Golf: Tegwen Matthews and Co dismiss Curtis Cup ‘underdogs’ tag

HAVING used a cinema trip to see “What to Expect When You’re Expecting” as part of their pre-event bonding, Great Britain & Ireland are confident they have conceived enough belief to end a dismal run of seven successive defeats in the Curtis Cup.

“Recent results tell me we are the underdogs, but personally I don’t think we are because we have such a good team,” said Tegwen Matthews, the Welsh woman who has been handed the task of trying to lead the GB&I ladies’ side to a first success against their American counterparts in the biennial encounter since the 1996 clash at Killarney.

Her optimism is backed up by the rankings. English 16-year-old Charley Hull, the world No 4, is the top-ranked player in either team and the home line-up also includes Leona Maguire and Amy Boulden, the world No 10 and No 11 respectively. Matthews also has more Curtis Cup experience in her side for the 37th playing of the event than American counterpart, Dr Pat Cornett.

Irish teenager Maguire, Scotland’s Pamela Pretswell and Holly Clyburn from England all played two years ago but Tiffany Lua is the sole US survivor from that match in Massachusetts.

“Having three players who have played in the past brings experience and, hopefully, it makes a difference,” added Matthews, who played in the fixture four times and made a winning start as GB&I captain in last year’s Astor Trophy, which entailed beating Australia, Canada, New Zealand and South Africa.

“Players are bound to be nervous, especially on the first day,” she said. That may be the case for most of the 16 players taking part in the match but, even though she’s the youngest on duty, Hull doesn’t come across as the nervous type.

The Woburn player underlined her potential when lifting the English and Welsh Stroke-Play tiles last year. Over the winter she chalked up another notable victory, this time on the highly-competitive Orange Blossom Tour in Florida.

She then appeared to have jeopardised her place in this event by pulling out of a GB&I squad trial at the end of March to play in the opening women’s professional major of the season, the Kraft Nabisco in California. Thankfully, though, the selectors eventually viewed her performance there – she tied for 38th – as a positive and picked her for the eight-strong team.

To compensate for missing the trial, Hull paid a visit to Nairn a month ago, when she played one of her rounds in the company of Gillian Stewart, the former Ladies European Tour player from Inverness. Now she can’t wait for the real deal.

“I don’t think we are underdogs either,” said Hull in backing up her captain. “I am really confident in the team we have. They are all great players and I am proud to have these guys as my team-mates.” Asked how she’d feel on the first tee today, she added: “I don’t think it will bother me as I’ve played golf long enough that I will simply be trying to stripe it down there.”

Before arriving in Nairn, where they were left agog by the warm welcome they received from a band of locals at the town’s train station, the GB&I players spent a few days in Aberdeen. Some golf at Murcar helped “blow the cobwebs away” while a spot of shopping, coupled with that trip to the cinema, did wonders for team bonding.

“The team spirit is great,” declared Kelly Tidy, the newly-crowned English champion. “We are used to playing against each other, but we are here wanting to win for one another. And we like to beat the Americans.”

Sole Scot Pretswell concurred. “I’d say there is a lot more belief in ourselves [than two years ago],” she said. “We’ve really gelled, the confidence is high and this is probably the best team I’ve been on in my 23 years.”

Even though that’s still a tender age, Pretswell described herself as the “granny” in the GB&I team. “I was pretty nervous two years ago and here I am now trying to help everyone out,” remarked the Bothwell Castle player, who gave herself a timely boost recently as she became the first amateur to win a development event on the Ladies European Tour. Despite that, was she feeling nervous about flying the Saltire on her own? “I wouldn’t say it was pressure, more of a buzz,” she added. “It’s extra special to be playing at home.”

While conditions were pleasant enough yesterday, the forecast is for wind and rain.

According to Tidy, the stronger the wind blows the better. “I will be excited if it’s windy,” declared the 20-year-old, who is used to challenging conditions at Royal Birkdale, her home club. “The Americans might have wind but it’s not a links wind that blows in different directions. We have more experience of handling that.”

Matthews doesn’t want it to become “silly” due to the weather. She described her players as being in “good cheeky form” and is hoping they can come flying out of the traps. “The first three holes could be crucial,” she noted. “That’s why we’ve played them up and down goodness knows how many times. It’s the same with the last three.”

GB&I won the Walker Cup here in 1999 with a team that included Luke Donald and Paul Casey. It was a feat repeated by the men last September at Royal Aberdeen, where the home team was skippered by a Welshman, Nigel Edwards.