[ U.S. CURTIS CUP ]
Michelle Wie teed off yesterday for the Curtis Cup at Formby Golf Club on the Irish Sea north of Liverpool, England.
England swings
Michelle Wie plays error-free to
ensure a U.S. Curtis Cup victory
MERSEYSIDE, England » Having an off round of golf against a decent opponent can be dangerous. Playing poorly against Michelle Wie can be disastrous.
Wie was simply superb in singles competition yesterday afternoon as the United States clinched a 10-8 victory over Great Britain & Ireland to retain the Curtis Cup. Before a crowd of 8,100, the 14-year-old beat England's Nicola Timmins 6 and 5 in less than three hours at the Formby Golf Club.
Wie saved her best for last, carding five birdies and parring the other eight holes. It was the second convincing singles win for the Punahou student and the best she had played during the two-day tournament.
In her fourth match at Formby, Wie proved she had gotten the hang of the tough, pot-bunker-filled links with fast undulated greens. The wind coming off the Lancashire Coast was mild yesterday compared with Saturday's gusty winds, and the warm, sunny weather was pleasant the whole day.
"In the singles match today, I played lights out," said Wie, who plays in the Women's Amateur Public Links next. "Everything was good. I don't think I missed a fairway. I don't think I missed the greens that much. I just played really well."
Wie's play left those who competed against her reeling.
"She is superb," GB&I captain Ada O'Sullivan said. "There's no doubt about that. I don't think I can really sum her up in words.
"Foursomes are alien to her. They're very difficult for her to play. But when you see her on her own, she lines up and hits the ball. You talk about the Big Wiesy. She's truly fantastic. I'm just in awe looking at her."
Before the 33rd Curtis Cup, the golfers from GB&I had looked forward to playing against Wie. After yesterday's singles match ended with another runaway Wie victory, they might not be so keen on it in the future.
She took the early lead after sinking an 8-foot putt on the par-4 first hole. Wie and Timmins halved the next three holes before consecutive birdies from Wie put her 3-up. She birdied three of the final five holes to close out her match easily.
"I didn't make any bogeys. I didn't make any mistakes," Wie said. "I didn't give a chance to my (opponent) to win a hole. I'm really proud of that."
She was stingy indeed.
U.S. team captain Martha Kirouac, right, got a thorough soaking in mineral water from players Erica Blasberg, left, and Wie after the United States beat Great Britain & Ireland 10-8.
Timmins recovered wayward shots off the tee twice only to have Wie snatch away any opportunity of saving the hole. On the par-3 fifth hole, Timmins rescued her tee shot and landed her approach three feet from the pin. But Wie holed a 20-foot birdie putt. She sank a 14-foot putt on the seventh to go 3-up.
"I don't really know what happened here. My own game seemed to be really off," said Timmins, a former hockey player. "You have to be on fire to play Michelle, especially today. She got a few under, but to be honest, I didn't really put much pressure on her."
Wie's point contributed to the U.S. victory, but the afternoon drama belonged to Oklahoma State's Annie Thurman and England's Danielle Masters. Thurman led 2-up with two to play, but Masters sank an 8-foot birdie putt on the par-5 17th to bring the tournament down to the last hole. Thurman halved the hole to secure the U.S. win.
It is the fourth consecutive U.S. victory in the premier women's amateur competition. And much to the relief of U.S. captain Martha Kirouac, the win allowed one of the four cups in trans-Atlantic competition -- Ryder, Solheim and Walker being the others -- to stay on American soil.
"You want it so badly for the players," Kirouac said. "I think I could've handled the disappointment, but I knew how hard they worked. I didn't want to send them home with that disappointment.
"This is the only cup that we held. We did not want to be the team to come over here and leave all four cups here. We just didn't want to do that."
Nothing was certain after the U.S. team went 1-2 in foursomes competition yesterday morning to tie the Curtis cup at 6-6. Brittany Lang and Annie Thurman mustered the only U.S. win in team play, defeating Timmins and Masters 5 and 4. GB&I's Emma Duggleby and Shelley McKevitt won 2 and 1 over Sarah Huarte and Erica Blasberg.
Wie and Liz Janangelo had a promising start before falling 3 and 2 to Anne Laing and Claire Coughlan. The GB&I pair chipped and putted well again to come back from 2-down early in the match. Like Saturday's battle, the match ended on a putt by Coughlan. A supportive home crowd erupted into applause when she sank a 6-foot putt on the par-3 16th to halve the hole and end the match.
"It's a great feeling to know that I beat her," Coughlan said. "She's an up-and-coming player and going to be world No. 1."
Wie finished 2-2 overall. Thurman scored the most points (3) to lead the U.S. team.
