Scots shine for Catriona Matthew as GB&I chase Sunningdale success in Curtis Cup

At one point, it looked as though Great Britain & Ireland would record a 3-0 clean sweep in the penultimate session at the Berkshire venue before an outrageous birdie putt from Megan Schofill at the 17th salvaged a half for the United States in the anchor match.

Even so, it’s looking promising for home captain Catriona Matthew and her team as they head into the last day leading 7-5 and needing just three-and-a-half points from the concluding eight singles ties to land a first victory in the event since 2016.

“Fantastic,” said Matthew, a double Solheim Cup-winning captain and the first professional to be handed this captaincy by The R&A, of her side’s position. “This afternoon was amazing. To go out and get 2.5-0.5 was better than we could have hoped for really and we have given ourselves a great chance.”

Darling, who is playing in the contest for the third time, had been left out of the opening foursomes session on Friday morning before teaming up with Ãine Donegan to record a valuable point in the afternoon fourballs. Sent out again on Saturday morning, the duo delivered again.

“Come on” yelled Darling as she celebrated holing a testing par putt on the 18th to seal another one-hole win over Schofill and 2022 Augusta National Women’s Amateur champion Anna Davis. “That was big,” admitted the Broomieknowe player with a smile as the session was shared to keep the score tied after a 3-3 draw on day one.

“To be honest, it was more of a redemption yell after putting Ãine in the short right bunker, which is probably the one place you don't want to go to that pin,” she added. “So it was more of a bit of relief, but I was just super happy.”

Though they’d never even played a practice round together, Darling then found herself paired with Mimi Rhodes in the fourballs and, boy, did that prove a masterstroke by Matthew, who is being assisted by Karen Stupples, a Women’s Open winner here, and Kathryn Imrie.

Alongside her younger sister, Patience, Rhodes had suffered a heavy defeat on the first morning but, helped by hitting it close for a birdie-2 at the fourth, her confidence suddenly soared and Darling was roaring with joy once again as she rolled in a short birdie putt at the 16th for a 3&2 win over teenager Jasmine Koo and Asterisk Talley.

“Teamwork – it was great,” said Darling of the duo being eight under for 16 holes and getting the job done despite 15-year-old Talley producing the shot of the match as she came close to holing her tee shot at the par-4 ninth, where the tee had been moved forward.

“Yeah, I'm pretty chuffed as I’ve played well the last two days,” admitted Darling of claiming three points out of three so far. “It's my third Curtis Cup, so I kind of have a bit of experience to bring to it. With the last two being losses, I want this more than ever for the team. We have such a good time and a group of really, really good girls with great captains and vice captains, too.”

In contrast, McClymont is making her debut and, after losing alongside Mimi Rhodes in Friday’s fourballs, there was no hiding her delight after she’d also put a point on the board, teaming up with Beth Coulter to beat Davis and Melanie Green, McClymont’s conqueror in the final of The R&A Women’s Amateur Championship final at Portmarnock in June, by 2&1.

“Yeah, massively,” admitted Milngavie member McClymont of how important it had been to get a point on the board before the singles. “I think it definitely helps with confidence, and it's definitely really good for me going into tomorrow.”

With one of them being dad, her band of supporters are carrying huge flags around with them and making plenty of noise as well, sending loud roars through the trees as Coulter holed birdie putts on both the 16th and 17th. “We can see them all,” said McClymont of those flags and said of the support in general: “There were a few holes where Beth was kind of just like, ‘you get them to roar first’. It's just such a good feeling. It was good.”

Good doesn’t describe world No 1 Lottie Woad’s contribution so far and, for that matter, Sara Byrne as well because they’ve played four times together and are unbeaten - the first combination to achieve that feat since the format for the contest changed in 2008.

“Oh, my God, it's been amazing,” said Byrne of the atmosphere being created by both sets of fans. “It was insane, coming up 18 hearing the GB&I chants going head-to-head with the USA chants. That's something that is so special that not everyone gets to experience.”

Having requested to go out first, Woad will lead the home team out in the singles against Talley followed by Byrne and Darling as they take on Catherine Park and Davis respectively. McClymont, meanwhile, faces Schofill in the penultimate match.

“It’s far from over,” insisted Matthew of her message to the GB&I players. “There are eight points up for grabs and the Americans are going to come out fighting as they hate to get beaten so all our players will have to go out there and want to win their point and get us over the line.”

Meghan Stasi, the US captain, is hoping teenager Talley can inspire a last-day fightback. “She’s ready to go and up for the task,” said Stasi. “She’s feisty so what a great way to get things going tomorrow.”