Friday Notebook: Happy Birthday For Bolger

By Beth Murrison, USGA

St. Andrews, Scotland – As a few media members interviewed Amanda Blumenherst and Stacy Lewis after the duo finished their four-ball (better-ball) match Friday afternoon, the rest of the American team gathered on the patio outside the R&A Clubhouse at St. Andrews to offer a rousing rendition of “Happy Birthday” for USA teammate Meghan Bolger, who turned 30 Friday.

It’s hard to imagine a better way to celebrate a milestone birthday than playing the Old Course.

“It’s pretty special,” said the two-time U.S. Women's Mid-Amateur champion Bolger, admitting she probably wouldn’t have much time to celebrate with the numerous family members and friends who traveled to watch her play in the Curtis Cup Match. “I’ll say a quick hello when I can, but they know it’s about the team for me this week.”

Also celebrating a birthday Friday was Blumenherst’s sister Erica, who turned 13.

Familiar Faces

The pairing of Mina Harigae and Kimberly Kim was a fruitful one for the Americans, with the duo taking a 4-up lead against Carly Booth and Michele Thomson en route to a 3-and-2 victory for the USA’s first point in the four-ball matches.

Harigae, the reigning U.S. Women’s Amateur Public Links champion, and Kim, who in 2006 became the youngest U.S. Women’s Amateur champion in history, know each other well, thanks to several years competing against each together in various United States Golf Association (USGA) and American Junior Golf Association (AJGA) events.

“It seems like we always play against each other so when we do play together it’s really fun,” said Kim.

Not to mention successful. At last year’s Canon Cup, an AJGA event that pits a team from the East against a squad from the West in a Curtis-Cup style format, Harigae and Kim combined to play a four-ball match in 8 under par.

While they were just shy of that result Friday, they still managed to combine to play 6-under golf.

“It was a lot of fun,” said Harigae, who is headed to Duke University in the fall, where she will team with 2008 Curtis Cuppers Blumenherst and Jennie Lee. “We just always play well together.”

And Some New Faces

It might come as a surprise to hear that Blumenherst and Lewis had never really met before the USA Curtis Cup team traveled to Lake Nona Country Club in Orlando, Fla., in early February for a practice session.

Despite being considered the top collegiate players in the U.S. – Blumenherst is a three-time national player of the year at Duke and Lewis, who just finished her senior campaign at Arkansas, won the 2007 NCAA Women’s Division I individual title – the two had never been paired together.

That ended last week, where the two played in the same group during the third round of the NCAA Championship at the University of New Mexico’s Championship Golf Course in Albuquerque. On Friday, however, Blumenherst and Lewis were playing for the same team.

“It’s so much fun to have that camaraderie and really root for each other,” said Blumenherst, the 2007 U.S. Women’s  Amateur runner-up. “It’s very different.”

The two were a bit surprised to find themselves 3 down to Florentyna Parker and Liz Bennett after five holes, but knew they had plenty of time. They also knew they were playing well but had run into a birdie-birdie-eagle run by Parker and Bennett on the second, third and fifth holes, respectively. Blumenherst and Lewis ran off two consecutive birdies of their own on the sixth and seventh holes and eventually squared the match with another birdie on No. 10.

Lewis, who was playing four-balls in competition for the first time, admitted she enjoyed the format.

“It’s a different mindset,” she said. “Amanda was playing a little bit better, so I was just hitting the middle of the greens and then letting her go. We kind of got into a routine and figured out what we were doing after that.”

Blumenherst certainly did her part by playing excellent golf throughout the day, but was also quick to credit her partner.

“It’s a confidence booster when you see your partner in the middle of the green and you know you can go right at it, because they’re going to make par or birdie,” said Blumenherst. “It kind of helped me relax and helped me free everything up.”

Notable Quotes:

“I think definitely we can’t get complacent. Certainly the GB&I team has played very well and we need to stay on top of our game, keep our concentration and try to improve upon our lead tomorrow.” – USA Captain Carol Semple Thompson on her team’s 4-2 advantage after Day 1.

“I think a little bit of wind out there would help us, but there’s still 14 points out there to be played for, so we’re still very much in the hunt.” – GB&I captain Mary McKenna on trailing by two points going into the second day of competition.
 

Beth Murrison is a manager of media relations for the USGA. E-mail her with questions or comments at bmurrison@usga.org.