Princess of Bel-Air: USA Reclaims Curtis Cup, 13-7

Sunday drama in a home Curtis Cup Match for the Americans? Given what transpired in recent competitions between the USA and Great Britain, that narrative didn’t seem possible.

But unlike the films that are produced down the road from Bel-Air Country Club, sometimes the script doesn’t always follow the expected outcome.

Yes, the USA reclaimed the Curtis Cup with a 13-7 victory in the 44th rendition of the biennial competition, but it was a whole lot closer than the final margin.

Great Britain & Ireland gave the Americans a tussle in all eight matches. At one point on Sunday, the visitors looked as if they might make a miraculous comeback. Bel-Air member Al Michaels wasn’t present this week, but his iconic “Do you believe in miracles? Yes!” call from the 1980 Olympics when the American stunned the Soviets in ice hockey might have been appropriate.

In the end, Michaels might have instead uttered another famous line used in NFL games: “It’s now officially over.”

The USA has now won the last seven home games by an average of 7.2 points. The last close home Match? One has to go back to 1998 at Minikahda Club, in Minneapolis, Minn., when GB&I came within two or less points. That stretch includes a 17-3 shellacking in 2018 and a 15.5-4.5 blowout four years later when the hosts claimed 15 of the available 16 points in those two Sunday singles sessions.

The 6-2 margin in singles on Sunday at Bel-Air just followed the recent trends.

“Cannot describe it,” said USA captain Meghan Stasi, who was on the losing end two years ago. “Just so proud of the girls, their fight all week. It's just been so much fun to watch the last couple years and just so proud of them. What a day.”

Also consider that all eight USA players were ranked among the top 30 in the Women’s World Amateur Ranking®, including three of the top 8. The average WAGR ranking for the Americans: 13.6. The average ranking for GB&I was 117, with just two players among the top 40. World No. 1 Kiara Romero, No. 3 Farah O’Keefe and No. 8 Asterisk Talley all made the cut in last week’s U.S. Women’s Open Presented by Ally at nearby Riviera Country Club, the former tying for sixth and earning low-amateur honors.

Fittingly, O’Keefe, the reigning NCAA Division I individual champion, clinched the final point to get the Americans their 11th point. They needed 10.5 to reclaim the Cup. The University of Texas rising senior, who was the recipient of the 2026 ANNIKA Award as women’s college golf’s player of the year, capped off a perfect 5-0 week, becoming just the fourth player since the Curtis Cup went to a three-day format in 2008 to achieve that feat. She joins Americans Stacy Lewis (2008) and Kristin Gillman (2018) and GB&I’s Bronte Law (2016), who competed in last week’s U.S. Women’s Open at nearby Riviera Country Club.

O’Keefe, who shared low-amateur honors at The Chevron Championship in April, rallied to beat her future Texas teammate Charlotte Naughton, 2 and 1. The USA’s emotional leader trailed Naughton, 2 down, after 12 holes before mounting a comeback fitting of a first-team All-American.

When the 21-year-old dropped the 3-foot par putt on No. 17, chants of “USA! USA!” went up from her teammates and the spectators surrounding the green.

“I don’t think I have shaked that much in my life,” said O’Keefe of the final putt. “I didn’t shake that much when [I won] the national championship…Golly, I am just so pumped.”

“It was an awesome, awesome match. It’s a pretty incredible sight right here [with my teammates]. Definitely the highlight of my career so far.”

O’Keefe wasn’t the only comeback winner on Sunday. Two of the matches saw players from each side rally from 4-down deficits to win 1 up. Five of the eight matches went the distance, the most for any Sunday session since 2008.

Patience Rhodes, No. 20 in the WAGR, trailed Kelly Xu by four after seven holes, but managed to win her fourth point of the week. Jasmine Koo, a rising junior at nearby USC, was down 4 after 11 holes to Ohio State rising junior Nellie Ong but claimed five of the next six from No. 12 in producing her 1-up win.

