United States team stays focused at Merion to win third straight Curtis Cup over Great Britain and Ireland

Though their third Curtis Cup win in a row was eventually a dominant one, the focus of the United States players was impressive from the start.

Team USA member Rachel Kuehn watches her tee shot at the par 4 2nd hole during 2022 Curtis Cup Match at Merion Golf Club in Ardmore, Pennsylvania on Sunday, June 12, 2022.Read moreYONG KIM / Staff Photographer

by Joe Juliano, For The Inquirer

Published Jun. 12, 2022, 7:47 p.m. ET

As Rachel Kuehn walked off the 16th green Sunday at Merion Golf Club after her par assured the United States of a tie in her match and retention of the Curtis Cup, she saw that her mother was approaching and ready to congratulate her.

While she was happy to see her mother, Kuehn let her know that work still needed to be done.

“She looked at me and she’s like, ‘Well, your half-a-point is clinched,’ ” she recalled. “I’m like, ‘I don’t want half a point. I’ve still got a match to play, Mom.’ So I went out and she came and gave me a big hug after 17. Just having my whole family here was just so incredibly special.”

Going out in match two of singles, a session that was delayed at the start by almost four hours because of rain, Kuehn finished the job with a 2-and-1 win over Great Britain & Ireland’s Caley McGinty to secure the victory that eventually would lead to a rout, with Team USA winning 15½-4½.

A junior at Wake Forest, Kuehn posted the clinching point to the team’s victory for the second straight time in 10 months, continuing a sort of family tradition. Her mother, Brenda Corrie Kuehn, played in two Curtis Cups and scored the decisive point in the 1998 competition.

Kuehn was one of two Americans to not only play in all five matches, but to come up with four victories, tying her with Southern California freshman Amari Avery. Avery lost her singles match to GB&I’s Emily Price, 4 and 3, denying her a chance to become the fourth player since the Curtis Cup matches were changed to three days in 2008 to go 5-0.

“Our team gelled so well,” Kuehn said. “I think it was a huge factor to our success. Anyone can go out and play with anyone, and there was no issue, there was no tension, there was nothing. We just enjoyed each other and I think just speaks to how close we are.”

U.S. team captain Sarah LeBrun Ingram said she appreciated how well her players took to Merion’s East course, and especially how well they handled the fast, undulating greens.

“Just playing at such a top golf course in great condition, it’s difficult but they managed it pretty well, I have to say,” she said. “Just the greens, the pureness of the putts, how they roll, and the speed, they have to really be precise on their reads and things like that. I know they enjoyed it. They had a good time.”

Ingram front-loaded her players in the singles draw, with world No. 1 women’s amateur Rose Zhang coming out first and rolling to a 7-and-5 win over Louise Duncan. Kuehn went second and Rachel Heck, Zhang’s Stanford teammate, posted a 2-and-1 win over Lauren Walsh.

In the last three Curtis Cup competitions, the United States has outscored Great Britain & Ireland, 21½ to 2½ in singles.

It was a somewhat deflating weekend for Great Britain & Ireland, which had a chance to get back in the competition after taking early leads in the three Saturday afternoon foursome matches. But the team only came out with 1½ points instead of three, and needed to win seven matches Sunday to win the Cup.

Still, the GB&I players loved their experience. Price, of England, called it “one of the best weeks of my life on the golf course.”

McGinty and Walsh each led GB&I with one victory and one tie.