CONWY, Wales
Top-ranked amateur Rose Zhang capped off an unbeaten week as the Americans won six of the eight singles matches Saturday to defeat Great Britain & Ireland in the Curtis Cup.
Zhang went 4-0-1 for the week at Conwy Golf Club, finishing with a 1-up victory over Emily Toy in the anchor match. By then, the United States had won so many matches that the Curtis Cup had already been clinched.
That added to a 12 1/2-7 1/2 victory for the United States, which extended its dominance in the premier team event for women’s amateur golf. Since the Curtis Cup began in 1932, the Americans now lead the series 30-8-3.
The score was tied at 6 going into singles. As the defending champion, the Americans only needed to win four points from singles to retain the cup.
University of Kentucky junior Jensen Castle, the U.S. Women’s Amateur champion, halved the opening match against Hannah Darling. Darling was 3 up with four holes to go before Castle rallied.
“It was awesome,” Castle said of the comeback. “It was just a battle the whole time and I just kept trying. I was never out of it.”
Needing to win three holes with four to play just to halve the match, Castle did just that. She birdied the par-4 15th to win the hole, took advantage of a Darling bogey on No. 16 and entered the final hole of the day down by one.
Castle birdied the par-5 to halve the match and get the U.S. within a half point of retaining the cup.
“I knew I was playing really good all day and was super consistent; she (Darling) was just playing so well,” Castle said. “She was like 3- or 4-under (par). I was like, Jensen, you’re giving yourself opportunities; they’re just not falling. I had a ton of great opportunities.”
Castle’s comeback brought to mind her run to the U.S. Women’s Amateur championship. There she rallied from 2 down with three holes to play to stun Rachel Heck, the 2021 NCAA individual champion and her Curtis Cup teammate, on the 19th hole in the semifinals, and then rallied from a 2-down deficit against Yu-Chiang (Vivian) Hou, the 2020 Women’s Golf Coaches Association Freshman of the Year, to win the 36-hole championship match 2 and 1.
“I just never thought I was good at match play until the (U.S. Women’s) Am,” Castle said. “Going into that tournament I was just like, focus on yourself; that’s all that matters. That’s what I did all (this) week. Even when I had a partner, I just focused on (hitting) fairways and greens (in regulation).”
It was fitting that the clinching point was won by Rachel Kuehn. Her mother, Brenda, secured the clinching point in the 1998 Curtis Cup at The Minikahda Club in Minnesota, and she was in Wales to watch her daughter do the same.
It was the first time the Americans won away from home since a 13-7 victory in 2008 at St. Andrews.
The Curtis Cup, held every other year, was postponed one year because of the COVID-19 pandemic. It will be played next year at Merion outside Philadelphia.