Leona Maguire helps Britain and Ireland regain Curtis Cup

The many thousands of spectators who swarmed into this valley in the foothills of the Wicklow mountains discovered that bi-location was a physical impossibility as this 39th edition of the biennial Curtis Cup at Dun Laoghaire Golf Club reached tipping point, and Britain and Ireland successfully reclaimed the trophy with a hugely impressive 11 ½ to 8 ½ win over the United States.

For quite a while, it was all touch and go as the Americans – mentally shook from happenings on Saturday dominated by B&I when the trophy seemed to slip from their grasp – showed their fight.

But as the destination of the old silver chalice into home hands eventually became a matter of when rather than if, the loud roar from the galleries that greeted Meghan MacLaren’s win on the 17th green told the story of the who. Like a form of sonic signal, the roar worked its way upwards to the 18th where Bronte Law realised she had been beaten to the punch, and that her putt – which she coolly sank – was now the icing on the cake.

On a warm day with little breeze, B&I – who had carried an 8-4 advantage from foursomes and fourballs into the final day’s final session of singles – duly completed the job. Requiring two and a half points from the eight singles, Elaine Farquharson-Black’s team went one better.

Leona Maguire – “I was on a mission to win my point, to send a message to the players behind” – obliged with a 3 and 2 win over Sierra Brooks; MacLaren outdeulled Bethany Wu to win by 2 and 1; and Law – who became the first B&I player in history to win five from five – claimed a 2 holes win over Mika Liu. In the top singles, Olivia Mehaffey was never behind in her halved match with world number one Hannah O’Sullivan.

With three Irish players on the successful team – Maguire, in her third Curtis Cup and most probably her last before moving on to the professional circuit, Mehaffey and Maria Dunne – there was certainly a green hue about it all, not just with the majestic scenery. And perhaps the only mishap came when the lid fell off to hit Dunne on her head as she lifted it at the photo-shoot afterwards. “I don’t care,” she good-naturedly quipped to her supporters.

For sure, this was a moment to cherish for the Irish trio and for the entire team. Maguire, who had spent much of the past year as the world number one, claimed four from five points in demonstrating true on-course leadership “This week wasn’t about me, it was about the team and to do whatever I could to help us win. We all wanted to win so badly. This is definitely one of the best teams I have ever been a part of in any competition. We brought out the best in each other,” said Maguire.

Farquharson-Black’s captaincy combined steel with a light-touch. As she joked, “I think the hardest decision was, ‘what are we going to wear?’  . . . . my aim was to have a happy team.” Still, she demonstrated a clinical edge in omitting one player – Rochelle Morris – until the singles. It was a tactic that was risky, but worked.

Indeed, Farquharson-Black used psychology in the team locker room where she arranged to have photographs of all the winning B&I teams going back to the ‘50s on the walls. Alongside them, she put one of her own team. “Part of this week has been about reminding the players that this is part of something much bigger  . . . . I wanted (the team photo) to complete the circle,” she explained.

Much of the hard work had been done on Saturday, where a whitewash – 3-0 – of the final session of fourballs made it an uphill battle for the Americans. In fairness, for a time, it looked as if their fightback would emulate Europe’s in the Ryder Cup at Medinah. But there would be no miracle here.

“I thought we were going to flip (the result) on them,” said USA captain Robin Burke, adding: “My girls, they didn’t lose their spirit. They didn’t lose their fight. We just got outplayed.”

In the end, after Mehaffey’s halved point and Maguire’s full point, B&I had two shots at it. They took both of them, with MacLaren – recovering from a double bogey on the 16th – closing out matters on the 17th green where her opponent Wu three-putted from the back of the green. MacLaren played the hole par perfect. It was the perfect finish too, to a tournament that attracted 14,000 over the three days, beating the previous crowd record from Nairn in 2012.