U.S. wins Junior Ryder Cup title

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OLYMPIA FIELDS, Ill. -- Casie Cathrea, Karen Chung and Esther Lee led the United States to its third straight Junior Ryder Cup victory, winning singles matches Tuesday to finish undefeated in the 14½-9½ win over Europe.

The 16-year-old Cathrea, from Livermore, Calif., beat Denmark's Emily Pedersen 2 up at Olympia Fields. The 17-year-old Chung, from Livingston, N.J., topped Germany's Quirine Eijkenboom 4 and 2, and the 17-year-old Lee, from Los Alamitos, Calif., edged England's Bronte Law 1 up.

The three Americans were each 2-0 on Monday in foursomes and mixed fourballs.

"It's exciting to know that I was able to close out my first Junior Ryder Cup with three points and winning all three matches," Cathrea said. "This whole experience has been incredible and it's not over yet. We still get to play Medinah tomorrow and that should be great, too."

The teams will play a "Friendship Match" on Wednesday at Medinah, the site of the Ryder Cup matches Friday-Sunday.

Casey Danielson of Osceola, Wis., and Alison Lee of Valencia, Calif., also won in singles, with Lee securing the deciding point with a 6-and-5 victory over Sweden's Linnea Strom.

"I had to come out this morning and finish my four-ball match, so that helped me warm up a bit," Alison Lee said. "I felt really comfortable all day and to make that clinching point was so awesome. It feels great to know that I helped the team."

Robby Shelton of Wilmer, Ala., and Gavin Hall of Pittsford, N.Y., scored full points in singles for the U.S. boys, and Cameron Champ of Sacramento, Calif., earned a half point.

Overall, the six U.S. girls were 5-1 in singles and 3-0 in foursomes, while the U.S. boys earned 2½ points in six singles matches after scoring only a half-point in three foursomes. In the mixed fourballs, the Americans were 3-2.

The United States leads the series 4-3-1.

"We are really fortunate to have won, because these teams are so evenly matched and each have such a wealth of talent," U.S. captain Roger Warren said. "We came because we wanted to compete and win. But in the end, it was all about friendships and goodwill between the teams that made this a truly special experience."

Spain's Covadonga Sanjuan had the lone singles win for the European girls, beating Samantha Wagner of Windermere, Fla., 1 up. Germany's Dominic Foos, Austria's Matthias Schwab and Ireland's Gavin Moynihan also won singles matches.

"The players really enjoyed themselves this week and we battled all the way down to the final match," European captain Stuart Wilson said. "It will be an honor to captain the team again in 2014 when we go to Scotland."

Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press

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