America retains the Curtis Cup in a powerful approach
USGA picture
With the U.S. Curtis Cup group holding a commanding five-point lead heading into Sunday’s singles session, the one drama seemingly left for the ultimate day of match 42 on the historic Merion Golf Membership was when he left of rain so video games might begin, which American would get the deciding level, and if American rookie Amari Avery would go an ideal 5-Zero-Zero. The skies lastly lit up at 11:15 a.m., almost 4 hours after the scheduled begin, and for the second 12 months in a row, Rachel Kuehn delivered the deciding level, this time with a 15½-4½ win. It was the third straight win for the People and the third match in a row wherein they dominated all eight singles matches.
The one disappointment from a US perspective got here when England’s Emily Worth prevented Avery from becoming a member of US’s Stacy Lewis (2008) and Kristen Gillman (2018) and GB&I’s Bronte Legislation (2016). with an ideal file of 5-Zero-Zero in a single Curtis Cup recreation. The biennial competitors modified format from a two-day occasion to a three-day occasion 14 years in the past at St. Andrews in Scotland, when Lewis grew to become the primary to take action.
Rose Zhang (left) and Rachel Kuehn
Nevertheless, the deep and proficient US group gained seven of eight singles matches, bettering their result in 42-22 in singles since 2008. The US now has an total file of 31-Eight-Three within the Match, relationship again to from 1932.
“It speaks to the depth of our group,” mentioned Kuehn, from Asheville, NC, a senior at Wake Forest. “We’ve got eight actually proficient gamers.”
GB&I got here into the three-day competitors brimming with confidence. Six of the gamers returned from a five-point loss nine-and-a-half months in the past at Conwy Golf Membership in Wales, and 7 had school expertise in the USA. However when the group failed to carry the lead in two of three foursomes on Saturday afternoon, a potential 7-5 deficit grew to become 8½-3½ and all hopes of a comeback had been dashed.
Final August, solely Kuehn’s dad and mom, Brenda and father, Eric, traveled to Wales attributable to COVID-19 restrictions. This 12 months, siblings Corrie and Taylor attended together with different household and associates.
“It is actually cool,” Kuehn added. “To have the ability to share these reminiscences with them, I’m so grateful to have a household that helps me.”
Rachel Heck beat Kuehn’s Wake Forest roommate Lauren Walsh of the Republic of Eire 2 and 1, and moments later Wake Forest graduate pupil Emilia Migliaccio defeated the outstanding College of Florida and 3 times GB&I Curtis Cup competitor, Annabell Fuller, 6 and 5.
Jensen Fortress, the reigning U.S. Girls’s Novice Champion and standout from the College of Kentucky, edged out first-team All-America College of South Carolina Hannah Darling of Scotland 2 and 1. Darling made it to the week as one in every of GB&I’s stalwarts, however went a disappointing 1-Four.
Louisiana State College star Latanna Stone, one in every of three first-time gamers from the US, had probably the most dramatic victory when she hit a 409-yard 2-foot half-iron shot on the 18th gap for a game-winning birdie. and a 1-up. resolution on Florida State star Charlotte Heath.
Incoming Stanford freshman Megha Ganne, from Holmdel, NJ, who traveled to Wales final August as an alternate after being the novice underdog on the US Girls’s Open 1.
Emily Worth
GB&I prevented its second Zero-Eight mark in singles when Kent State graduate Emily Worth performed the equal of 1-under golf, with the standard match-play concessions, beating Avery, a sophomore rising on the College of Southern California. Worth had confronted Avery twice in foursomes this week and in the end defeated the proficient 18-year-old from Riverside, California, Four and three. She closed out Avery with a 5-foot birdie on the 15th gap.
“Amari is likely one of the greatest gamers on the earth, not to mention the USA,” mentioned Worth, who heads to LPGA Tour qualifying faculty in August. “I got here out at this time and I wished to stay to my processes, I did and I simply performed actually, rather well.”
Needing simply 1½ factors to retain the Cup, USA captain Sarah Ingram took no probabilities and eradicated world No. 1 and 2022 NCAA singles champion Rose Zhang, Kuehn and world No. Four and 2022 NCAA singles champion. the NCAA 2021 Rachel Heck within the first three video games. She figured these three would set the tone for the day, and the technique paid off.
Zhang, the 2020 US Girls’s Novice Champion and 2021 US Girls’s Junior Champion from Irvine, California, posted a 7-5 win over 2021 British Girls’s Novice Champion Louise Duncan of Scotland. That moved the US to inside a half level of retaining the Cup.
Kuehn and Heck competed all afternoon to determine who would get the deciding level. Kuehn prevailed for 15 minutes as he shut down Caley McGinty, 2 and 1.
Not lengthy after, he was hugging his mom, Brenda, a two-time Curtis Cup participant who additionally secured the deciding level within the 1998 Match at The Minikahda Membership in Minneapolis. Rachel had the uncommon alternative to repeat.
“I do not suppose so [clinching] it crossed my thoughts,” Kuehn mentioned. “The one aim was to go on the market and win my match.”
by David Shefter, USGA
View outcomes for Curtis Cup
