ST. ANDREWS, Scotland -- Amanda Blumenherst and Stacy Lewis each won two matches Friday to help the Americans take a 4-2 lead against Great Britain & Ireland at the Curtis Cup.

The United States has not lost these amateur matches since 1996, and they got off to a good start in miserable weather on the Old Course at St. Andrews, needing a few putts to go their way at the end.

Blumenherst and Tiffany Joh looked to be coasting in the morning foursome match by taking a 5-up lead through 12 holes until Breanne Loucks and Florentyna Parker won four of the next five. But on the 18th hole, Parker's 6-foot birdie putt to halve the match just missed, giving the Americans a 2-1 lead after the morning session.

"I couldn't believe some of the putts they made coming down the stretch," Joh said. "I totally thought they were going to make the last one because they had one-putted the last six or seven holes."

Sally Watson won both her matches for GB&I, including a foursomes victory with Michele Thomson over Mina Harigae and Jennie Lee.

Lewis, the 2007 NCAA champion from Arkansas, teamed with Alison Walshe in the morning for a 3 & 1 victory. Then, Lewis teamed with Blumenherst in a fourball match that ultimately gave the Americans early control of the cup.

This time, Blumenherst found her side well behind as Parker and Elizabeth Bennett quickly gave GB&I a 3-up lead through five holes, with Bennett holing an eagle putt on the par-5 fifth.

The Americans rallied and finished the job. Lewis and Blumenherst won the next two holes, opened the back nine by winning two straight holes to take the lead, then closed out a 3 & 1 victory by winning the 16th and 17th.

Harigae and Kimberly Kim won their four-ball match against Thomson and 15-year-old Carly Booth of Scotland, the youngest player for GB&I in Curtis Cup history.

Six more team matches were scheduled for Saturday, with eight singles matches on Sunday.

With a little bit of luck, GBI skipper Mary McKenna's team would have shared the post-lunch honors and GBI led in two ties at one stage of the afternoon play, but it was not to be.

Prince Andrew was among the crowd of 3,000, reduced no doubt by the miserable weather in the morning.

Watson, 16, from Edinburgh, Scotland, was the day one heroine for the hosts, playing and winning twice. Only two other players on either side could match that, and they were the top two players from the U.S. college golf circuit: Blumenherst and Lewis.

Watson teamed up with new Scottish champion Michele Thomson to win by one hole over Mina Harigae and Jennie Lee.

Then in the afternoon four-ball format, Watson and U.S. college student Krystle Caithness, brought in to make her Curtis Cup debut, teamed up well to beat Tiffany Joh and Meghan Bolger, 3 & 2.

Bennett gained the day's only eagle 3 at the 514-yard fifth where she got home in two and holed the putt.

Blumenherst and Joh showed their class with the best scoring of the morning -- a three-under-par 33 for the outward half that put them 4-up and in the driving seat against Loucks and Parker.

That lead was stretched to five holes but that was as good as it got for the Americans and amazingly, the European duo were only one down with one to play when they won the Road Hole 17th with a creditable par 4.

Having climbed back so far, it was unfortunate Loucks and Parker were not quite able to finish off the job against their talented opponents as the latter missed a three-footer which would have salvaged a half.

Friday Results:
Foursomes: United States 2, Great Britain & Ireland 1
Stacy Lewis / Alison Walshe, USA, def. Liz Bennett / Jodi Ewart, GBI, 3&1
Sally Watson / Michele Thomson, GBI, def. Mina Harigae and Jennie Lee, USA, 1-up
Amanda Blumenherst / Tiffany Joh, USA, def. Breanne Loucks / Florenetyna Parker, GBI, 1-up.

Four-balls: United States 2, Great Britain & Ireland 1
Kimberly Kim / Mina Harigae, USA, def. Carly Booth / Michele Thomson, GBI, 3&2
Sally Watson / Krystle Caithness, GBI, def. Tiffany Joh / Meghan Bolger, USA, 3&2
Amanda Blumenherst / Stacy Lewis, USA, def. Florentyna Parker / Elizabeth Bennett, GBI, 3&1

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