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2022 Curtis Cup: Complete day one summary
It’s important to understand the playing field, and to then reveal the characters and the story line that featured on day one of the 2022 Curtis Cup. The movement of Merion is a two-segment revelation. The first part is the topography, and the second part is the rigor of the layout. Merion moves up and down, with a fair amount of sideways, from the second tee on. The first hole, as happens at many great courses, does nothing more than mask what is to come. As for the second portion of the explanation, you make your birdies in the first ten holes of the course. You might steal one or two from 11 through 13, but you’re just as likely to make a mistake, and make bogey or worse…and kick yourself. Two shortish fours and a wee three, and none is easy.
After crossing the entry way, you face the final five holes, perhaps the toughest stretch in championship golf. If your strategy is to play safe and hit fairway and green, you might face an approach from the wrong side, and a seventy-feet putt. Massive greens, demanding long approaches, and twisting fairways that repel your ball toward the rough. Did I mention that it’s thick, and that there is no intermediate cut to slow your roll?
Everything mentioned in that extended cut of the opening paragraph is critical to understanding why the score is 5-1 after one day of competition. The intelligent, strategic golfer resists temptation, and lets the match-play opponent make the mistake. As can be expected, the team with five points did a better job than the team with one.
Morning Matches
The first morning match ascends to the 10th tee deck.
Team USA, led off by the Rachels (Kuehn and Heck), jumped out to a two-match lead at Merion, but feisty GBI grabbed the final match of the antemeridian hours to close to a one-two deficit. Team GBI traditionally opens with foursomes (aka alternate shot) when it hosts the match, so to be just one point down on the road is nearly a win.
Rachel Heck of Team USA crosses the stone bridge that fronts the 9th green.
Team USA is supremely comfortable with the four ball format (aka better ball) and showed with birdies at hole one, in the first two matches. In the first match, after the hosts took early advantage, GBI’s Annabell Fuller and Hannah Darling came back with birdie wins at holes six and eight to take the lead away. That lead would last for three holes, when the Rachels would notch a second birdie. The pair from Stanford and Wake Forest would drop yet another win at the wee 13th, a tiny par three tucked between the clubhouse and Ardmore Road. The grueling closing stretch at Merion yielded no birdies over the final five holes, and Team USA held on for a one-up win.
Lauren Walsh of Great Britain and Ireland tees off at the short 10th in the AM matches.
In match two, Amari Avery and Megha Ganne of the Red, White & Blue hung birdie shingles on holes one and three to jump out early. Lauren Walsh and Caley McGinty halved the lead to one with birdie at the sixth, but AAMG added a third birdie at the eighth to regain the two-up advantage. Unlike match one, the closing stretch was all about the birdies. The hosts expanded their lead to four-up with wins a t13 and 14. GBI grabbed one back at the 15th with a fine birdie, but halving pars at the quarry 16th ended the match, in favor of Team USA.
Rose Zhang of Team USA, approaches the 16th green at Merion in the morning round.
Match three played out a bit differently from the first two. The teams did not strike until the fourth hole, when the hosts made birdie at the long par five. They gave the advantage back on the next hole, when neither Zhang nor Migliaccio could manage a par. The back-nine par three holes would prove to be friends to the visitors, as the match remained even until the 13th. GBI made a deuce to retake the lead, and then added another birdie two at the barbaric 17th, a quarry hole unlike any other in the game. With a win at that hole, the pair of Duncan and Heath secured a critical point for the Blue side.
Afternoon Matches
Rachel Kuehn of Team USA waits patiently and comfortably in the 12th fairway.
We are all believers in the comeback, but when a team posts three double bogies in the first five holes (and loses all three holes) there’s a limit to how much you can believe in comebacks. For whatever reason, the Hannah Darling-Louise Duncan partnership was over before it began. Entrusted with beginning the afternoon charge, the pair failed to win a hole of the 15 that were played. The USA side of Latanna Stone and Jensen Castle was fresh after sitting out the morning matches. They simply bided their time, made one birdie, avoided big numbers, and won by 5 and 3.
Latanna Stone of Team USA pitches to the 10th green.
