In what is the 40th Curtis Cup match between GB&I and the USA, the American team took a slender two point lead after day one at Quaker Ridge, New York.
GB&I are of course defending the trophy they won so brilliantly in Dun Laoghaire two years ago but their hosts won both the morning fourballs and afternoon foursomes by a 2-1 scoreline to take a two point lead going into the second day.
Ireland are well represented on the team once again this year with two players in the final selection Olivia Mehaffey and Paula Grant. with both showing well on the opening day.
“We lost the first hole this afternoon and then it was just really relaxing to get two holes back. On the 3rd I holed a really good putt and from then on we felt really comfortable once we got that one hole lead,” said Mehaffey after the afternoon session.
“It didn’t really look like changing at any stage once we got that hole back and I think we just got on a nice run and even when we lost a hole, we managed to get one back. It just felt like we were quite comfortable out there with our lead,” she added.
GB&I Captain Elaine Farquharson-Black, Captain said, “I’m disappointed obviously with the result. I thought in the morning we hit the ball closer to the pin but they holed out for 15-footers. We would hit it to five feet, then they would hit it to 15 feet and they’d hole for the birdie and then we were holing ours for the halve. It was a good fight-back this morning from Olivia Mehaffey and Sophie Lamb and they birdied three of the last four holes.
“You saw the reverse in the last match when we were leading and then the Americans birdied three of the last four holes. I think the afternoon just got a little bit away from us around the 13th and 14th holes. We lost on the 14th in two of the matches. We won one. In the bottom match, the Americans were six-under-par which is really good scoring for foursomes. I think there were a couple of putts that we didn’t make. They made more putts on the day.”
Results:
Morning Fourballs
Olivia Mehaffey / Sophie Lamb (GB&I) vs. Jennifer Kupcho / Lucy Li (USA) – Match Halved
Alice Hewson / Lily May Humphreys (GB&I) vs. Lilia Vu / Kristen Gillman (USA) – United States win 4&3.
Paula Grant / Shannon McWilliam (GB&I) vs. Lauren Stephenson / Sophia Schubert – Match Halved
Afternoon Foursomes
Olivia Mehaffey / Sophie Lamb (GB&I) vs. Mariel Galdiano / Andrea Lee (USA) – Great Britain and Ireland win 3&2
Alice Hewson / India Clyburn (GB&I) vs. Jennifer Kupcho / Lilia Vu (USA) – United States win by two holes
Paula Grant / Lily May Humphreys (GB&I) vs. Lauren Stephenson / Kristen Gillman – United States win 4&2
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