Captain's relief as GB&I fight back to avoid opening day whitewash

Golf Correspondent

Saturday 9 June 2012

The sigh of relief could be heard across the Nairn links at 5.48pm.

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Nick Rodger

That's when Great Britain & Ireland's amateurs finally posted their first point of a long, trying opening day at the 37th Curtis Cup. The United States ended with a 4-2 lead but it could have been much worse for the hosts.

On a cold, grey, windy yet dry day, GB&I found themselves in a desperate fankle and at one point were facing a complete whitewash. A ruinous morning foursomes left them 3-0 behind and, midway through the afternoon fourballs, the US were up in all three of those matches, too.The salvage operation began around tea-time as the GB&I pairing of Bronte Law and Amy Boulden, the Welsh champion, staved off the menace of Lindy Duncan and Lisa McCloskey by 3&2 to earn a morale-boosting win.When Kelly Tidy and Holly Clyburn pitched in with a 2&1 victory over Brooke Pancake and Erica Popson in the final match left on the course, the hitherto dire picture suddenly looked a whole lot rosier."I was almost slitting my wrists at one point," joked Tegwen Matthews, the relieved GB&I captain.There had been enough injury without that, mind you. After an unfortunate accident in her buggy, Pat Cornett, Matthews' US counterpart, was taken to hospital with a broken ankle. The day became even more bizarre, and concerning, when it was later revealed that Cornett's husband, Mike, had also been hospitalised, with an infection.Carol Semple Thompson, the highest points winner in Curtis Cup history, stepped in as interim captain for the US but assured everyone that a patched up Cornett would be back at the helm in a stookie today.What she will return to is a match that's back in the melting pot. Matthews had asked her troops for a fast start but it was the visitors who exploded from the traps and harnessed the exacting conditions to fine effect while their hosts racked up costly basic errors.The axis of Duncan and McCloskey underlined the morning dominance as they birdied the first three holes against the Irish duo Leona Maguire and Stephanie Meadow en route to a commanding 5&4 romp. The three-point lead swiftly became four in the opening fourballs joust as the US players' immaculate short games continued to bear fruit.Amy Anderson highlighted this when she pitched in for birdie from just off the 12th green as she and her partner Emily Tubert eased past Charley Hull and Pamela Pretswell by 4&3 during a match in which the American pair ended up six-under-par. By this point, things were bleak but the late rally changed the whole atmosphere."Those two points were massive," said Matthews. "We had an honest, frank talk in the locker room at lunch. There were too many schoolboy errors. Their scoring was poor and was not of the standards they have set. But my girls really dug deep and now we start again on an up and not on a down."37th Curtis Cup, Nairn, Day 1 Great Britain & Ireland 2 USA 4 (GB&I names first)Foursomes K Tidy & A Boulden lost to A Ernst & B Pancake 1 hole, H Clyburn & B Law lost to A Anderson & T Lua 2&1, L Macguire & S Meadow lost to L Duncan & L McCloskey 5&4 (0-3)Fourballs P Pretswell & C Hull lost to Anderson & E Tubert 4&3, Tidy & Clyburn bt Pancake & E Popson 2&1, Law & Boulden bt Duncan & McCloskey 3&2 (2-1)

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Captain's relief as GB&I fight back to avoid opening day whitewash

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