The second match was defined by the notion of take and give. The GBI pair of Caley McGinty and Emily Price won three holes against the six captured by their USA counterparts, Amari Avery and Rachel Kuehn. The Take and Give comes into play when you examine what GBI did on each subsequent hole to their wins. After winning the seventh, they made bogey at eight to halve. Par would have won. Subsequent to capturing the 11th with birdie, they shortsided their approach into the 12th greenside bunker and lost the hole to a par. Finally, a par for a win at the 14th was followed by a bogey for a loss at the 15th. That final dagger ended the match, at 3 and 2 for the host duo. This is the highest level of competitive amateur golf, and mistakes made are always paid.
Caley McGinty recovers from the left greenside bunker at 12.
The odds were long for Team GBI in match number three, as Stanford University teammates Rachel Heck and Rose Zhang paired up against Charlotte Heath and Amelia Williamson. Of course did Heath and Williamson jump out to a two-up lead after three holes. That’s how logic works. After the round, Rose Zhang revealed that she and Heck sang Let’s Get Down To Business from Mulan in the 16th fairway, but they might as well have been humming it from the fifth tee to the 10th green. The pair won four of those five holes and halved the other. In so doing, they turned a two-hole deficit into an equal advantage. The match ended at the sixteenth green, where the Red, White, and Blue won its seventh hole of the match, to close out the visitors by 4 and 2.
Rachel Heck of Team USA wonders at her tee ball on the tricky 11th.
GolfWRX is on site this week at the Memorial Tournament, with both Alistair Cameron and Tour Photographer Greg Moore on the ground in Dublin, Ohio, where a strong field is assembled to pay homage to the Golden Bear.
In addition to WITB galleries, we’ve already been treated to an in-hand look at Tommy Fleetwood’s new TaylorMade Spider putters.
Check out links to all our photos below.
General Albums
WITB Albums
- Jason Day – WITB – 2026 The Memorial
- Chris Gotterup – WITB – 2026 The Memorial
- SungJae Im – WITB – 2026 The Memorial
Pullout Albums
- Jason Day’s 1off Payntr golf shoes – 2026 The Memorial
- JT Poston’s TaylorMade Spider – 2026 The Memorial
- Cameron putter – 2026 The Memorial
- Tommy Fleetwood’s TM Spider putters – 2026 The Memorial
- New Mitsubishi Chemical 1K Pro Orange shaft – 2026 The Memorial
Around the world, the golf wheel spun this final week in May of 2026. From New Jersey to Austria, with stops in Korea, Texas, and North Carolina (don’t let me route your next trip) the world’s finest put their golf games on display. There were three playoffs, some known commodities and some new talent. It was the sort of week that we hope to have at this point in the seasons. June and July afford double-digit major events, and perhaps, one of this week’s champions will use this success as a springboard to new heights. Time to run it all down, tech style, in this week’s Tour Tech Rundown.
Thanks to WITBHub, Today’s Golfer, GolfWRX, and Inside Tour Golf for initial research into equipment.
PGA Tour @ Charles Schwab Challenge: Heroic Henley denies Cole
Eric Cole did nearly everything that a fellow can do, to secure a first PGA Tour title. He stayed one shot clear of Ryder Cup player Ben Griffin. He kept US Open champion Gary Woodland and wunderkind Michael Brennan two shots distant. He posted 70 on day four to reach twelve under par. And then, Russell Henley revealed his Dr. Strange cloak. Henley made 47 feet of birdie putts on holes 16, 17, and 18, to jump from minus-nine to twelve-deep, and secured a spot in a playoff with Cole. The duo returned to the final tee, and put on a stripe show.
Both golfers found the fairway off the tee, and Henley improved on his regulation play with an approach to four feet. Cole did himself proud, tucking an iron to a dozen feet, but he was unable to convert the putt for three. Henley is one of the best putters on tour, and he proved it once more by draining a putt for a fourth consecutive birdie, and a sixth PGA Tour title. For Eric Cole, that first victory should come, and soon. He has done everything necessary to earn the chalice lift.
