Four young Scots named in GB&I line-up

Curtis Cup sell-out assured
for Old Course match

By COLIN FARQUHARSON
I am sure it was not in the selection committee's thoughts but the inclusion of four Scots in the youngest ever Great Britain & Ireland team to play the United States in the Curtis Cup match at the end of May must have guaranteed a sell-out out of tickets (limited to 8,000 daily) at the Old Course, St Andrews.
The team with ages is:
Liz Bennett (Brokenhurst Manor) 25, Carly Booth (Comrie) 15, Krystle Caithness (St Regulus) 19, Jodi Ewart (Catterick) 20, Breanne Loucks (Wrexham) 20, Florentyna Parker (Royal Birkdale) 18, Michele Thomson (McDonald Ellon) 19, Sally Watson (Elie & Earlsferry Ladies) 16.

Reserves: 1 Kerry Smith (Waterlooville) 36, 2 Sahra Hassan (Vale of Glamorgan) 20, 3 Rachel Jennings (Izaak Walton) 19, 4 Danielle McVeigh (Royal Co Down Ladies) 20.

Captain: Mary McKenna (Ireland).
Team manager: Tegwen Matthews (Wales).

Skipper Mary McKenna said: “ I am delighted with the team that has been selected. It was no easy task with the quality of the squad being so high. I feel very confident that we can win the Curtis Cup on this historic occasion.”
From not a single Scots two years ago in the line-up for Bandon Dunes, Oregon to four in a team of eight for St Andrews is quite a leap and all credit to the selectors for following the old adage of "if they are good enough, they are old enough."
Only twice in the history of the Curtis Cup, have four Scots been selected. The last was in 1994 at the Honors Course, Chattanooga where Catriona Matthew, Mhairi McKay, Myra McKinlay and Janice Moodie were in the GB&I team.
I was lucky enough to be there in the humid summer heat of Tennessee to see Janice hole a putt across the 18th green to earn GB&I a 9-9 tie.
The only other occasion where four Scots played in a Curtis Cup match was in 1982 when Wilma Aitken, Jane Connachan, Belle Robertson and Gillian Stewart played at Denver where the Americans won 14 1/2-3 1/2.
The last time the Curtis Cup was played in Scotland was at Muirfield in 1984 when NO Scots were selected and the Americans won 9 1/2-8 1/2.
Carly Booth from Comrie, at 15, becomes the youngest ever player to be selected for a GB&I Curtis Cup team. The previous youngest was Jane Connachan from Musselburgh when she made her debut at the age of 16 in 1980.
Michele Wie, only 14 when she played in the match at Formby four years ago, remains the youngest overall.
Sally Watson from South Queensferry is only 16.
Both Carly, in the Junior Ryder Cup, and Sally, in the winning European Ping Junior Solheim Cup match last year, have shown they've got the nerve for the transatlantic international arena. Playing against the United States will not faze them in the slightest. In fact, it will probably inspire them to play above themselves.
The average age of the team is only 19, which makes it the youngest ever selected to do battle for GB&I in the Curtis Cup.
Three of the chosen Scots are meantime living in the United States. Sally Watson is a student at the David Leadbetter Academy in Bradenton, Florida; Krystle Caithness is a first-year golf scholarship student at the University of Georgia while Carly Booth has spent the winter months as a pupil at Red Mountain High School, Mesa in Arizona where her parents have friends. They thought she would be better off in the heat of the Arizona with the opportunity to play golf every day if she wished, rather than stay at home and endure a Scottish winter.
The fourth Scot is Michele Thomson who really broke through as a possible Curtis Cup team selection when she gave the eventual champion, Carlota Ciganda, her toughest match of all in last year's "British" at Alwoodley. Michele took the Spanish ace to the last green before admitting defeat in the quarter-finals.
But it was during the winter that Miss Thomson, the Aberdeenshire and past North of Scotland champion, really clinched her place, first by finishing third in the South Atlantic Ladies Amateur Championship (won by Liz Bennett) in Florida and then by finishing third in the recent Portuguese women's open amateur championship.
This year will be the first time we have had a three-day format for the match. The first two days will feature foursomes and four-ball matches. Sunday's play will be devoted to eight singles ties, which means all the 16 players will be in action.
There is a feeling in some quarters that an extra day simply means the United States, who have won the last five cup matches, will amass more points than usual - United State 25, GB&I 6 with three matches tied is the overall scoreline - but the home players' knowledge of the Old Course (the St Rule Trophy is played there every year) and the fervour of of huge galleries could be a big levelling factor in favour of the home players.
Breanne Loucks from Wales is the only survivor from the GB&I line-up from the 2006 Curtis Cup match at Bandon Dunes, Oregon where she won all three ties in which she played.
Breanne, Krystle Caithness and Liz Bennett are the only players to be selected again from the team of nine who crashed to a record 15-9 victory at the hands of the Continent of Europe at Fairmont St Andrews (St Andrews Bay) at the end of last July.
Of that team of nine, Melissa Reid and Rachel Bell have since turned pro. Melissa, who went on to be the leading amateur in the 2007 Ricoh's British Women's Open over the Old Course, would have been a great asset to the 2008 GB&I Curtis Cup team. But it was not to be.
English champion Naomi Edwards, Kerry Smith, Tara Delaney and Sahra Hassan were also in last year's beaten Vagliano Trophy line-up.

FACTS AND FIGURES

Par and Yardage: The Old Course will be set up at 6,638 yards (6067 metres) with a par of 36-36-72.

Schedule of Play:

Thursday 29 May:
Official Opening Ceremony.

Friday 30 May:
3 Foursomes: 8.00-8.24am.
3 Four-balls: 12:15-12.45.

Saturday 31 May:
3 Foursomes: 8.00-8.24am.
3 Four-balls: 12:15-12.45.

Sunday 1 June:
8 Singles 10.00 -11.10am

Tickets: Available to purchase online or by phoning 01334 475 811, discounted rates until 1 May 2008.

Website: www.curtiscup.co.uk

YOUR CHANCE TO SEE THE TROPHY
The Curtis Cup is currently on display at the British Golf Museum, St Andrews as part of the “Ladies' Golf From 1976” exhibition.