United States complete final day comeback to win Curtis Cup
Sarah Ingram's United States side overturned a three-point deficit at Conwy Golf Club to beat Great Britain and Ireland.
The USA completed an impressive comeback to win the 41st Curtis Cup match with a dominant final day singles performance at Conwy Golf Club in Wales.
The USA, captained by Sarah Ingram, recovered from a three-point deficit after the opening day to surge to a convincing 12 ½ - 7 ½ victory over Elaine Ratcliffe’s Great Britain and Ireland team. The Americans took a firm grip on proceedings in today’s singles, winning six of the eight matches.
In a remarkable twist of sporting fate, the winning point was secured by Rachel Kuehn, whose mother Brenda achieved the same distinction in the 1998 Curtis Cup match at Minikahda and was on hand to see her daughter follow in her illustrious footsteps.
A day that had initially promised so much for the GB&I team, with the likes of Hannah Darling, Charlotte Heath and Caley McGinty taking early leads, steadily began to slip away.
Captain Sarah Ingram lifts the #CurtisCup trophy with Rachel Kuehn pic.twitter.com/VDFSAlEgRH
— The Curtis Cup (@CurtisCup) August 28, 2021
A tide of red began to wash across the leaderboard as Brooke Matthews, Rachel Heck and Allisen Corpuz took control of their matches.
Matthews secured the first point for the Americans with a 3&2 win over Heath and Heck soon followed up with a 3&1 result against Ireland’s Lauren Walsh.
Darling was never behind in her match with Jensen Castle and was 3 up with four to play, but errant drives on the 17th and 18th holes cost the Scot dearly and Castle secured what had seemed an unlikely half point.
Kuehn then saw off the challenge of Scotland’s Louise Duncan with a two-hole win to clinch the match.
(Image Credit: The R&A)
England’s McGinty flew the flag for GB&I with an excellent 4&3 victory over Gina Kim. Her compatriot Annabell Fuller battled all the way in her match with Emilia Migliaccio but lost out by two holes at the last.
Emily Toy also showed great resilience to fight back from three down at the 12th hole to win the next three holes with birdies and take Rose Zhang down the final hole, but the World No. 1 held her nerve to seal a one-hole victory.
"It feels amazing to have come here and to come away winners. We've had a spectacular week, beautiful weather," said Ingram.
"The people are amazing here, so welcoming and helpful and cheering us on as well as their own players. We're thrilled to have come away the winners."
