CURTIS CUP UNDERDOGS SHOW THEIR TEETH

High fives from Pamela Pretswell and (top picture) Sally Watson holes a crucial birdie putt at the 16th. Images by Susan Simpson of the Ladies Golf Union.

What a start by Great Britain and Ireland! Mary McKenna's

girls take four-balls 2-1 to lead at end of Day 1

By COLIN FARQUHARSON
Great Britain and Ireland, given no chance by most neutrals in the 36th Curtis Cup match against an all-star American team, silenced the pundits with a magnificent team performance on the opening day at the Essex County Club, Massachusetts
Mary McKenna’s team took the honours and, lo and behold, go into Day 2 with a 3 ½-2 ½ lead.
All three morning foursomes were halved.
Then Great Britain and Ireland belied their underdog rating by winning two of the three after four-ball matches with some high quality scoring.
Danielle McVeigh and Pamela Pretswell put Great Britain and Ireland ahead at 2 ½ to 1 ½ after they produced some brilliant scoring in achieving a 4 and 3 win over Jennifer Song and Kimberly in the first afternoon four-ball tie.
Danielle and Pamela were a combined six under par for the holes played, having gone through the turn in five-under-par 31 with a four-hole lead.
The Great Britain and Ireland pair birdied the first and second to jump into a two-hole lead. In a quality match, the long fifth was halved in birdie 4s. Then McVeigh and Pretswell birdied the sixth, seventh and ninth to take a four-hole stranglehold on the match.
The Americans scored their only success at the 10th – and they had to produce a birdie to do it.
McVeigh and Pretswell restored their four-hole advantage with their seventh birdie of the afternoon, which won them the 13th. Halves at the next two holes ended the contest.
The United States drew level at 2 ½-2 ½ when Alexis Thompson and Jennifer Johnson beat Rachel Jennings and Leona Maguire by 3 and 2.
It was a great scoring performance by the Americans who were four under par when the match ended.
Jennings and Maguire had been one up after seven holes but Thomson and Johnson’s birdie 3 at the ninth levelled matters. The Americans then won two of the next three holes and it took a birdie for the GB and I pair to get a half in 2s at the short 11th!
Two up with a winning par at the 10th and a winning birdie 3 at the 12th, the Americans held the visitors’ attempts to regain the initiative at bay with halves at the 13th, 14th and 15th before a birdie 3 by Johnson and Thomson, their fifth of the match, at the 16th gave them a 3 and 2 victory.
Sally Watson and Lisa Maguire came through a nail-biting finish to give Great Britain and Ireland a 3 ½-2 ½ lead at the end of the first day. They beat Jessica Korda and Tiffany Lua by one hole in another match full of great scoring.
Watson and Maguire, never behind at any stage, were five under par for their round. The Americans were four under par without ever being in the lead!
Watson and Maguire were two up after eight holes but had their lead halved at the turn which they reached in a better-ball four-under-par 32.
The pressure on the Great Britain and Ireland pair increased when, after a series of halves, they lost the 13th to a birdie to be pulled back to all square. But Watson and Maguire were equal to the task. The teenagers birdied the 16th to edge ahead again and halved the last two holes for a notable win at the end of a notable day for Mary McKenna and her team of underdogs.
All three morning foursomes ties finished all square, a lunchtime scoreline that must have boosted confidence within Great Britain and Ireland.
Sally Watson and Rachel Jennings were two up with two to play in the lead-off match against Jennifer Johnson and Jennifer Song but the Americans finished well with a birdie 3 at the 17th and then a par 4 at the last to win both holes and square the match they looked as though they might lose.
The American pairing of Alexis Thompson and Jessica Korda had the better of the outward half against Hannah Barwood and Holly Clyburn after going two up at the fifth.
But the English girls squared the match by winning the ninth and 10th. The Americans regained a one-hole lead with a birdie 3 at the 13th but back came the GB and I pair to square the contest at the 14th. The last four holes were halved .
In the third morning foursome, Danielle McVeigh and Leona Maguire went two up after seven holes against Cydney Clanton and Stephanie Kono but were pulled back to all square after 11. The GB and I pair went one up again with a birdie 3 at the 12th.
The Americans hit back with a birdie 2 at the 14th to be all square and then edged ahead with a par at the 15th.
McVeigh and Maguire birdied the 16th to be all square again. The Americans went one up again with a par at the 17th. But the GB and I pair staged a grandstand finish to birdie the last - McVeigh holing a long putt -  for a square game.

QUOTES

"Danielle (McVeigh) had a 3ft putt for a birdie on the first hole and we were off and running," said Pamela Pretswell, who admitted being nervous at the start after not playing in the morning matches.
"I think we all played some really great golf," said Jessica Korda. "It came down to who made more putts in the end."
"Halving the morning matches gave us the confidence we could play with them (the U.S.). We knew we were capable of it," said GB and I skipper Mary McKenna who said she was very happy with the way her team had played on the opening day.
"But there's lots of golf left. That's what I'll tell them. I'm happy with the position we're in."
McKenna said her team isn't going to get ahead of itself.
"It's only Day One. We start tomorrow with a clean slate."


DAY 1 MORNING FOURSOMES:
UNITED STATES 1 1/2, GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND 1 1/2
American players named first
Jennifer Johnson and Jennifer Song HALVED with Sally Watson and Rachel Jennings.
Alexis Thompson and Jessica Korda HALVED with Hannah Barwood and Holly Clyburn.
Cydney Clanton and Stephanie Kono HALVED with Danielle McVeigh and Leona Maguire.

DAY 1 AFTERNOON FOUR-BALLS
UNITED STATES 1, GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND 2
American players named first
Jennifer Song and Kimberly Kim LOST to Danielle McVeigh and Pamela Pretswell
4 and 3.
Alexis Thompson and Jennifer Johnson BEAT Rachel Jennings and Leona Maguire.
3 and 2.
Jessica Korda and Tiffany Lua LOST to Sally Watson and Lisa Maguire.1 hole.

END OF DAY 1 SCORELINE
UNITED STATES 2 1/2, GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND 3 1/2