The final score is 13 to 7. Here are the Sunday singles results:

• Kimberly Kim, U.S., def. Breanne Loucks, GB&I, 3 and 1
• Amanda Blumenherst, U.S., def. Jodi Ewart, GB&I, 2 and 1
• Stacy Lewis, U.S., def. Elizabeth Bennett, GB&I, 3 and 2
• Tiffany Joh, U.S., def. Carly Booth, GB&I, 6 and 5
• Michele Thomson, GB&I, halved with Jennie Lee, U.S.
• Florentyna Parker, GB&I, def. Meghan Bolger, U.S., 6 and 4
• Krystle Caithness, GB&I, def. Mina Harigae, U.S., 2 and 1
• Alison Walshe, U.S., def. Sally Watson, GB&I, 1-up

How about the T-Joh crushing the hopes and dreams of 15-year-old Scot Carly Booth? Six and five. Tiffany has a history of beating up on kids. I believe 6 and 5 is the same score by which she trounced Kimberly Kim, then 14, in the finals of the 2006 USWAPL.

But it's not about winning and losing, it's about the spirit of the game. Yes, I say that with a straight face. The Curtis Cup and the Walker Cup are two events where that spirit continues strong. I  hope the GB&I team isn't taking the outcome too hard; this is something all the players involved in it will remember forever. And Great Britain & Ireland have simply run up against some of the best U.S. teams in the history of the competition over the past 10 or 12 years.

The Americans took a 3-point lead - 7.5 to 4.5 - at the end of Day 2 in the Curtis Cup, winning two of three afternoon four-balls. Here is how the matches turned out on Saturday:

Foursomes

• Carly Booth/Breanne Loucks, GB&I, def. Kimberly Kim/Jennie Lee, U.S., 3 and 2
• Alison Walshe/Stacy Lewis, U.S., def. Sally Watson/Michele Thomson, GB&I, 5 and 4
• Elizabeth Bennett/Jodi Ewart, GB&I, halved with Amanda Blumenherst/Tiffany Joh, U.S.

Four-Balls

• Kimberly Kim/Mina Harigae, U.S., def. Carly Booth/Breanne Loucks, GB&I, 2 and 1
• Sally Watson/Krystle Caithness, GB&I, def. Amanda Blumenherst/Meghan Bolger, U.S., 3 and 2
• Alison Walshe/Stacy Lewis, U.S., def. Elizabeth Bennett/Florentyna Parker, GB&I, 1-up

The U.S. needs 10 points to retain the Cup, GB&I needs 10.5 points to take it away. There are eight singles matches on Sunday (GB&I player listed first):

• Breanne Loucks vs. Kimberly Kim
• Jodi Ewart vs. Amanda Blumenherst
• Elizabeth Bennett vs. Stacy Lewis
• Carly Booth vs. Tiffany Joh
• Michele Thomson vs. Jennie Lee
• Florentyna Parker vs. Meghan Bolger
• Krystle Caithness vs. Mina Harigae
• Sally Watson vs. Alison Walshe

There are eight points available tomorrow, and GB&I has to get six of them to win the Cup. There are certainly some upset possibilities in the lineup above (and in match play, you just never know anyway), but I just don't see where those six points can come from.

I mentioned yesterday that I'd post a link to Sky Sports' video of Curtis Cup highlights. Alas, they never posted the clip, so I assume they won't be posting today's highlights, either. Maybe the Sky Sports Web team takes the weekend off. I'll keep checking, though, just in case, because Sky Sports is the only network offering any kind of Curtis Cup coverage ...

The U.S. and Great Britain & Ireland split the first two Curtis Cup matches of Saturday morning at The Old Course:

• Carly Booth/Breanne Loucks, GBI, def. Kimberly Kim/Jennie Lee, U.S., 3 and 2
• Alison Walshe/Stacy Lewis, U.S., def. Sally Watson/Michele Thomson, GBI, 5 and 4

And that left the results of the morning foursomes session in the hands of the American duo and Amanda Blumenherst and Tiffany Joh, and with the GB&I pair of Jodi Ewart (another of my favorite college players) and Liz Bennett.

It must have been quite a match. When the English girls won the 10th hole, they took a 1-up lead. Then the Americans reeled off three consecutives wins. And the Brits answered by winning three straight holes themselves, regaining their 1-up advantage. The Americans won the 17th to square it, then the teams halved the 18th. GB&I won six holes, the U.S. won six holes, six holes were halved. As was the match, natch.

So the morning sessions ended with both teams winning 1.5 points, and with the Americans maintaining an overall 5.5 to 3.5 advantage.

