The host and defending champion U.S. team had a long day Saturday, as the Internationals turned an 8-4 deficit into a 20.5-15.5 advantage heading into today's final round of the Arnold Palmer Cup at the Alotian Club in Roland.
An 8.5-3.5 morning mixed-foursome session gave the Internationals a 12.5-11.5 lead going into afternoon foursomes, where the visitors created more separation by going 8-4 against their American counterparts.
Starting on No. 10, the University of Arkansas duo of Kaylee Benton and Dylan Kim got off to a 3-up advantage after three holes against the International team of Julie McCarthy (Auburn) and Ana Belac (Duke), then had to survive until Kim's par putt at No. 9 salvaged a half point. Kim and Benton double-bogeyed the par-3 4th to draw the match to all-square before the teams tied each of the final five holes.
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"I told Dylan I'm having the time of my life," Benton said after the long day in which she and Kim went 1-0-1 after morning mixed-foursome matches. "I'm playing with my best friend and playing for Team USA. I thought we were cohesive and worked good together."
After losing their 3-up lead, Kim and Benton saw it shrink to 1 up after a bogey on the par-4 18th. They managed to push it back to 2 up when Belac and McCarthy bogeyed the par-4 2nd prior to losing the third hole with a bogey and the fourth with double bogey when Kim's tee shot at the par-3 hole found a bunker that Benton couldn't escape with the team's second shot.
"It felt great getting a good start and playing solid at the beginning," Kim said. "I kind of hit a rough patch in the middle, but we held on."
International Coach Jan Dowling said she wasn't too upset when her team was down four points after Friday.
"We didn't have to tell them much after the first round," Dowling said. "We knew there was a lot of golf to play. We made some nice headway early. We won some tough, tough matches today. We're excited for tomorrow."
For the first time in the history of the event, women played alongside the men when it was held in France in 2018. There, the U.S. won 38.5-21.5 on the strength of going 18-6 in singles play. U.S. Coach Scott Limbaugh said a similar effort is needed this morning.
"We know we're going to have to get to 30 [points] to retain the Cup," Limbaugh said. "Every little bit counts. We know there are points to be won up and down our team. Now, we just have to put them out there and try to bring it home."
The Internationals woke up Saturday morning facing an 8-4 deficit going into mixed foursomes. Seven consecutive victories to start the day were enough for them to take a 12.5-11.5 lead heading into afternoon foursomes.
A 6-and-5 victory by McCarthy and Sandy Scott (Texas Tech) started the streak of victories, while Agathe Laisne (Texas) and Chun An Yu ended it with a 4-and-3 victory over Peter Kuest (Brigham Young) and Stephanie Lau (Northwestern).
Kim and Benton helped the U.S. pull off victories in their respective early matches. Kim and Will Gordon (Vanderbilt) defeated Belac and Luis Gagne (LSU) 3 and 2, while Benton and her partner, Alex Smalley (Wake Forest), defeated Kengo Aoshima (Wake Forest) and Gabriela Ruffels (Southern California) 3 and 1.
"I thought my partner and I played well," said Benton, who along with Smalley made four birdies and had a 4-up lead after 14 holes.
Limbaugh said he thought the U.S. lineups were solid for both sessions, but the Internationals had too much firepower on the two-round day.
"It was a rough day," he said. "They got off to a fast start for sure. What I saw was a team that played with a lot more energy. We were excited about our first two matches going out. But you can't count points before you get them in match play. It's a good lesson. The girls kept us in there today."
A total of 24 points are up for grabs today in singles play beginning at 8:30 a.m.
Today’s pairings
8:30 A.M. Agathe Laisne vs. Jennifer Chang
8:30 A.M. Alex del Rey vs. Austin Eckroat
8:40 A.M. Peng Pichaikool vs. Cole Hammer
8:40 A.M. Lorna McCloyd vs. Stephanie Lau
8:50 A.M. Sofia Garcia vs. Abbey Carlson
8:50 A.M. Sandy Scott vs. Will Grimmer
9 A.M. Chun An Yu vs. Will Gordon
9 A.M. Kaitlyn Papp vs. Lois Kaye Go
9:10 A.M. Karoline Stormo vs. Malia Nam
9:10 A.M. Matthias Schmid vs. Peter Kuest
9:20 A.M. Takumi Kanaya vs. Alex Smalling
9:20 A.M. Hira Naveed vs. Ann Parmerter
9:30 A.M. Leonie Harm vs. Emilia Migliaccio
9:30 A.M. Ivan Ramirez vs. Brandon Wu
9:40 A.M. Aled Greville vs. Patrick Martin
9:40 A.M. Julie McCarthy vs. Hailee Cooper
9:50 A.M. Frida Kinhult vs. Dylan Kim
9:50 A.M. David Nyfjall vs. Alex Scott
10 A.M. Kengo Aoshima vs. Quade Cummins
10 A.M. Gabriela Ruffels vs. Haylee Harford
10:10 A.M. Jiwon Jeon vs. Kaylee Benton
10:10 A.M. Keita Nakajima vs. Chandler Phillips
10:20 A.M. Luis Gagne vs. John Augenstein
10:20 A.M. Ana Belac vs. Mariel Galdiano
Sports on 06/09/2019