Avery keeps coming up big as U.S. remains in control in Curtis Cup at Merion

    HAVERFORD – It’s not like Amari Avery came out of nowhere.

   The Riverside, Calif. native has been a rising star in junior circles for years. She gave serious consideration to turning pro right out of high school and skipping college altogether.

   But Avery finally enrolled at Southern California in time to play with the Trojans, who have been a perennial national power, in the spring portion of the wraparound 2021-2022 season. Avery won individual titles in the second and third tournaments in which she teed it up and her name rocketed up the Women’s World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR).

   That also caught the eye of the United State Golf Association’s International Team Selection working group, which relies heavily on the Women’s WAGR in finishing out its rosters for international competition. It was a Curtis Cup year and the 42^nd edition was being played at the historic East Course at Merion Golf Club, the 19^th time the USGA has utilized the venerable Hugh Wilson design for one of its events.

   Not even sure if the Curtis Cup was on Avery’s radar. After gutting out two more wins in both a Saturday morning four-ball match and a Saturday afternoon foursome match, Avery, who entered this week at Merion at No. 17 in the Women’s WAGR, stands on the threshold of joining Stacy Lewis and Kristen Gillman as American players with 5-0 records in a Curtis Cup Match.

   Avery’s heroics on a drizzly, dreary Saturday at Merion helped the United States stave off a determined bid to get back in this thing by Great Britain & Ireland. The U.S. had emerged from Day 1’s action with a 5-1 advantage and it will take a commanding 8.5-3.5 lead into Sunday’s single matches.

   But GB&I wasn’t rolling over and had the U.S. on its heels all day long. This U.S. team has tons of talent, but it showed a lot of grit in both of Saturday’s sessions.

   I arrived just in time to catch Avery lining up a 12-foot birdie putt on the tough par-4 16^th hole. For the second straight day, U.S. captain Sarah Ingram had tabbed her two youngest players, Avery and Megha Ganne, the talented teen from Holmdel, N.J., who is No. 17 in the Women’s WAGR, in a morning four-ball match.

   Avery had given the U.S. a 1-up advantage over arguably GB&I’s toughest pair, English woman Annabell Fuller, No. 44 in the Women’s WAGR and playing in her third Curtis Cup Match, and Scotland’s Hannah Darling, No. 14 in the WAGR, by sinking a birdie putt on the par-4 12^th hole in a match that had been tight throughout.

   GB&I had already put a point on the board with a 5 and 4 victory for England’s Caley McGinty, GB&I’s highest-ranked player at No. 10 in the Women’s WAGR, and Ireland’s Lauren Walsh, the Wake Forest standout and No. 46 in the Women’s WAGR, over Jensen Castle, the Kentucky standout from West Columbia, S.C., and Walsh’s Wake Forest teammate, Rachel Kuehn, an Asheville, N.C. native and No. 11 in the Women’s WAGR.

   Avery drained her birdie try with Fuller dropping her birdie putt from 10 feet right on top of Avery’s putt. But the U.S. had maintained its 1-up edge. When Avery converted a five-footer for par at the tough par-3 17^th hole and Darling’s three-footer for par lipped out cruelly, the U.S. had pulled out a 2 and 1 victory.

   Behind them, Emilia Migliaccio, a Cary, N.C. resident and No. 19 in the Women’s WAGR, and LSU standout Latanna Stone, a Riverview, Fla. native and No. 42 in the Women’s WAGR, were in the process of wiping out a 2-down deficit to England’s Amelia Williamson, a Florida State standout and No. 47 in the Women’s WAGR, and Scotland’s Louise Duncan, No. 48 in the Women’s WAGR, by winning the last three holes to pull out a 1-up victory.

   A Saturday morning so full of promise for GB&I had ended with the U.S. holding a 7-2 advantage.

   In the afternoon alternate-shot matches, the U.S. was trailing in every match for most of the session.

   For the second straight day, Ingram paired Avery with Kuehn for the foursome matches and they rallied to claim a 2-up victory over Williamson and fellow English woman Emily Price, a Kent State standout who is No. 76 in the Women’s WAGR.

  Again the decisive stroke came from Avery at the par-4 16^th hole as she holed a 12-foot birdie putt that gave the U.S. a 2-up lead with two holes to play.

   Avery has been at her best in the biggest moments and Ingram hasn’t hesitated to go with her rising star in every session. And Avery’s enthusiasm has fit right in with this outgoing bunch of U.S. players.

   “It’s been pretty special,” Avery said at the end of the long day. “We have a great team, we’re playing on home soil. It’s been very exciting for me.”

   Her youthful exuberance has been on display. Can you blame her?

   “When you’re fighting for each other as part of a team, it takes it up to another level,” Avery said. “Might as well be turnt.”

   You know, turnt. It’s one of those expressions that’s unique to her generation, but suffice it to say, Avery is having fun out there.

   Ahead of Avery and Kuehn, Rose Zhang, the No. 1 player in the Women’s WAGR from Irvine, Calif., and her Stanford teammate Rachel Heck of Memphis, Tenn. and No. 4 in the Women’s WAGR, had sat out the morning session and looked a little flat in the early going in their match with Walsh and McGinty.

   GB&I held a 4-up lead with just seven holes to play after winning the 11^th hole. It looked like a sure full point for GB&I. But Zhang and Heck just kept chipping away and finally earned a half-point for the U.S. by winning the 18^th hole with a par.

    With the sun finally making an appearance as it was setting on Merion, Darling made a six-footer for par as she and Fuller got their first point of the weekend for GB&I with a 2 and 1 victory over Castle and Stone.

   It was an all-Southeastern Conference foursome as Darling just completed her freshman season at South Carolina, Fuller is a stalwart at Florida, Castle, the reigning U.S. Women’s champion, plays at Kentucky and Stone helped LSU claim the SEC crown this spring.

   “It was our first point in the Curtis Cup and for it to take this long is kind of annoying,” Darling said. “But hopefully it can pump up our team for (Sunday).”

   It was a frustrating day for GB&I captain Elaine Ratcliffe, who watched her team play some tremendous golf. By the end of the day, though, GB&I hadn’t really gained any ground on the U.S.

   “They went out there and were really executing their shots,” Ratcliffe said. “They were really playing some great golf. But the result didn’t really reflect the level of play. It’s tough to play as well as they did only to see some of the matches slip through their fingers.”

   It will be a big ask for GB&I to come back from a five-point deficit in Sunday’s singles, but Ratcliffe certainly believes in her team’s talent.

   “They’ve got game,” Ratcliffe said. “They just need to play 18 holes. Anything is doable. I’ll just keep reminding them why they’re here, what they did to get here, that they deserve to be here.”

   Ingram, the U.S. captain, has put Avery in the anchor spot against Price. It would seem unlikely that the result would hinge on that match, but should it get that far, Ingram knows she can count on Avery.