Sophia Fullbrook, No. 38 and a standout at Florida State, netted the only other point for GB&I, ending a 4-1 week with a 2-up win over Avery Weed. She punctuated the victory by hitting her approach on No. 18 to 2 feet for a conceded birdie.

“Obviously we're disappointed,” said GB&I captain Catriona Matthew. “You're always disappointed when you lose. We came here with high hopes wanting to retain the cup that we won at Sunningdale two years ago. They fought their hardest. Very proud of them. They did their best. Each and every one of them battled out there in every single match, and that's all you can do.”

The other USA singles wins came from world No. 1 Kiara Romero (1 up over Isla McDonald-O’Brien), Anna Davis (4 and 3 over Beth Coulter), Asterisk Taley (2 and 1 over Davin Xanh) and Kary Hollenbaugh (1 up over Lily Hirst). Hollenbaugh’s win meant that every American produced at least one point. Davis, a rising Auburn senior from Spring Valley, Calif., and Talley, a 17-year-old high school senior from Chowchilla, Calif., were also holdovers from the 2024 USA Team. 

Rhodes missed a good portion of her junior season at Arizona State University due to a lower left leg injury and didn’t return to action until April when she made the cut at the Augusta National Women’s Amateur. One of two returners from the victorious 2024 GB&I side, she came into singles play with a 3-1 record. But she faced a formidable foe in Xu, who went a remarkable 10-1 in match play in the NCAA Championships over the past four seasons at Stanford, two of which resulted in national titles (2024 and 2026). She also officially graduated from the school on Sunday.

But a determined Rhodes started her comeback with a winning par on the eighth and continued the momentum with wins on Nos. 10, 11, 13 and 14. She then held on, holing a clutch 15-foot par putt on 18 to secure the point after Xu’s birdie attempt from about the same distance just fell off to the right.

“I was just very determined. Didn't start off great, kind of plummeted a bit, but then I got a good feeling out there with my swing. Just started firing at every pin, holing some putts. She also made some good putts. So just kind of trying to put the pressure on her [every hole].”

Koo started her own rally with winning pars on 12 and 13, then rolled in a birdie on the par-5 14th and stuck it close on 15 for another birdie to tie the match. She went ahead for good with her third birdie of the back nine at 17, much to the delight of her rooting section that included Trojans head coach Justin Silverstein.

“I'm so over the moon,” said Koo, one of three USA returners from 2024. “I don't know how to feel right now. I'm super happy because just battling back, I never gave up. Honestly, I've never been able to flip a 4-down [deficit] before. It's easy to lose hope. I'm just glad I was able to do that for our team.”

Romero also trailed McDonald-O’Brien, who spent two seasons at Arizona State before recently transferring to Texas, after seven holes before her putter got sizzling hot. She made nice putts on Nos. 8, 9 and 10 to tie up the match. The 15-foot par putt on nine tied the hole.

Her 3-1 mark this week was a carry-over from her performance in last week’s U.S. Women’s Open.

But the biggest celebration came when O’Keefe closed out her match against Naughton, who originally had signed with the University of Alabama but changed her mind when Coach Mic Potter left the program.

Right from the outset of the week, it’s been O’Keefe who has been vocal leader of the team. Not afraid to wear her emotions on her sleeve, the outgoing Texas consistently delivered, even when her sore legs were begging to slow down. She was fired up and ready to go for each of the five sessions.

That chutzpah and charisma factored into her rally against Naughton. She was visibly upset making bogeys on 8 and 9 to lose holes. But she made four consecutive winning pars from No. 13 to pull ahead, and then calmly two-putted for par on No. 17.

Notable

• With Stanford University’s commencement ceremony taking place 350 miles north of Bel-Air Country Club, two-time All-American and two-time NCAA champion Kelly Xu of the USA Team received her diploma on the 10th tee from USGA president Kevin Hammer on Sunday. She was surrounded by her parents, Tong Zhao and Yufeng Xu, and younger sister, Kristina, a rising sophomore at Columbia University, as well as her seven Curtis Cup teammates. Kelly owns a record 10 match-play victories (10-1 record) in the NCAA Championship. She also was the first crowned Drive, Chip & Putt champion at Augusta National in 2014 in the Girls’ 7-9 Division. In 2019, Brandon Wu received his Stanford diploma at the 2019 U.S. Open at Pebble Beach from USGA Executive Committee member and future president Stu Francis behind the 18th green. Francis earned his MBA at Stanford.
  
