Hosts whitewash United States

Great Britain and Ireland whitewashed the United States 3-0 in the Curtis Cup opening foursomes at windy Formby today to give captain Ada O’Sullivan the perfect start to her quest to end a run of three successive defeats.

Not even the formidable 14-year-old prodigy Michelle Wie could halt O’Sullivan’s gritty side from drawing first blood as they built a solid platform from which to launch thir assault in the six singles matches this afternoon.

That was expected to be a different ball game because the Americans did not look particularly comfortable playing the alternate-shots format.

Wie did her best but it was not quite good enough as she and partner Brittany Lang were beaten by a birdie on the final green which sent the 6,000-plus crowd into raptures.

“That score was beyond my wildest dreams,” said O’Sullivan.

“At best I was hoping to go into lunch 2-1 up so this is fantastic.”

Anne Laing and Claire Coughlan were behind only once when they lost the seventh hole after Wie used her power to rip a three wood to the back of the green with her opponents coming up short.

Wie dumped her approach to the ninth into one of the pot bunkers she has grown to dread in practice this week and Great Britain and Ireland took the hole with a conceded par.

They also won the next to regain the lead when Wie, struggling to judge the pace of the greens, missed from two feet.

But the match was all square again after 11 as Coughlan overhit her approach but she then atoned for the lapse at the 12th where she rolled in the first birdie of the round.

The Americans would not lie down and were back on level terms by the 15th and it looked as though Wie had saved a half at the last after an exquisite bunker shot pulled up three feet from the hole.

But then Coughlan produced another piece of magic on the green as she holed from 10 feet.

Emma Duggleby and Shelley McKevitt put the first points on the board for the hosts, clawing back from two down after eight to eclipse Paula Creamer and Jane Park three and two.

Nicola Timmins and Danielle Masters also battled back against Sarah Huarte and Anne Thurman who conceded on the last green.