The first day of the Curtis Cup is in the books, here are some of the takeaways from the second session of play:
- The United States should be very pleased with its first day, taking a 4-2 lead into the second session. It wasn’t always pretty, but this is a fairly significant lead that puts GB&I on the ropes a bit.
- On the other side, with GB&I, considering the difference in WAGR and overall experience on American golf courses, it should be seen as a decent result that team USA isn’t running away with it. A solid morning session changes a lot about this competition.
- Standing on the first tee this afternoon, a gentleman next to me said to another spectator that Beth Coulter and Isla McDonald-O’Brien “have no chance.” Well, they certainly proved him wrong, grabbing a 3&2 victory over the star-studded team of Asterisk Talley and Kiara Romero.
- For Talley and Romero, it feels fairly easy to put fatigue as the culprit. You probably have to send them back out in the morning considering how solid they looked in that format, but it is certainly a decision Meghan Stasi has to make. Personally, I would put Talley and Romero back out, rest Davis and Xu, then give Talley and Romero a break in the afternoon.
- Anna Davis and Kelly Xu shook off their struggles in the morning for a pretty dominant win, leading the entire way and pulling away a bit at the end. A major turning point that defined the afternoon a bit was when Xu hit a borderline shank on the difficult par 3 10th, yet still won the hole.
- Davis was particularly impressive, with some really solid shot making and short game play, especially on that excellent back nine.
- Farrah O’Keefe has been, without a shadow of a doubt, the MVP for the United States so far. She has already put two points on the board for Team USA and has seemingly come up with a big-time shot every time she needed to have on. She’s also bringing energy that nobody else on property is.
- Avery Weed looked solid coming off the bench, I am curious how the United States manages its players, there will be multiple that play all five rounds on a course that is extremely demanding to walk.
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