Henley’s Suitcase
- Driver: Titleist TSi3 at 10 degrees. Shaft: Project X HZRDUS Smoke Black 70g 6.5 TX
- Metal: Titleist TS3 at 16.5 degrees. Shaft: Project X HZRDUS Smoke Black 80 TX
- Hybrid: Titleist TSi2 at 21 degrees. Shaft: Mitsubishi MMT hybrid 100 TX
- Iron: Titleist T250 4-iron. Shaft: True Temper Dynamic Golf AMT Tour White X100
- Irons: Titleist T100 5-6 irons. Shaft: True Temper Dynamic Golf AMT Tour White X100
- Irons: Titleist T100 7-9 irons. Shaft: True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue X100
- Wedges: Titleist Vokey Design SM11 at 48 and 50 degrees. Shaft: True Temper Dynamic Golf Tour Issue X100
- Wedges: Titleist Vokey Design SM11 at 54 and 60 degrees. Shaft: rue Temper Dynamic Golf Tour Issue S400
- Putter: Titleist Scotty Cameron T5 Tour Prototype
LPGA @ Shoprite LPGA: Welcome back, Celine!
Soo Bin Joo had her eyes on a maiden LPGA title. She held the lead after two rounds, then hit a red light at the intersection of can-I and how-To. Joo posted plus-two on day three in New Jersey, and dropped to a T4 finish, which was still a career-best for the young Korean golfer. Instead of a new face, a familiar face returned to the top of the podium.
Celine Boutier was the It Girl in 2023. She collected four victories, including a major title at Evian. Boutier reached world number one status, then simply faded into the background. No wins came her way over the next 30 months. On Sunday, she collected LPGA victory number seven, at the same trace as LPGA victory number two.
Day three saw Boutier manage the windswept Seaview Bay course with six birdies and a bogey. She was challenged in the end by Thailand’s Arpichaya Yubol, who signed for a 66 of her own. Yubol came up one shot shy of the top ladder rung. Finishing in third place at -7, two back of the winner, was Ireland’s Lauren Walsh.
Celine’s Suitcase
- Driver: PXG 0311 Black Ops Tour-1 at 9 degrees. Shaft: Graphite Design AD IZ-5
- Hybrid: PXG 0311 Black Ops at 19 and 22 degrees. Shaft: KBS Hybrid Prototype
- Hybrid: PXG 0311 Gen5.
- Iron: PXG 0311 P Gen 4 5-9 irons
- Wedge: PXG 0311 T Gen 4 PW
- Wedges: PXG 0311 Sugar Daddy II at 50, 54, 58 degrees
- Putter: Bettinardi Studio Stock 3 DASS
DP World Tour @ Austrian Alpine: KK? KK!
Kota Kaneko has a rhythmic name. It has strong vowels and a run of voiceless stops in its crunchy K sounds. On Sunday in Austria, Kaneko put a stop to a challenge from Portugal’s Ricardo Gouveia and everyone else, and claimed a first-ever title on the DP World Tour. Gouveia did well to reach 16-under par over four days, but Kaneko held firm, two shots in the clear.
Davis Bryant of the USA also forged a strong challenge for the win. He ended in a tie with Gouveia for second place. Kaneko began and finished his final round in a bit of a malaise, but he caught fire midway through. Birdies at 10, 12, and 13 provided the necessary cushion to cruise to the finish line without breaking a serious sweat.
Kaneko’s Suitcase
- Driver: Ping Max G440
- Metals: TaylorMade Qi4D at 15, 16.5, 21, and 24 degrees
- Irons: TaylorMade P760 5 and 6 irons
- Irons: TaylorMade P7TW 7-9 irons
- Wedges: Titleist Vokey Design at 46, 52, 56, and 60 degrees
- Putter: Odyssey Ai-One Cruiser Arm Lock #7
Korn Ferry Tour @ UNC Health Championship: Improbably Alvaro
Alvaro Ortiz may have had a bit of scare on the outward nine on Sunday, but he came through in clutch fashion in the end. Ortiz began the day bogey-double, and added another double bogey at the 11th hole. He was mired in a downward trend, spiraling away from the top of the leader’s board. Ortiz found hope at the 14th, where his first birdie of the day tumbled home. Inspired, he closed with birdies and 17 and 18 to catch Ross Steelman at 10-under par, and the duo returned to the 18th deck for overtime.
The extra session concluded in brief time. Ortiz, buoyed by his newly-retrieved confidence, hit the fairway with driver, then approached to six feet and drained the putt. Gobsmacked, Steelman could do little more than smile and applaud, as his run at the top came to a close. The victory was the first for Ortiz on the KFT, and will implant him squarely in the chase for a PGA Tour promotion.
