Alison Nicholas teamed with Jenny Lidback to win both her matches on Saturday, earning four of the World's nine points.

St. Augustine, FL, December 5, 2009 – The U.S. team took an early lead in wet, chilly conditions for morning alternate shot team matches. Play was delayed for one hour and rain took out holes 16 and 17, limiting the matches to seven holes.

The U.S. team won four of the six morning matches, halving one and losing one on its way to a 9-3 lead. The World team rallied during the afternoon team best ball matches to close the gap to 15 - 9. Jan Stephenson and Alicia Dibos finished 2-up against Colleen Walker and Hall of Famer Pat Bradley after a hard fought morning match with Hall of Famers Joanne Carner and Amy Alcott that ended all square. Stephenson and Dibos combined for three points for the World Team.

Christa Johnson and Beth Daniel went undefeated in both the morning and afternoon, winning four points for the U.S. Team. Patty Sheehan and Rosie Jones teamed up to earn three points for the U.S. Team.

“The U.S. players seem to have their games in shape and took control of most matches all day,” noted Lori West, Assistant Captain of Team U.S.A. “The World came up with a couple of surprises, but the U.S. was the stronger team of the day in the very, very tough conditions. The pairings for tomorrow look evenly matched in almost every aspect. We’ll have to see how the day plays out – it could go either way. One-on-one, the players seem to raise their level of play. We’ll see how it plays out, the weather should give us a little sunshine; it’s sure to be a great day of competition,” added West.

World Team Captain Catherine Panton-Lewis said, “We got off to a slow start, but we really gained momentum in the afternoon and we are going to carry it forward to the singles matches. All the World Team players are looking forward to their matches tomorrow and we all feel that it’s time that the World Team is the Handa Cup champion. I have so many good players; it was difficult for me to put them into order.”

Canadian Nancy Harvey drew Hall of Famer JoAnne Carner for final round Sunday singles. “I have tremendous amount of respect for JoAnne Carner, she is one of the greatest Legends out here. I’m just going to do my best; hit it and find it, hit it and find it and then see what happens,” said Harvey. “I have many stories about JoAnne; I look forward to adding to them.” Harvey has competed in three Handa Cups and earned a point for the World Team today.

A complete list of the First Round results can be found here.