CURTIS CUP REPORT AND RESULTS

AMERICANS LEAD 5-1 AT END OF FIRST 

DAY, GB and I EARN TWO HALVES

NEWS RELEASE FROM THE USGA

By CHRISTINA LANCE

ST. LOUIS, Missouri – Team USA holds a commanding 5-1 lead over Great Britain and Ireland following the first day of the 2014 Curtis Cup Match, being conducted at the par-71, 6,190-yard St. Louis Country Club.

The USA Team swept the morning four-ball matches for a quick 3-0 lead. The afternoon foursomes (alternate shot) matches saw GB and I rally to halve two matches, with the USA pulling clear in the third.

“I'm never one to get very excited with a big lead because I've seen them go away, but they did a great job,” said USA team captain Ellen Port, a six-time USGA champion and two-time Curtis Cup competitor. 

“I think there were some great matches. There was a lot of energy, especially in the morning.”

The Match continues with three four-ball matches and three foursomes matches on Saturday. The Match will conclude with eight singles matches on Sunday.

 GB and I needs 10 points to retain the Cup, while USA needs 10.5 points to regain the Cup. 

Annie Park, 19, of Levittown, New York, leads the USA with a 2-0 record, including the afternoon’s sole foursomes victory with Erynne Lee, 21, of Silverdale, Washington. 

Park and Lee built up a three-hole lead through nine holes over Eilidh Briggs, 21, of Scotland, and Gabriella Cowley, 18, of England.

Briggs and Cowley cut the deficit to two with a birdie at the par-4 10th. Two holes later, Lee’s forceful 18-foot birdie attempt at the par-3 12th blew 3 feet past the hole. Park was unable to convert the comebacker for par, and GB and I was just 1 down.

“That was hard,” said Park, the 2013 NCAA Division I champion from the University of Southern California.
“I was just trying to breathe throughout the next hole. But we got it back together, and then just tried to do our best from there.”
With cooler heads, Park and Lee birdied the par-3 16th, a classic Redan hole, to extend the lead to 2 up. A par at 17 clinched the 3-and-1 victory for Team USA.

“Honestly, we left a lot out there,” said Lee. “We were hitting good shots and pretty much playing slow and steady golf and they were just making mistakes, so we took advantage of it.”

After the morning shut-out, GB and I desperately needed to add a tally to its win column. Its lone Friday point came courtesy of two halved foursomes matches decided on the 18th green.

Stephanie Meadow, 22, of Northern Ireland, and Georgia Hall, 18, of England, let a 2-hole lead with three to play slip away to Ashlan Ramsey, 18, of Milledgeville, Georgia, and Alison Lee, 19, of Valencia, California.

 Lee’s 15-foot birdie at the par-3 16th brought them within one, and Ramsey nailed a 7-foot birdie putt at the par-4 18th to halve the match.

“I love being under pressure,” said Lee, currently No. 2 in the Women’s World Amateur Golf Ranking™. “I feel like I really saw the [approach] shot well [at 18] and she had a great stroke and made it. It was a great match.”

In the afternoon’s final match, Emma Talley, 20, of Princeton, Kentucky, and Ally McDonald, 21, of Fulton, Mississippi, carried a two-hole lead to the 15th hole over Bronte Law, 19, of England, and Annabel Dimmock, 17, of England.

But bogeys at 16 and 18, including Talley’s missed 6-footer for par at 18, gave GB and I another half-point.

“I feel like it gives us momentum going into tomorrow,” said Law, a veteran of the 2012 GB&I Team that won the 2012 Curtis Cup Match in Nairn, Scotland. “A half can sometimes feel better than a win.”

“It's quite nice to finish on a high like that rather than not having it,” added GB and I team captain Tegwen Matthews. 
“I know it sounds probably silly saying that, only two half-points on the day, but you never know when that half-point just might make a difference.”

In the morning four-ball round, Park and McDonald teamed for a 4 and 3 victory over Law and Charlotte Thomas, 21, of England. Mariah Stackhouse, 20, of Riverdale, Georgia, and Talley played bogey-free golf en route to a 2-and-1 victory over Meadow and Hall. 

Alison Lee and Kyung Kim, 20, of Chandler, Arizona, cruised to a 4 and 3 win over Dimmock and Gemma Dryburgh, 20, of Scotland.

The morning was truly dominated by the Americans, who never trailed in any of the three matches. They were all square for only four holes, none later than the fourth. 

The USA pairings combined for a score of 17 under par and carded only two bogeys combined, both in the Park/McDonald pairing.

DAY 1 Results  (US names first)

Par 71. Yardage 6,190

 BETTER-BALL FOUR-BALLS (3-0)
Mariah Stackhouse and Emma Talley bt Stephanie Meadow and Georgia Hall 2 and 1

Alison Lee and Kyung Kim bt Annabel Dimmock and Gemma Dryburgh 4 and 3

Annie Park and Ally McDonald bt Bronte Law and Charlotte Thomas 4 and 3
 FOURSOMES (2-1)
Ashlan Ramsey and Alison Lee halved with Meadow and Hall.
Erynne Lee and Park bt Eilidh Briggs and Gabriella Cowley 3 and 1

Talley and McDonald halved with Dimmock and Law.

SATURDAY FOUR-BALL PAIRINGS
local times
8 a.m: Kim and Alison Lee v Meadow and Hall.
8:15: Erynne Lee and Park v Dimmock and Law.
8:30: Talley and Stackhouse v Cowley and Dryburgh.

YOU CAN VIEW GILLIAN KIRKWOOD'S PICTURES FROM THE CURTIS CUP AT

  https//www.flickr.com/photos/124451747@N04/


FOR LIVE SCORING ON THE SECOND DAY

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