Alvaro’s Suitcase
- Driver: Ping G430 MAX driver at 9 degrees loft
- Metal: Ping G430 MAX 3W
- Iron: Ping iDi Driving Iron
- Irons: Ping Blueprint S irons
- Wedges
- Putter: Scottsdale TR Piper C
A party on the green!
Alvaro’s time comes in Raleigh with his first win @UNCHealthChamp ? pic.twitter.com/2dmtZdbSzk
— Korn Ferry Tour (@KornFerryTour) May 31, 2026
LIV @ Korea: Me llamo Joaquin
Chile’s Joaquin Niemann had been away from the LIV winner’s circle throughout all of 2026. This week in Korea, he reminded us that he is still a force to consider. Niemann chased down Taylor Gooch over the closing holes at Asiad Country Club, then claimed victory with a hole-one birdie in extra time. Bryson DeChambeau claimed solo third, one shot in arrears at minus-eleven. Dustin Johnson finished on fourth, one putt farther back.
Niemann’s Suitcase
- Driver: Ping 440 LST
- Metal: Ping G440 Max at 15 degrees
- Metal: Ping G425 Max at 21 degrees
- Hybrid: Ping G430 at 25 degrees
- Irons: Ping Blueprint S 5 through PW
- Wedges: Ping S159 at 52, 56, and 60 degrees
- Putter: Ping PLD Anser
Driver: Titleist TSi3 (10 degrees)
Shaft: Project X HZRDUS Smoke Black 70 6.5 TX
3-wood: Titleist TS3 (16.5 degrees)
Shaft: Project X HZRDUS Smoke Black 80 TX
7-wood: Titleist GTS3 (21 degrees)
Shaft: Project X Denali Black 80 TX
Irons: Titleist T250 (4), Titleist T100 (5-9)
Shafts: True Temper Dynamic Gold AMT (4-6), True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue S400 (7-9)
Wedges: Titleist Vokey Design SM11 (48-10F @47, 50-08F @51, 54-10S @55, 60-04T)
Shafts: True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue X100 (48), S400 (47)
Putter: Scotty Cameron Phantom X5 Tour Prototype
Grips: Golf Pride Tour Velvet
Ball: Titleist Pro V1x
Aaron Rai’s winning WITB: 2026 PGA Championship
Russell Henley’s winning WITB: 2026 Charles Schwab Challenge
Photos from the 2026 CJ Cup Byron Nelson
CJ Cup Byron Nelson Tour Report: Koepka and Kim’s newest putters finally get hot
Charles Schwab Challenge Tour Report: MacIntyre, Åberg and Spaun all switch putters, TaylorMade launches new Spider
Details on J.J. Spaun’s surprise putter switch
GolfWRX Launch Report: 2026 Titleist GTS drivers
Photos from the 2026 Charles Schwab Challenge
PGA Championship Tour Report: Fitzpatrick, Koepka among big-name putter switches for Aronimink
Photos from the ShopRite LPGA
Maria Torres WITB 2026 (June)
Driver: Ping G440 LST (9 degrees) Shaft: Accra TourZ Green 5-M4 3-wood: Ping G440 Max (15 degrees) Shaft: Accra TourZ Green 6-M4 5-wood: Ping G440...
Eric Cole WITB 2026 (June)
Driver: PXG Lightning Tour Max (9 degrees) Shaft: Project X Titan Yellow 70 TX 3-wood: TaylorMade Qi4D (15 degrees) Shaft:...
Si Woo Kim WITB 2026 (May)
Driver: Callaway Quantum Triple Diamond (8.5 degrees) Shaft: Fujikura Ventus Black 6 X Mini driver: Callaway Paradym Ai Smoke Mini...
Wyndham Clark’s winning WITB: 2026 CJ Cup Byron Nelson
Driver: TaylorMade Qi4D (10.5 degrees) Shaft: Project X Titan Yellow 60 TX 3-wood: TaylorMade Qi4D Tour (15 degrees) Shaft: Project...
Sam Boulden
Jun 11, 2022 at 10:46 pm
If you’re going to employ writers this incompetent, you need to invest in editors. This was so poorly written.