Donegan Gets GB&I Another Full Point In Curtis Cup
Aine Donegan in Saturday's morning session of the Curtis Cup (Photo courtesy of The R&A).
BATON ROUGE – LSU senior Aine Donegan teamed with South Carolina’s Hannah Darling for a second straight session to win a full point for Great Britain and Ireland Saturday in the Curtis Cup matches at Sunningdale Golf Club in England.
After two second-day sessions which included GB&I winning four-of-the-six matches and getting two ties, GB&I is now up, 7-5, in the competition and entering Sunday’s singles matches is looking for its first Curtis Cup win since 2016.
Donegan and Darling, just like Friday, finished with a 1UP decision over Americans Anna Davis and Megan Schofill in alternate shot competition. On Friday, the GB&I duo won in the same matchup 1UP in foursomes (best ball) play as Donegan made a 17-foot birdie on the final hole to secure the victory.
Saturday’s match was a little different as the Donegan-Darling duo took control of the All-Square match on the par four 10th hole, posting a birdie and then in the volatility of match play, winning the par 4 11th hole with a bogey five to go 2UP with six to play.
David and Schofill got the U.S. back to 1Down on the par 5 14th hole, but Donegan and Darling halved the last four holes to clinch the match, including on 18 when Donegan nailed a difficult bunker shot that gave Darling a putt for par on 18 that won the match for GB&I.
“I knew that if we didn’t get up-and-down out of the bunker that it was going to be a complete swing,” said Donegan after her match. “To get that up-and-down and to get the point was huge for us. Just keeps us kind of in contention.”
The teams were tied at 4.5 after the morning session, the first time the event has been tied at the midway point on the second day since the format of the match changed in 2008 to three days and five sessions.
Donegan, who is one of three Irish players on the GB&I team, is 2-0-1 so far in her Curtis Cup debut. She did not play in the afternoon session Saturday.
The Americans need 10 points to retain the Cup, while the Curtis Cup will go to GB&I if they get to 10.5 points after Sunday’s eight singles.
Live scoring can be found at RandA.org and coverage of the singles matches begins on Golf Channel and Peacock at 4 a.m. CT.