Britain and Ireland regain Curtis Cup in dramatic fashion

Britain and Ireland won the Curtis Cup for just the second time in the last 10 contests after holding off a spirited fightback from the United States at Dun Laoghaire Gold Club.

After claiming five of the six points available on day two, the home side needed just two and half points from Sunday’s eight singles matches to secure victory.

A win for Leona Maguire over Sienna Brooks and a half point from Olivia Mehaffey against world number one Hannah O'Sullivan put them on the verge of victory, but Monica Vaughn and Andrea Lee then added to the earlier win for Bailey Tardy to keep the contest alive.

Meghan MacLaren saw her three-hole lead with four to play cut to a single hole by Bethany Wu, before holding her nerve to win the 17th and secure the winning point with a 2&1 victory.

Moments later, Bronte Law defeated Mika Liu by two holes to become just the second player ever to record a perfect 5-0 record, American Stacy Lewis having done so at St Andrews in 2008, the year the event switched from two to three days.

Mariel Galdiano defeated Maria Dunne in the last match to make the final score 11.5 to 8.5.

“Nothing even comes close to this,” said MacLaren, who graduated from Florida International University in May. “This is incredible. I can’t even put it into words.”

World number four Law, who was also part of the winning side in 2012, added: “The team was just incredible. For me, coming into this, a lot of people had written us off. We kept hearing things that we have a 32-year-old (Maria Dunne) on the team and she’s just been unbelievable, as have all the rookies.

“For me to end it this way – it’s probably going to be my last Curtis Cup – is just a dream. I am so proud to just represent my country.”

US captain Robin Burke felt her side had been capable of pulling off a similar comeback to that of last year’s Solheim Cup team, who recovered from a four-point deficit in the singles in Germany.

“I thought they were going to pull it off and they fought to the very end,” Burke said.

“I am proud of all of them. They have a lot of spirit and a lot of heart.

“[B&I] just played really well yesterday. They made a ton of birdies on us and we almost recovered. We just didn’t quite get there.”