MARY McKENNA SAYS OLD COURSE AND
MATCH-PLAY FORMAT ARE VITAL CURTIS
CUP FACTORS IN FAVOUR OF HOME SIDE

By COLIN FARQUHARSON
On paper the United States should be overwhelming favourites to win the Curtis Cup for the 26th time in 35 contests over the next three days at the Old Course St Andrews.
They have four of the top-ranked American college circuit players in their team of eight and one has to go back to Killarney in 1996 to find the last of Great Britain & Ireland’s six wins in the series.
But the respective skippers, America’s Carol Semple Thompson and the home squad’s Mary McKenna, the two most experienced Curtis Cup players in the 76-year history of the biennial, transatlantic women’s amateur international contest, don’t see it that way – in public anyway.
Mary, who played in one winning GB&I team in her nine matches between 1970 and 1986, thinks that there are two huge factors in favour of the home players producing what would be an upset win, an upset in the eyes of the pundits.
“The Americans may have the better players on the US circuit. But that is stroke-play in very American conditions, calling for very high shots to holding greens. Here, they are being confronted by something totally different,” said McKenna.
“The Old Course is the ultimate links venue. You have to play a different style to succeed here. Not just bump and run shots but you’ve got to cope with some of the biggest greens in the world. Thirty or 40 yard putts takes a bit of getting use to.
“The Scots in our team, in particular, are very familiar with playing the Old Course in all sorts of winds.
“The other factor is that this is match-play. Match-play can be a great leveller. Even the top US college players hardly play match-play. Here again it’s a different game with which we are far more familiar than our opponents.”
This is the first three-day contest in the series and Mary McKenna scoffs at the home pessimists who say that more ties – everyone will play in Sunday’s final sessions of eight singles – means that the Americans will win by an even bigger margin than they usually do.
“I am making no predictions about the final division of the 20pts at stake over the three days,” said Mary. “I have said to my team that we’re going to take this on half-days at a time and deal with the first three points in the morning session. Even if the girls are focusing on winning each match, it’s almost as important to get a halved match. All the points add up in the end. “My girls have given it 100 per cent in the build-up. They’ve worked very hard this week. They’ve been super. They really have and I just hope for their sake that the weather stays like it has been today, warm and not too windy.” US captain Carol Semple Thompson, who has played in 12 Curtis Cup matches – said she acknowledged that on paper her team had strength in depth but she did not think that stretching the format to three days simplified the visitors’ task.“We’ve had a lot of close matches over the last 10 years, even though the United States ended up winning the Cup most times. The records don’t show how close the ties have been. I don’t expect Great Britain & Ireland to be weak opposition at all.”

SCROLL DOWN TO READ WHO PLAYS WHOM IN THURSDAY MORNING'S OPENING FOURSOMES OVER THE OLD COURSE.