ChAmpionShipS mediA GUide - USGA

United States of America Wins 2010 Match
The USA defeated Great Britain and Ireland, 12½-7½, in
the 36th Curtis Cup Match at the 6,247-yard, par-70 Essex
County Club, clinching the Cup when Jennifer Johnson made
a 2-foot putt at the 14th hole.
GB&I won four of Sunday’s eight singles matches, but the
effort wasn’t enough to overcome Saturday’s 8½-3½ deficit.
The USA has now won 27 of the biennial Matches that
began in 1932. GB&I has won six times, the last in 1996. Three
Matches were tied.
Minutes before the winning putt, the two teams traded
points when the USA’s Alexis Thompson defeated GB&I’s
Sally Watson, 6 and 5, and GB&I’s Danielle McVeigh edged
Jennifer Song, 3 and 2. The Curtis Cup totals stood at 9½ to
4½, and the USA needed at least a half-point to win.
With Johnson’s ball resting against high fringe at the 14th
green, she made a superb chip and holed her putt for a par. It
sealed a 5-and-4 victory over Rachel Jennings of GB&I and
secured the needed 10½ points for the United States.
“It was the highlight of my amateur career, so far. It was cool,”
Johnson said of clinching the winning point.
Noreen Mohler, captain of the USA Team, said her team’s
victory was a continuation of Saturday’s play, when the USA
swept six matches. “Yesterday was huge,” she said, “We just
continued making the putts.”
Johnson and Thompson were the only undefeated players at
the 2010 Match. Thompson won four matches and halved one.
Johnson, who sat out Saturday’s four-ball matches, won three
and halved one. McVeigh was the top point-winner for GB&I
with 2½ points against two losses.
Curtis Cup Match 5
Thompson, 15, was overpowering in her match with Watson,
hitting long tee shots and frequently firing at the flagstick.
Thompson won the first hole with a par and was 4 up after
nine holes. With the usual match-play concessions, she was
two under par for the match.
McVeigh, the longest hitter on the GB&I Team, used her
power and superb touch on the greens to take early control
of her match with Song. She went 1 up with an eagle on the
457-yard, par-5 fifth hole after hitting a 5-iron to the green
and holing a 20-foot putt. She won the eighth with a 60-foot
birdie putt. Her bogey won the ninth after Song’s drive
bounced sharply right into the high fescue grass, starting Song
on a trail to a double-bogey.
McVeigh won the 13th with a par to go 4 up. Song won the
15th with a birdie to cut the margin to three holes. They halved
the 16th, ending the match.
“That’s what I went out to do, play well, and try to filter it
down to the rest of the team,” McVeigh said.
GB&I’s other three wins came when Lisa Maguire edged
Kimberly Kim, 1 up, and her twin sister Leona Maguire defeated
Tiffany Lua, 2 and 1. Holly Clyburn defeated Stephanie
Kono, 2 and 1, for the fourth GB&I singles point. The USA
claimed its remaining two points by 4-and-3 margins when
Cydney Clanton defeated Hannah Barwood and Jessica Korda
defeated Pamela Pretswell.
GB&I Captain Mary McKenna said her team remained upbeat.
“They tried their best out there and to halve in singles (matches)
was superb. We will rise again.”
Curtis Cup