ARDMORE, Pa. (AP) — Amari Avery won two more matches Saturday to help the United States take an 8 1/2-3 1/2 lead over Great Britain and Ireland in the Curtis Cup, with eight singles matches set for Sunday at Merion Golf Club.
Avery, the 18-year-old Riverside, California, player coming off her freshman season at Southern California, went 4-0 in the four-ball and foursomes matches.
Avery teamed with Megha Ganne to beat Hannah Darling and Annabell Fuller 2 and 1 in the morning four-ball session and joined Rachel Kuehn in the afternoon foursomes for a 2-up win over Amelia Williamson and Emily Price.
“You always have to expect it’s going to be a tight, hard match,” Avery said. “Honestly, I love that. I never want it to be easy. I want to fight hard for my win.”
The United States leads the amateur series 30-8-3, winning 12 1/2-7 1/2 last year at Conwy Golf Club in Wales.
“We don’t take anything for granted,” Kuehn said. “No matter how we finished today, we’re still not across the line. I think the goal tomorrow is to go out and win all eight singles matches.”
Emilia Migliaccio and Latanna Stone also won for the United States in the morning, beating Charlotte Heath and Louise Duncan 1 up.
“I’m just so ecstatic,” Stone said. “I’m just so proud of us.”
Caley McGinty and Lauren Walsh earned 1 1/2 points for GB&I, beating Kuehn and Jensen Castle 5 and 4 in four-ball and halving with Rachel Heck and Rose Zhang in foursomes. Walsh and Keuhn are roommates at Wake Forest.
“We’ve said all along that we want each other to play well, and whoever makes more birdies will come out on top,” Walsh said. “We were rooting for them out there. It was a great match. We were glad that we could put on a show.”
Darling and Fuller also won for GB&I, topping Castle and Stone 2 and 1 in foursomes.
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