US AND WORLD LEGENDS TIED AT 12-12 IN HANDA CUP

NEWS RELEASE FROM LEGENDS TOUR

REUNION, Florida– The United States and World teams finished the opening day of the 2012 ISPS Handa Cup competition tied at 12 points each.

Staged on the Palmer Course at Reunion Resort and Golf Club, the two sides, made up of senior lady pros, head into Sunday’s final day of individual matches hoping to secure the win. Players in the event are all members of the Legends Tour, the tour for LPGA Tour members age 45 and over.

The Americans took a two-point lead in the four-ball  morning matches, but the World Team stormed back in the afternoon modified alternate-shot foursomes format to square up the competition. 

The U.S. won three matches outright on Saturday morning, but the World side answered with two wins and one halved match, resulting in a 7-5 lead for the Americans. 

The teams swapped scores in the afternoon, this time with the World besting the Americans 7-5.

Peruvian Jenny Lidback and Canadian Gail Graham led the way in the afternoon matches, taking the first match from Americans Christa Johnson and Beth Daniel by one shot. Cindy-Figg Currier and Sherri Turner could not muster the same magic from their morning-match win and fell to the World Team’s Alicia Dibos of Peru and Catrin Nilsmark of Sweden, who won by two strokes.

Hall of Famers Betsy King and Pat Bradley proved unstoppable as the Americans toppled Helen Alfredsson of Sweden and Great Britain’s Alison Nicholas of the World team, earning another 2 points for the U.S. side.

Despite a relatively even match through the first eight holes, Americans Nancy Lopez and Nancy Scranton

could not hold off the Canadian twosome of Lorie Kane and Dawn Coe-Jones, who birdied 18 to win their match.

Sherri Steinhauer and Cindy Rarick earned another point for the Americans with a halve against Australia’s Jan Stephenson and Anne Marie Palli of France.

Americans Rosie Jones and Patty Sheehan successfully anchored the final match with a one-shot victory over the World Team’s Jane Crafter of Australia and South Africa’s Sally Little.

Scoring in this year’s event awards two points for a win and one point for a halved match.

The 12-12 deadlock after the first day of competition marks the closest the two teams have been overnight since 2007, when the World Team led 14-10 going into Sunday's matches. The World Team has never defeated the U.S. squad

Tee times for Sunday’s individual matches start at 9 a.m. (local time) and are as follows:

US names first

9 a.m. 
Patty Sheehan v.Alison Nicholas

9:10 Cindy Rarick v Jane Crafter

9:20 Pat Bradley v Helen Alfredsson.

9:30 Christa Johnson v Jenny Lidback

9:40 Betsy King v Dawn Coe-Jones

9:50 Beth Daniel v Catrin Nilsmark

10.00 Rosie Jones v Sally Little

10:10 Sherri Steinhauer v Jan Stephenson

10:20 Cindy Figg-Currier v Anne Marie Palli

10:30 Nancy Lopez v Gail Graham

10:40 Nancy Scranton v Alicia Dibos

10:50 Sherri Turner v Lorie Kane

Collated results can be viewed at www.thelegendstour.com.