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USA Sweeps Morning Matches for 3-0 Lead Pittsburgh, Pa. – The USA team won all three morning foursomes matches to take a 3-0 lead over Great Britain and Ireland in the 32nd Curtis Cup Match at Fox Chapel Golf Club.
“It feels great,” said USA’s Carol Semple Thompson of Sewickley, Pa., of the early lead. “I was looking for 2 or 2 ˝. We would have been really happy with 2 or 2 1/2. Three is fantastic.”
Semple Thompson, who is playing in her record 12th Match and holds six USGA titles, and Mollie Fankhauser of Dublin, Ohio defeated Heather Stirling and Vikki Laing, 1 up, in a closely-contested match – the only one of the morning that reached the 18th hole.
With the match all square on the par-5 18th hole, Thompson, who is the only USA player with previous Curtis Cup experience, hit a 5-iron from 158 yards to 4 feet. Fankhauser rolled in the downhill putt to clinch the match.
“She’s a very supportive teammate,” Fankhauser said of Semple Thompson. “I couldn’t ask for a better partner out here. With all her experience, I try to soak it off of her and drain it out of her.”
In the other matches, 2001 U.S. Women’s Amateur champion Meredith Duncan and Angela Jerman, playing the first match of the day, propelled the USA to a good start with a decisive 4-and-3 victory over GB&I’s most-experienced pair, Rebecca Hudson and Emma Duggleby. Courtney Swaim and Laura Myerscough of the USA won point #2 by besting Kerry Smith and Alison Coffey, 3 and 2.
“They are definitely great players,” said Duncan of Hudson and Duggleby, who have played in three and one previous Curtis Cups respectively. “It’s good to win the first match because then you have confidence for the next two.”
Three foursome (alternate shots of partners) matches and six singles matches are scheduled for each of the two days of competition.
Begun in 1932, the Curtis Cup is a biennial match for women’s amateur golfers between a team from the United States of America and one from Great Britain and Ireland. Victory in a match scores one point. When a match goes 18 holes without a decision, one-half point is awarded to each team.
The Match is conducted alternately in the U.S. and Great Britain and Ireland. The team winning the Cup takes custody for the ensuing two years. In case of a tie, the Cup remains with the previous winner. The USA leads the series, 22-6-3.
Pittsburgh, Pa. – Results of Saturday’s foursomes play from the 32nd Curtis Cup Match at the 6,358-yard, par-71 Fox Chapel Golf Club:
Team Score: USA 3, GB&I 0
Foursomes
Meredith Duncan and Angela Jerman (USA) def. Rebecca Hudson and Emma Duggleby (GB&I), 4 and 3
Mollie Fankhauser and Carol Semple Thompson (USA) def. Heather Stirling and Vikki Laing (GB&I), 1 up
Courtney Swaim and Laura Myerscough (USA) def. Kerry Smith and Alison Coffey (GB&I), 3 and 2