Sunday Notebook: Winning Point A Close Call

By Beth Murrison, USGA

St. Andrews, Scotland – As the scoreboard continued to show leads for the USA side during Sunday’s singles matches, the only mystery remaining was which player would have the honor of earning the Curtis Cup-clinching point for the Americans. With two points already achieved, thanks to Tiffany Joh and Kimberly Kim, it now boiled down to two possibilities.

Amanda Blumenherst, playing in the second pairing, and Stacy Lewis, in the third spot, were en route to defeating their Great Britain and Ireland counterparts on the Old Course at St. Andrews.

It should not be any surprise that the honor came down to these two stars, who spent the last year battling for national collegiate player of the year honors, which went to Blumenherst, a senior-to-be at Duke University, for the third consecutive year.

But on Sunday, Lewis, the 2007 NCAA Division I women’s individual champion who recently graduated from the University of Arkansas, just beat Blumenherst to the punch, earning a 3-and-2 win over Liz Bennett moments before Blumenherst , the 2007 U.S. Women’s Amateur runner-up, closed out Jodi Ewart, 2 and 1, on No. 17.

Ewart found some trouble to the right side of the 17th green and took some time to decide her next shot. Otherwise, the two matches might have ended simultaneously.

As it turned out, none of Lewis’ USA teammates witnessed her clinching point as they were a hole ahead, thinking Blumenherst was going to take care of things there.

“It was an awesome feeling just to win my match there, and I turned around to celebrate and there was nobody there,” said Lewis with a laugh.“But I celebrated with my parents and then a couple minutes later (my teammates) drove up in the cart.”

For the record, Lewis, who plans to turn professional next week, finished with a 5-0 record, the best by any performer in a single Match. This was the first time the Curtis Cup was extended over three days, with foursomes (alternate shot) and four-ball (better-ball) matches waged the first two days and all eight members of each squad competing in Sunday singles. Blumenherst went 3-1-1.

Put Me In, Coach

At 16, Kimberly Kim may have been the youngest member of the USA’s team, but she wasn’t shy about telling USA Captain Carol Semple Thompson where she wanted to play Sunday.

“I know when you’re first there’s no one in front of you and I wouldn’t have to worry about waiting,” said Kim, who won the 2006 U.S. Women’s Amateur at Pumpkin Ridge Golf Club in North Plains, Ore., to become, at 14, the youngest winner in the 108-year history of the championship.

Kim proved herself worthy of the opening spot, recording a 2-and-1 win over Wales’ Breanna Loucks, the lone veteran on the GB&I team.

New Nations?

After the Match, both captains were asked by the Great Britain media if perhaps the time had come to consider adding other European countries to the GB&I team. Such a move was made in 1979 for the Ryder Cup, which had been completely dominated by the U.S. Since the change, the Europeans have proven to be quite an adversary for the Americans, winning the last three Cups and going 8-6 since 1979.

This year’s NCAA Women’s Division I individual champion Azahara Munoz of Arizona State hails from Spain and countrywoman Belen Mozo helped Southern California win the team title. Sweden’s Caroline Westrup has also been an All-American performer at Florida State.

Yet neither Curtis Cup captain seemed to be in favor of the idea.

“I like the idea of the tradition of playing against GB&I,” said USA Captain Carol Thompson, who played in a record 12 Curtis Cups and was serving as the American captain for the second consecutive Match. “I can understand Great Britain and Ireland would be a little frustrated at this point since we've won six in a row, but I think that the level of their play is fantastic, and the matches are always well-fought, and there's plenty of talent on both sides to make it a good match. So I would vote for keeping it against GB&I.”

Mary McKenna, who played in a record nine Matches for the GB&I, said adding players from other European countries would lessen the impact of the Match.

“I think it's very special, it's very important that we keep it, especially for GB&I, because it gives the girls something to focus on, something to strive for,” said McKenna, a first-time GB&I captain. “And I think because we have it, and even if the results are going against us, it gives the girls something major to strive for and it's a steppingstone for the future. There's no doubt that the Curtis Cup is the thing to make.  It's difficult to get on the team. So personally I would hope it would never change because it is the incentive for all our girls to work for.”

QUOTE-ABLES

“The goal for me was just to get to this, and to have it go the way it did, I just don’t even know how to describe it.” – USA team member Stacy Lewis, who delayed turning professional in order to play on the Curtis Cup team, about recording five wins for the American team.

“Maybe we should play the Curtis Cup here at St Andrews every four years.” – USA Captain Carol Semple Thompson on her team’s experience at the historic Old Course.

“I think probably they're just very slightly better players, and I think maybe that the States have so many to choose from, but I think our standard has gotten closer. Quite honestly, the first two days it would have been maybe just a few putts that went their way, and there wasn't a huge difference, really.” – GB&I Captain Mary McKenna, when asked what made the difference in the 2008 Match.

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