The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Scots pair roar back to help GB&I team get off to flyer against the US
Hannah Darling’s birdie putt at the 18th to win a crucial point confirmed that the opening day of the 2021 Curtis Cup at Conwy unquestionably belonged to Great Britain and Ireland.
Elaine Radcliffe’s team have a dream three-point lead at 4 1/2 to 1/2 over the USA – their best first-day lead ever.
The Americans only secured their first outright point of the day in the final fourball match.
That was the only sore point of the day for GB&I, Annabel Wilson’s putt to halve the hole and the final match from 10 feet coming up short.
It meant World Amateur No 1 Rose Zhang of the US team finished the day unbeaten, but she was really the only American who didn’t struggle.
GB&I managed only three points over the entire three days of the last edition of the cup in 2018, but they went past that total with the first point of the afternoon session, clinched by Ireland’s Lauren Walsh and the outstanding English player Caley McGinty.
McGinty and Emily Toy had won 3 and 1 in the morning foursomes, while the all-Scottish pairing of Darling and Louise Duncan were behind for the first 14 holes against the banner US duo of Zhang and Rachel Peck.
But American frailty on the Conwy greens – which was to be a feature of the day – saw the Scots duo catch up and overhaul them to be one-up playing the last.
Peck’s superb wedge to three feet for Zhang to birdie meant the first point was shared.
“It was a bit of a battle and we were down most of the way and then we managed to turn it around, just made really some good putts,” said Duncan.
“We sneaked one-up on the back nine and the other team made a birdie down the last, but what can you do to that?
“We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves and played some really good golf. We’re overall happy with the half point and glad to get the team off the mark.”
Duncan was rested for the afternoon fourballs after her exertions in the AIG Women’s Open at Carnoustie last week, and Darling went out with England’s Annabell Fuller.
Fuller and Charlotte Heath had romped to a 4 and 3 win in the foursomes against Rachel Kuehn and Emilia Migliaccio, but skipper Elaine Radcliffe shook up her pairing in the afternoon and it still paid dividends.
Darling and Fuller had another ding-dong battle with Heck and Migliaccio in the fourballs, with the Scot not quite able to get going on the greens but Fuller making the difference.
Playing the long 18th allsquare, Fuller’s driver off the deck for her second almost assured a birdie for the GB&I pair but Darling made sure with a no-doubt 18-foot putt.
That was good enough to win the match when Heck missed for birdie from inside her.
“The message from Elaine was just to go for it,” said Darling.
“We’re a strong pairing and we’ve played together before.
“I couldn’t let Annabell have all the fun at the end there, I had confidence she would make that putt she had but I wanted to save her the bother.
“It was really important that we kept the momentum going for us from this morning and I think we did that.”