U.S. Leads after Two Days of the Curtis Cup


After starting Saturday play down 3½ to 2½ points to the team from Great Britain and Ireland, the American squad rallied impressively at Essex County Club in Manchester-by-the-Sea, Mass.

After winning all three four-ball matches in the morning session, the U.S. team notched three foursomes wins over GB&I in the afternoon to take an 8½ to 3½ lead into Sunday's singles.

The American heroines on the second day of the biennial amateur competition were Alexis Thompson and Jessica Korda, who each won twice for four points. Thompson and Korda played together in the first match of both the morning and afternoon sessions. In the morning, they claimed a 2 & 1 victory over Danielle McVeigh and Pamela Pretswell. Then in the afternoon foursomes, they beat McVeigh and Leona Maguire 3 & 1.

Jennifer Song played in the second match of both sessions. She was paired with Cydney Clanton to beat the 15-year-old Maguire twins, Lisa and Leona from Ireland, 3 & 2 in the four-ball match. In the afternoon foursomes, Song and Stephanie Kono edged Hannah Barwood and Holly Clyburn, 3 & 1.

GB&I's Sally Watson and Rachel Jennings lost in the third match of both sessions. They fell 2-down to Kono and Kimberly Kim in the morning and were handed a 3 & 2 defeat by Tiffany Lua and Jennifer Johnson in the afternoon.

All eight players on each team will play in Sunday's singles. 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. The GB&I Team must win seven of the eight points at stake on Sunday. Jennings said the margin is surmountable. “There’s no reason we can’t win all eight matches,” she said. “It will be tough, it will be hard, but it can be done.”

Singles Match-ups

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)

The United States leads the all-time series 26-6-3 and has won six in a row; GB&I's last victory came in 1996 in Ireland. Their previous victory on American soil came in 1986 when they won 13-5 at Prairie Dunes Country Club in Hutchinson, Kan.