ChAmpionShipS mediA GUide - USGA

Curtis Cup Match 5Curtis CupUnited States of America Wins 2010 MatchThe USA defeated Great Britain and Ireland, 12½-7½, inthe 36th Curtis Cup Match at the 6,247-yard, par-70 EssexCounty Club, clinching the Cup when Jennifer Johnson madea 2-foot putt at the 14th hole.GB&I won four of Sunday’s eight singles matches, but theeffort wasn’t enough to overcome Saturday’s 8½-3½ deficit.The USA has now won 27 of the biennial Matches thatbegan in 1932. GB&I has won six times, the last in 1996. ThreeMatches were tied.Minutes before the winning putt, the two teams tradedpoints when the USA’s Alexis Thompson defeated GB&I’sSally Watson, 6 and 5, and GB&I’s Danielle McVeigh edgedJennifer Song, 3 and 2. The Curtis Cup totals stood at 9½ to4½, and the USA needed at least a half-point to win.With Johnson’s ball resting against high fringe at the 14thgreen, she made a superb chip and holed her putt for a par. Itsealed a 5-and-4 victory over Rachel Jennings of GB&I andsecured 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’svictory was a continuation of Saturday’s play, when the USAswept six matches. “Yesterday was huge,” she said, “We justcontinued making the putts.”Johnson and Thompson were the only undefeated players atthe 2010 Match. Thompson won four matches and halved one.Johnson, who sat out Saturday’s four-ball matches, won threeand halved one. McVeigh was the top point-winner for GB&Iwith 2½ points against two losses.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 afternine holes. With the usual match-play concessions, she wastwo under par for the match.McVeigh, the longest hitter on the GB&I Team, used herpower and superb touch on the greens to take early controlof her match with Song. She went 1 up with an eagle on the457-yard, par-5 fifth hole after hitting a 5-iron to the greenand holing a 20-foot putt. She won the eighth with a 60-footbirdie putt. Her bogey won the ninth after Song’s drivebounced sharply right into the high fescue grass, starting Songon a trail to a double-bogey.McVeigh won the 13th with a par to go 4 up. Song won the15th with a birdie to cut the margin to three holes. They halvedthe 16th, ending the match.“That’s what I went out to do, play well, and try to filter itdown to the rest of the team,” McVeigh said.GB&I’s other three wins came when Lisa Maguire edgedKimberly Kim, 1 up, and her twin sister Leona Maguire defeatedTiffany Lua, 2 and 1. Holly Clyburn defeated StephanieKono, 2 and 1, for the fourth GB&I singles point. The USAclaimed its remaining two points by 4-and-3 margins whenCydney Clanton defeated Hannah Barwood and Jessica Kordadefeated 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.”