INTERVIEW: MARY MCKENNA:THE WHEEL has come full circle for Mary McKenna, who has returned to Boston – where the whole Curtis Cup odyssey started out for her back in 1970 – for this latest, 36th edition of a biennial match which pits the very best women amateurs of Britain and Ireland against those from the United States. Nobody knows the demands better: the Dubliner played on nine successive teams, from 1970 to 1986, and is in her second stint as team captain for a task that never gets any easier.
In fact, Britain and Ireland have not won the match since 1996, at Killarney where Ita Butler was captain. Since then, the Americans have held on to the trophy with all the grim determination of a young girl ensuring no one else gets a hand on her mum’s apple pie. Come Friday, though, McKenna – who has been in the United States for the best part of a week with her young team – will send out her charges in expectation rather than hope at Essex County in Massachusetts.
The reason? Quite simply, despite the inexorable leakage of players into the professional game, she’s got a fine and well-balanced team, even if the oldest player is all of 22 – Danielle McVeigh, from Royal Co Down – and the youngest, the 15-year-old Maguire twins Leona and Lisa, are making history. They’re the youngest ever players on the Britain and Ireland team, and weren’t even born when McKenna finished her own Curtis Cup playing days by being a part of the first team to win on American soil, at Prairie Dunes in 1986.
In those days, McKenna was known as nothing more than “Irish” to the Americans, but more commonly as “Mac” to those on this side of the pond. Indeed, so long off the tee was McKenna no less a figure as Laura Davies once recalled playing with her in the 1984 match at Muirfield. “I was terrified! Simply because Mac was the big gun at that time and was so far ahead of me,” recounted Davies.
These days, McKenna is the one left shaking her head. “I play a different game of golf now to what they play. They hit it all so much different, it is like looking at the pros. They’re hitting six irons into par fives from 201 yards. I would be hitting three wood and then wedge.”
The game has changed, and the emergence of so many young players only emphasises that fact. Indeed, Alexis Thompson, the starlet of the US team this week, intends to turn professional when the match finishes. She is the ripe old age of . . . 15!
“Danielle is the oldest on our team, and that says a lot about the fact that there are so many turning pro too quickly. Over the four years I’ve been involved with the LGU (in Curtis Cup and Vagliano Trophy), we’ve lost so many players (to the professional game). You could pick a whole team (from those who moved on). It is a real sign of the times,” said McKenna, adding: “Kids are starting to play golf younger. I didn’t start until I was 14. These kids have a whole lifetime by that age. I was young by my standards when I started. I was 19 playing international, 21 when I played Curtis Cup. And I was young.”
For sure, destiny would seem to be calling the phenomenal Maguire twins down a similar road. But McKenna, for one, would like to see them hang around in the amateur game for a while longer. “I’d like to see the twins plodding along the way they are doing. To do exams, they are very good students, to do university and get an education and then go for it. I’d like them to do a Harrington on it. You need a back-up. You could damage your hand and be out of the game for life.
“I imagine they will turn pro, but they still have to grow and develop, and their swings will change . . . barring winning a British title, they have done everything. They know how to win, but I think they are also starting to realise they can lose and that’s important too. They’ve improved at such a rate it is not possible to keep improving at that rate and they’ve got to settle down.
“They are so competitive, gutted when they lose. But that’s all in the learning about life too.”
McVeigh, the third Irish player in the team, will – as McKenna put it, be her “number one” – as the reigning British Strokeplay champion. A student at NUI Maynooth, McVeigh – whose father Tom died just after she won the Scottish Strokeplay championship in April – has matured into a very fine player.
“The way Danielle plays, it looks as if she’s out on her holidays. She’s so laid back,” observed McKenna. “Every year, she has improved. She’s become a more solid striker of the ball, her confidence has improved, she’s matured. She’s done it in a slow way, learning how hard she has to work and the way she can work.”
On her debut appearance in the Curtis Cup all of 40 years ago, McKenna actually met Harriett Curtis – one of the two sisters after which the match is named – and there is a sense she has completed a full circle in returning to Boston. “Ah, it’s magic. Is it better than playing? Sometimes it is easier playing. But it is a great honour to have done it the second time, home and away, and to finish up in Boston really makes it special. I’ve been captain at two fantastic venues, St Andrews which was the first time ever there, historic, and now at the home of the Curtis sisters.”
As she discovered in St Andrews two years ago, it can be hard being everywhere – even with the assistance of an electric cart! “(In 2008), I was trying to be everywhere, trying to catch up with everyone. But you can’t, you can’t be everywhere. You just try to be in the right place at the right time. Players don’t want you crawling up and down their back. You’ve just got to be there, and trust they know. If you’re there and they need you, they’ll wander over.”
And the expectations? “I really do believe we can win, especially in matchplay. The course is hard and firm, so it’s not target golf where you’re firing the ball in and the girls can make them dance. It’s going to suit us from that end of it. If our short games work, I see no reason why we can’t win.”
CURTIS CUP THE IRISH CONNECTION
DANIELLE McVEIGH
Age:22
Club– Royal County Down Ladies – also: Kilkeel.
Career aspirations:"To become a professional golfer."
How did you become interested in playing golf?"I was introduced by my father, who was a very keen golfer."
What age did you start playing?11.
Lowest competitive round:-5 at Old Course St Andrews (2009) and Troon Portland (2010).
Titles won:2010 – Helen Holm (Scottish Open Strokeplay) championship. 2009 – British Strokeplay championship, Welsh Open strokeplay championship. 2007 – World University Games Championship.
Favourite course:Royal County Down.
Hobbies:Gym, socialising, Gaelic football.
LEONA MAGUIRE
Age:15
Club:Slieve Russell – also: Castle Hume, Co Cavan, Killeen Castle.
Career aspirations:"To turn professional and play on the LPGA Tour (in America), to keep improving my game and develop my full potential."
How did you become interested in playing golf?"My twin sister Lisa, broke her elbow in a playground while messing around with friends and the specialist she went to said that it would be a good idea to take up a racket sport to help it heal quicker. We live right beside a golf club so our dad plays golf and thought that golf would be the most logical option. After a couple of weeks I realised that I really loved the game."
What age did you start playing?Nine.
Lowest competitive round :69 (-6) at Troon Portland, Scotland.
Titles won:2010 – French Under-21 championship. 2009 – European Girls' Team Championships, French Under 21 championship, Scottish strokeplay championship. 2008 – Irish Close championship.
Favourite course:Evian Masters Course (Switzerland) and Royal County Down.
Hobbies:Swimming, Basketball, Football, table tennis, reading.
Any superstition?"I have a charm bracelet I wear when playing."
LISA MAGUIRE
Age:15
Club:Slieve Russell – also: Castle Hume, Co Cavan, Killeen Castle.
Career aspirations:"To turn professional and play on the LPGA Tour, to become world number one, and to develop to my full potential and to make others happy."
How did you become interested in playing golf?"I broke my elbow in a playground while messing around with friends and the specialist I went to said that it would be a good idea to take up a racket sport to help it heal quicker."
What age did you start playing?Nine.
Lowest competitive round:66 (-7) at Douglas Golf Club.
Titles won:2009 — European Girls' Team Championship, Irish Close championship, Irish Open Strokeplay Championship. 2008 – Irish Girls' Close Championship, European Young Masters Championship.
Favourite course:The European, Co Wicklow.
Hobbies:Reading, shopping, music, swimming, basketball, football.
Any superstition?"I keep a little Irish teddy in my golf bag for good luck."
– PHILIP REID