The United States won both sessions 2-1 on the first day of play at the Curtis Cup on Friday, taking a 4-2 lead at The Old Course at St. Andrews. Here are how the ties went:

Foursomes

• Stacy Lewis/Alison Walshe, U.S., def. Elizabeth Bennett/Jodi Ewart, GB&I, 3 and 1
• Michele Thomson/Sally Watson, GB&I, def. Jennie Lee/Mina Harigae, U.S., 1-up
• Amanda Blumenherst/Tiffay Joh, U.S., def. Breanna Loucks/Florentyna Parker, GB&I, 1-up

Four-balls

• Kimberly Kim/Mina Harigae, U.S., def. Carly Booth/Michelle Thomson, GB&I, 3 and 2
• Sally Watson/Krystle Caithness, GB&I, def. Tiffany Joh/Meghan Bolger, U.S., 3 and 2
• Amanda Blumenherst/Stacy Lewis, U.S., def. Florentyna Parker/Elizabeth Bennett, GB&I, 3 and 1

And here are the pairings for the morning foursomes on Saturday:

• Carly Booth/Breanne Loucks, GB&I, vs. Kimberly Kim/Jennie Lee, U.S.
• Michele Thomson/Sally Watson, GB&I, vs. Alison Walshe/Stacy Lewis, U.S.
• Elizabeth Bennett/Jodi Ewart, GB&I, vs. Amanda Blumenherst/Tiffany Joh

A good first day, I think. The Americans proved they aren't bothered by the requirements of links golf (or by the fickle Scottish weather). The underdog GB&I team kept itself in the match and may have gained some confidence from how close many of the matches were.

I'll post a link to the Sky Sports recap of the day's play as soon as the put the video online.

Here are the pairings for the morning session at the Curtis Cup on Friday:

• Elizabeth Bennett/Jodi Ewart, Great Britain & Ireland, vs. Stacy Lewis/Alison Walshe, United States
• Sally Watson/Michele Thomson, Great Britain & Ireland, vs. Mina Harigae/Jennie Lee, United States
• Breanne Loucks/Florentyna Parker, Great Britain & Ireland, vs. Amanda Blumenherst/Tiffany Joh, United States

No surprise that U.S. captain Carol Semple Thompson partnered the T-Joh with Blumenherst, or that that pairing has the anchor spot for the Americans.

Blumenherst and Joh partnered one another several times in AJGA tournaments, and also at last year's Spirit International.

Update: Lewis/Walshe def. Ewart/Bennett, 3 and 1; Watson/Thomson def. Lee/Harigae, 1-up; Blumenherst/Joh def. Loucks/Parker, 1-up.

The afternoon fourballs: 

• Carly Booth/Michele Thomson, GB&I, vs. Kimberly Kim/Mina Harigae, U.S.
• Sally Watson/Krystle Caithness, GB&I, vs. Tiffany Joh/Meghan Bolger, U.S.
• Florentyna Parker/Elizabeth Bennett, GB&I, vs. Amanda Blumenherst/Stacy Lewis, U.S.

The newspaper Scotland on Sunday ran a feature last, um, Sunday, about 15-year-old Carly Booth, the youngest-ever member of the Great Britain & Ireland Curtis Cup team.

Carly has spent the last two years living with a host family in Phoenix, on scholarship, working so hard on her game that she's missed holidays with the family: "She says that tournament play got in the way of her making it home for Christmas. She says it in a way that leaves you in little doubt that it hurt her."

Her parents welcomed her home on Monday morning. It's been two years since she first went away and their daughter has no hint of a Scottish accent left. Her older brother, Wallace (who will be competing in the Scottish Amateur at the Duke's Course at St Andrews at the same time as Carly is playing the Curtis Cup) says it is his mission to get her Scot-ified again.

And while many people tell her that she shouldn't miss college, it sounds like she might miss high school: "The high school term begins anew on August 11 but Carly is committed to tournaments at that point and where she gets her schooling from now on is a topic that's still up in the air in the Booth household."

It also sounds like opinions vary about the value of school:

And Carly asks: "What about school? What if golf doesn't work out? And dad's, like, why wouldn't it work out?"

Carly is a little confused about the school and college thing. Stay on and get a good education or cut and run to the professional game?

"Right now I don't have an answer for that," she says. "I don't know, honestly. I have so many different people saying 'no, you have to go (to college], it's gonna be awesome' and then people say 'no, you don't need college if you think you are good enough to turn pro'."

At home in Comrie, differing opinions. "Dad's not that bothered about school at all. He'd say, if you want, just stop school now. But my mum (Pauline] wants me to get an education, which is fair enough. She wants me to at least graduate high school and I want to at least graduate high school. We'll see how it goes. This is what my mum always tells me. You need something to fall back on in case the golf doesn't work out and my dad is, like, well, if you want to be a golfer you're gonna be a golfer."

Booth is "the No.1 junior in Europe and the holder of the Scottish Under-21 and Under-18 titles" and the last time she played The Old Course she shot 65.

via curtiscup.co.uk

The Curtis Cup begins on Friday. It was first played in 1932, and the 2008 Curtis Cup will be the 35th match in the series. Each match is preceded by a dinner for past Curtis Cup players, and this year the lady pictured above was among the attendees.

She's Phyllis Wylie, 97 years old. The LGU says:

Phyllis lives in Troon. It was as Phyllis Wade, the English champion of 1934, that she played for GB&I in the fourth Curtis Cup match – at Essex Golf Club, Manchester, Massachusetts in 1938 when transatlantic crossings were made by boat and took rather longer than today.

Wylie, nee Wade, earned half a point for the GB&I team back in '38, teaming with a Mrs. J.B. Walker to halve with the American tandem of Marion Miley and Kathryn Hemphill.

That same day one of the other American teams was the pairing of Glenna Collett Vare and Patty Berg. Those two legends alse partnered one another in 1936. And the failed to earn a point either time (although both earned points in singles).

Here's to you, Phyllis Wylie. Hope to see you again in 2010.