USA Wins The 44th Curtis Cup
GB&I makes an early run before the Americans continue dominance by winning on home soil for the 34th time. Bel-Air shines as a host site and Farah O'Keefe makes history by winning five points.
The 44th Curtis Cup looked headed toward a down-to-the-wire finish until clutch back-nine play by the USA carried Captain Meghan Stasi’s team to a 13-7 win at Bel-Air Country Club.
While the final score will look like a dominant win, Sunday’s eight singles matches were all tight in a perfect reflection of the week’s intense matches in Southern California.
Highlights from Sunday evening’s thriller:
Patience Rhodes recorded the first point for GB&I after going four down through seven holes against USA’s Kelly Xu, who never fell more than one down over the back nine in a wild opening match. Rhodes had to make a long par-putt to retain her lead and the first point. Xu enjoyed an unusual day in team match play history. She received her diploma before Sunday’s singles matches. While Xu might have wished she could walk with her fellow Cardinal, they walked out on Sundar Puchai despite the Google CEO never mentioning AI. Xu may have lost but she’s the first Stanford grad to ever get her degree from a USGA President and on the Swinging Bridge. Not bad!
Sophia Fullbrook fell down one early in her match against America’s Avery Weed, then built a 3UP lead well into the back nine before having to hold on with a birdie at the last, tying the match score at 7-7.
USA’s Jasmine Koo fell down four through 11 holes but miraculously birdied five of her next six holes before making par at the last to overtake Nellie Ong 1UP. The 20-year-old USC All-American from Cerritos, California recorded USA’s first and possibly most important point of the Singles to blunt the sea of powder blue on the board.
Kiara Romero overcame a two hole deficit in the most dramatic back-and-forth match against GB&I’s Isla McDonald-O’Brien, 1UP, for the match clinching half-point with other red on the board and GB&I out of mathematical comeback opportunities.
Isla McDonald-O’Brien (GB&I) plays her tee shot on the 10th hole during singles. Chris Keane/USGA) American Asterisk Talley cruised to a 2UP win over GB&I’s Davina Xanh to finish the week 3-2.
USA’s Farah O’Keefe fell two behind through 12 but rallied against Charlotte Naughton to win 2&1 and finish the week 5-0, just the fourth player in Curtis Cup history to do so, joining USA’s Stacy Lewis (2008) and Kristin Gillman (2018), and GB&I’s Bronte Law (2016).
When the 21-year-old NCAA champion and University of Texas standout holed her match clinching 11th point at No. 17, the affable O’Keefe was surrounded by her teammates. “I don’t think I have shaked that much in my life,” said O’Keefe. “I didn’t shake that much when [I won] the national championship…Golly, I am just so pumped. It was an awesome, awesome match. It’s a pretty incredible sight right here [with my teammates]. Definitely the highlight of my career so far.”
Three-pointers: Jasmine Koo went 3-0. Kiara Romero (3-1) and Asterisk Talley (3-2) also produced three points.
The 45th Curtis Cup Match will take place in 2028 at Royal Dornoch in Scotland.
Future Curtis Cups in the United States: National Golf Links of America, in Southampton, N.Y., in 2030. Pine Valley Golf Club, in 1934, followed by Bandon Dunes (2038) in Oregon, Cypress Point Club (2042), and Seminole Golf Club (2046).
Bel-Air Shines
There might not be a venue more difficult logistically to hold an event played with crowds and the quirks that come with a team match play event. So it was especially delightful to see Bel-Air and the USGA pull off a special week in the hills above Los Angeles.
The remarkable golf course conditioning provided by Justin DiPeppo’s crew brought out the best attributes of the 2017 restoration project that returned an intelligent purpose to so many holes. Along with fun setup touches by the USGA’s team and surprisingly tough hole locations, Bel-Air showed how much better match play is when contested on something offering just enough of a say to spice things up.
