs. Alexis Thompson, Coral Springs, Fla. (USA)
Match 3
11:50 a.m. – Rachel Jennings, England (GB&I) vs. Jennifer Johnson, La Quinta, Calif. (USA)
Match 4
12 noon – Lisa Maguire, Ireland (GB&I) vs. Kimberly Kim, Pahoa, Hawaii (USA)
Match 5
12:10 p.m. – Hannah Barwood, England (GB&I) vs. Cydney Clanton, Concord, N.C. (USA)
Match 6
12:20 p.m. – Leona Maguire, Ireland (GB&I) vs. Tiffany Lua, Rowland Heights, Calif. (USA)
Match 7
12:30 p.m. – Pamela Pretswell, Scotland (GB&I) vs. Jessica Korda, Bradenton, Fla. (USA)
Match 8
12:40 p.m. – Holly Clyburn, England (GB&I) vs. Stephanie Kono, Honolulu, Hawaii (USA)