Thrilling start to the Curtis Cup

Lessons from the AIG Women's Open

Yesterday the Curtis Cup got off to a dream start. The Old at Sunningdale is, in my biased opinion as a member of the Club, easily the best inland course in the UK and also one of the most scenic. It was presented, as we knew it would be, in immaculate condition with beautiful fairways, gorgeous heather and fast greens. There was not a cloud in the sky, scarcely a breath of wind and the temperature hovered in the low twenties.

With some embarrassment, I must admit this is the first time I’ve ever been to a Curtis Cup match. The saddest words in the English language are “too late” and I now deeply regret not having attended one before. To make matters worse, but in the interests of full disclosure no matter how damaging, I confess that the other clubs to which I belong have both also hosted this event and one of them was the scene of a famous GB&I victory back in the last century.

Let’s move swiftly on. The outcome of yesterday’s three foursome and three four ball games was 3-3. Half these matches finished on the eighteenth green and in each case the result was in doubt right up to the very last putt. In the afternoon’s top game GB&I bravely matched the US’s birdie three at the last hole under the gaze of Sunningdale’s noble tree to put a point on the board.

At that moment the US had already won the second match and it looked as though the final game would soon be coming up the eighteenth fairway. It was near the end of a long day and many of those surrounding the last green, including some very senior USGA luminaries and myself, decided that refreshment could usefully be taken on the clubhouse terrace.

Alas, this was a mistake. No sooner had we sat down with a drink in hand than a roar of applause was heard from the seventeenth hole. Sara Byrne had chipped in from off the green for a birdie to clinch a 2/1 victory for GB&I. All we could do was applaud the winners when they arrived in a buggy a few minutes later.

Given the run of the play earlier in the day I suspect there wasn’t a moment when Catriona Matthew, the first professional to be invited to captain the GB&I Curtis Cup team, wouldn’t have settled for honours to be even after day one. This outcome was achieved through a series of really gutsy performances by the home team in the face of a very strong American side.

This has set up what promises to be a terrific weekend. Today’s forecast is for a fresher and cloudier day with a cooler and stronger east wind which may pose some new challenges. Yesterday’s gallery, among whom it was good to see Justin Rose, was apparently large for a Curtis Cup. This morning it would be great to see a few more people enjoying one of the biggest advantages of amateur golf which is the chance to walk the course alongside the competitors.

Anyone hesitating about whether to come along this weekend could usefully check out the excellent recordings in the Memories of Sunningdale series. Last year this featured a charming discussion between Carole Caldwell and Bruce Critchley. The latter’s low key gentlemanly and softly spoken approach elicited more revealing responses than a more aggressive interviewer would have extracted in a month of Sundays.

These not only describe first hand the experience of playing in the Curtis Cup and the difference between the home and away matches. They also express, in the politest and quietest but nonetheless vivid terms, the feelings of a top lady amateur golfer about the treatment she received almost half a century ago as a member of a very prestigious club. To be fair to the club concerned it was positively welcoming at that time in its attitude to women compared to many of its counterparts.

There are two dreams I have for this event’s future. The first is for someone to emulate the great work of Gordon Simmonds whose matchless history Golf’s Finest Contest honours the Walker Cup in the way it deserves. After all the Curtis Cup is barely a decade younger and no less a player than Joyce Wethered, whose swing Bobby Jones particularly admired, played in the first match. Surely a diligent lady historian can be persuaded to undertake this task.

Secondly, please will a few more of the media recognise that golfers like to read about and watch on TV match play events played by amateurs from whose ranks future professional stars are increasingly drawn. Further, most average mid-handicap male golfers feel they can learn more from watching top women professionals than from their male counterparts.

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The closing stages of last week’s AIG Women’s Open at St Andrews were as exciting a climax as any major championship could hope for. The cream of the world’s best women players fought it out down to the bitter end in horrendous weather and a worthy winner emerged.

I hope the other, only whispered in public, conclusion will be heeded. With today’s equipment, the Old Course is not long enough to provide a real test of male golfers. This isn’t an astonishing or sudden revelation. It’s been staring us all in the face for the last twenty years. I first wrote about it in the Financial Times in 2004.

And what’s happened since then? Plenty of handwringing. Lots of discussion, much of it well meaning. But action? Frankly, very little. Is there a single one of the growing number of subscribers to these weekly postings who feels that golf will benefit from even longer hitting? Or from eight thousand yard courses which will take longer to play, cost more to maintain and whose impact on the environment will be bigger not smaller? If there is please say so now.

Does any other sport allow its historic and precious infrastructure to be rendered obsolete by so called “improvements” in the equipment used by its players? Let’s get to the heart of the matter. Is the future of golf to be driven by the views of the equipment manufacturers or by the USPG and the R&A working together for the good of the game? Wouldn’t it be wonderful if last week’s Women’s Open turned out to be the catalyst which spurred the authorities to faster action?

ENDS