Over the wonderful Old Course at Sunningdale on a gorgeous late summer’s afternoon on Sunday, Great Britain & Ireland won the Curtis Cup for the first time since 2016. Indeed, it was only their third success this century. And the margin of victory over the United Sates could not have been any tighter: 10½-9½ points.
The victorious captain was Catriona Matthew, who led Europe’s professional women golfers to consecutive Solheim Cup successes in 2019 and 2021. This one seemed to give her just as much pleasure. “They are a fantastic team,” she said of her players. “They really dug in every day and in every session. It didn’t look as though it was perhaps going our way today but they really toughed it out. It’s just been a fantastic experience for me to get to know them.” The American skipper, Meghan Stasi, conceded: “I think we were strong and they were just slightly stronger on a few shots here and there.”
The top singles match on Sunday pitted the world No.1 amateur woman golfer, Lottie Woad for GB&I, against the beyond-precocious American teenager, Asterisk Talley. She’s 15. Yes, 15. Not 16 until next year. Her mother is Greek and in her native language the name means ‘little star’. Which it looks like she might turn out to be. She had five birdies and an eagle in beating Woad on the 16th green, at which point things looked rather grim for GB&I. They had led by 7-5 overnight and required three wins and a half to regain the trophy, but with seven matches on the course they led in only two, were level in one and down by at least two holes in the rest.
https://youtu.be/bf8ZCWhZ2fw?si=X7upnj1N9jaCLMTy
However, outgunning even Talley, Sara Byrne had six birdies and an eagle in beating Catherine Park, which meant she was unbeaten in all her five matches. Subsequently, Patience Rhodes thrashed Zoe Campos 6&5 and Lorna McClymont turned her tied match into a 3&2 victory over Megan Schofill after the latter totally butchered the 16th. A hole ahead, Mimi Rhodes (the elder sister of Patience), who had been 3 down after eight holes, led Melanie Green by 1 up on the 17th tee. Her drive was pulled into trees. Her pitch out meant she was playing her third shot before the American hit her second. But she hit it to 15 feet and, after Green had parred the hole, Rhodes sank her putt which secured her half-point and victory for the hosts. Just as well, in fact. On the 18th, she hoiked her approach shot out-of-bounds, but it no longer fundamentally mattered.
A final point. The next three US venues for the Curtis Cup will be Bel-Air in Los Angeles, the National Golf Links on Long Island, and Pine Valley in…well, in Pennsylvania or Paradise – take your pick! Certainly sounds more impressive and intriguing than a bunch of TPCs.
Related: Tour Championship Masterclass: The Untouchable Scottie Scheffler
You can follow Robert Green on Twitter @robrtgreen and enjoy his other blog f-factors.com as well as his golf archive on robertgreen-golf.com
