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Great Britain & Ireland Stages Early Curtis Cup Comeback Pittsburgh, Pa. - The team from Great Britain and Ireland won two morning foursome's matches to narrow the wide gap with the United States of America, 8 to 4, in the 32nd Curtis Cup match at Fox Chapel Golf Club.
Recovering from Saturday near disaster, when the United States team captured seven of a possible nine points, Great Britain and Ireland's team of Heather Stirling and Vikki Laing defeated Leigh Anne Hardin and Emily Bastel, 3 and 1. Emma Duggleby and Alison Coffey combined for a 4 and 2 win over Meredith Duncan and Angela Jerman for the other GB & I victory. The American team of Laura Myerscough and Courtney Swaim defeated Rebecca Hudson and Kerry Smith, 4 and 2, to win the only USA point.
The USA must win at least 1½ points in the afternoon's singles matches to retain the cup it last won in 2000.
In foursomes play, an alternate shot format, the U.S.A. could have won the match outright with a morning sweep, making a GB & I comeback impossible.But Stirling and Laing won the first hole with a par to jump to a 1-up lead. Hardin and Bastel evened the match with a birdie on the second hole and had a 1-up lead at the turn. GB&I won three straight holes with pars on the back nine and captured the 15th with a birdie to move into a 3-up lead. The match ended on the 17th hole. The USA lead shrunk to 7 to 3.
"All of us are good players and all us are good grinders," said Laura Myerscough, who teamed with Courtney Swaim to win the lone USA point in the morning. "We all have the ability to come back from being down."
Myerscough must have been talking about someone else. With her foursomes partner, Swaim, she never tailed in the match. Three up on Rebecca Hudson and Kerry Smith, Myerscough and Swaim won the 10th hole with a par to go 4 up. A disastrous triple bogey on the par-4 13th cut the USA's margin to 3 up, but a par-4 on the 16th captured the hole and match, 4 and 2.
"Our game plan was to play like it was even and come out grinding," said Swaim. "We ended our match at the 16th (Saturday) and I ended my singles match here (Saturday). I knew if we could get here we could pull it out."
GB&I's Emma Duggleby and Alison Coffey pulled off an upset when they defeated United States Women's Amateur champion Meredith Duncan and Angela Jerman, who won her singles match Saturday by a whopping 6 and 5 margin.
Afternoon singles matches pair Hudson against Mollie Fankhauser and Laing against Pennsylvania native Carol Semple Thompson, appearing in a record 12th Curtis Cup match. Duggleby faces Hardin, Stirling plays Myerscough, Coffey takes on Duncan and long-hitting Sarah Jones goes up against Swaim.
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 USA 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 Sunday's foursomes play from the 32nd Curtis Cup Match at the 6,358-yard, par-71 Fox Chapel Golf Club:
Heather Stirling and Vikki Laing (GB&I) d. Leigh Anne Hardin and Emily Bastel (USA), 3 and 1.
Laura Myerscough and Courtney Swaim (USA) d. Rebecca Hudson and Kerry Smith (GB&I), 4 and 2.
Emma Duggleby and Alison Coffey (GB&I) d. Meredith Duncan and Angela Jerman (USA), 4 and 2.
Pittsburgh, Pa. - Pairings for Sunday's singles play at the 32nd Curtis Cup Match at the 6,358-yard, par 71 Fox Chapel Golf Club:12:30 PM Rebecca Hudson (GB&I) vs. Mollie Fankhauser (USA)
12:40 PM Vikki Laing (GB&I) vs. Carol Semple Thompson (USA)
12:50 PM Emma Duggleby (GB&I) vs. Leigh Anne Hardin (USA)
1:00 PM Heather Stirling (GB&I) vs. Laura Myerscough (USA)
1:10 PM Alison Coffey (GB&I) vs. Meredith Duncan (USA)
1:20 PM Sarah Jones (GB&I) vs. Courtney Swaim (USA)