Did you listen to any of Sir Keir Starmer’s speech last week? It painted such a bleak picture, I had to go and stare at that painting of The Scream by Edvard Munch just to cheer myself up.

According to the Prime Minister, things are going to get worse before they get better. That, of course, is a dire situation that regular readers of this column are used to being mired in.

“I’m still waiting on the better bit coming,” snorted the long-suffering sports editor with the kind of haunted, tortured rictus that could’ve had the aforementioned Munch reaching for his brushes and dabbing another composition that symbolises the anxiety of the human condition.

Anyway, this whole ‘things get worse before they get better’ lark reminded me of the Curtis Cup.

GB&I’s thrilling 10 ½ - 9 ½ win over the USA in the women’s amateur showpiece at beautiful Sunningdale on Sunday was another tremendous moment in the glittering career of Catriona Matthew as she skippered her team to a famous triumph.

Since the GB&I girls last won the transatlantic tussle in 2016, they have suffered some terrible trouncings.

The 17-3 defeat at Quaker Ridge in 2018 and the 15 ½ - 4 ½ reversal at Merion in 2022 were so painful, the record books are still nursing bruises. What were we saying about things getting worse and all that?

The Curtis Cup, of course, has always been a lop-sided affair. Since its inception back in 1932, GB&I have won just nine times.

Two years earlier, in 1930, Sunningdale was actually the host to an unofficial yet historic first meeting between two women teams from either side of the pond.

The Glasgow Herald, as this fine organ was called at the time, gave it a good showing but it wasn’t the lead item on the golf page. That was reserved for Captain G A Moxon of the Royal Artillery winning the British Army Championship at Prestwick.

At the Sunningdale showdown, meanwhile, there was an army of a different kind. “An army of cinematographers greeted the players,” stated The Herald’s report of affairs. “It looked more like a scene in filmland, and they would not be satisfied until the players had posed in groups and they had made a ‘talkie’.”

Presumably, there were no lanyards, heavy-handed security goons checking media credentials and finger wagging press officers telling you to get back behind the fence in the mixed zone interview area?

But I digress. The Sunningdale shoot-out of 2024 made for quite compelling viewing and, as a spectacle, was far more alluring than the money-soaked contrivance that was the PGA Tour’s FedEx Cup finale over in the US later on Sunday.  

As for captain Matthew? Well, the decision by R&A officials to break with tradition and give the skipper’s armband to a professional with a background in the Curtis Cup was a resounding success. We probably knew it would be.

As we all know, Matthew, a three-time Curtis Cup player in her amateur days, remains a golfing treasure who really should be protected by the National Trust for Scotland.

With her diligence, calm authority and canny ability to foster an impregnable team spirit, the 55-year-old has now completed a hat-trick of glittering conquests as a captain, having steered Europe’s professionals to back-to-back Solheim Cup wins in 2019 and 2021.

If she stays on and manages to guide GB&I to only a second Curtis Cup victory on American soil in two years’ time, they’ll erect a golden statue of her on top of the Royal & Ancient clubhouse.

This was a significant victory, not just for GB&I but for the Curtis Cup in general. After those three successive USA wins, the talk, not for the first time, grew in volume about expanding the team to incorporate Europe.

A similar chorus has been heard about the men’s Walker Cup during times of hardship, hefty defeats and barren runs.

I wouldn’t be against embracing the wider continent. Let’s face it, there are some superb amateur talents throughout Europe and they would relish the opportunity to square up to the might of the USA.

But golf protects its traditions with a miser’s care. And there’s nowt wrong with that.

This GB&I win, aided by the talented Scottish duo of Hannah Darling and Lorna McClymont, at least gives the Curtis Cup fresh vigour and renewed relevance. The hosts belied the world amateur rankings and were spurred on by record crowds. And they took huge inspiration from, well, an inspirational leader.

Here in the game’s cradle, the high heid yins at Scottish Golf, the amateur governing body, have set an ambitious target of increasing female playing membership at clubs to 30,000 by 2027. That’s a rise of 15 percent. Good luck.

As we mentioned in last week’s meanderings, though, women’s golf remains a potentially huge area for growth. Over the last couple of weeks, the female game, at both a professional and an amateur level, has been showcased superbly with a terrific AIG Women’s Open and a superb Curtis Cup.

It’s youthful, it’s colourful and it’s vibrant. Oh, and it’s featured players called Patience, Mimi and Asterisk. It’s a bit of a change from the Marys, Noreens and Cynthias of yore.

Matthew acknowledged that the women’s scene is in a good place. Hopefully, things can only get better.