  
• Only two players failed to garner a point for Great Britain & Ireland: Nellie Ong (0-4) and Lily Hirst (0-2).
  
  
• Jasmine Koo also went unblemished for the USA, going 3-0. Kiara Romero (3-1) and Asterisk Talley (3-2) also produced three points.
  
  
• The 45th Curtis Cup Match will take place in 2028 at Royal Dornoch in Scotland. Dates have yet to be determined.
  
  
• Future Curtis Cups in the United States are an impressive list of venues, starting with National Golf Links of America, in Southampton, N.Y., in 2030. NGLA hosted the 2013 Walker Cup Match. In 2034, the Match goes to Pine Valley Golf Club, in New Jersey, followed by Bandon Dunes (2038) in Oregon, Cypress Point Club (2042), in Pebble Beach, Calif., and Seminole Golf Club (2046), in Juno Beach, Fla.
  
  
• Recently retired Bel-Air C.C. Head Professional Dave Podas served as the referee for the Nellie Ong/Jasmine Koo match. Bel-Air has had only four head pros since it opened in 1930.
  
  
• The GB&I Team received video messages from PGA Tour players Tommy Fleetwood (England) and Shane Lowry (Ireland) prior to the Sunday singles session. Fleetwood played in the 2009 Walker Cup at Merion Golf Club for GB&I.

 Quotable

“I think it's a lot of preparation for the last couple years. It did help being captain at Sunningdale. It was a really unbelievable experience. It was a great team. We fought hard there. I did have more things to rely on for that first time. So it was a little easier this time around. The girls are just such a fun group of girls. It was never a dull moment ever. We just had more fun and just tried to relax as much as we could as well.” – USA captain Meghan Stasi

“[I] just kept refreshing and refreshing my phone to follow the scores. I think just round about the turn, it looked like we were really going to do it. We were just pushing the right way, and then the momentum just started switching to the Americans on the back nine.” – Catriona Matthew

“Obviously, it's been such a long two weeks and nonstop golf for the past 15 days or so. So, obviously, my body is getting a little bit tired. My brain's getting a little bit tired. But when we're out there, the stakes are so high that I feel like it's so exciting. It's so much fun that it kind of blocks out the tiredness and kind of distracts you from the way your body is feeling. Honestly, I felt great out there today, and I was really glad that I was able to play well.” – word No. 1 Kiara Romero after her singles victory and a 3-1 overall record

“It's definitely like the team room moments. All week we were playing 20 Questions in the team room when we were bored, and you would hardly see us on our phone in the locker room. It's moments like those, it's just so much fun. We're all these elite golfers, and now we're playing as part of a team representing our country, but like we're playing 20 Questions.” – Jasmine Koo on the week away from the course

“I was feeling pretty good this morning. Going into today, I had some good vibes with the team. I think we were all just ready to go out there and kill it today.” – Asterisk Talley

“We were very aware that we're behind, but [Captain] Catriona [Matthew] is lovely. She said, go out, have fun. We all know we play best when we have fun. So that's what we were trying to do today and battle back as hard as we can.” – Sophia Fullbrook on the mindset for Sunday

“Yeah, I definitely haven't been in a great spot with my game, but I feel like there's so much motivation to play for this team and to play for the USA. I think that just really brought out some of the game that I've been searching for in the past. It was definitely a grind, and I think I really just tried to continue to trust myself and just play my game. If I mis-hit a shot, just know that I can bounce back.” – USA’s Kary Hollenbaugh on getting a point in singles

David Shefter is a senior staff writer at the USGA. Email him at dshefter@usga.org.