CURTIS CUP:WHAT'S THE bigger burden? Is it attempting to extend a winning streak to seven, or is it seeking to ensure a losing one doesn't go beyond six?

Danielle McVeigh, who has assumed the unofficial mantle of leader in the Britain and Ireland locker-room, yesterday espoused the glass-half-full philosophy when rejecting any suggestion the visitors faced the greater pressure in this 36th edition of the Curtis Cup which gets under way today at Essex County Club in Manchester-by-the-Sea, north of Boston.

At 22 years of age, Royal County Down’s McVeigh – the British strokeplay champion – is the oldest member of a Britain and Ireland team seeking to end a drought which extends all the way back to 1996, the second longest losing streak in the event’s history.

But, when it was put to her that all the pressure on was on them, McVeigh’s competitive nature came to the surface.

“I’ve 100 per cent belief in our team. We’ve nothing to lose, they (the USA) have to make it seven in a row.”

Of course, the odds are with the Americans. After all, the team features Jennifer Song, a player who made history last year when claiming both the US Women’s Amateur and the US Public Links Championship, and the phenomenal Alexis Thompson who, at just 15, is set to turn professional as soon as this match concludes.

It’s all an indication of how much the game has changed, with an increasing emphasis on youth, with the age range on both teams running from 15 up to 22.

And, yet, while the Americans – whose captain Noreen Mohler received advice from a former US Solheim Cup captain along the lines of “be prepared, plan ahead . . . . and go with the flow” – will be a tough ask to beat, Britain and Ireland captain Mary McKenna, like McVeigh, is convinced she has the right mix to upset the odds.

“My biggest problem is not who I’m going to play, it’s who I can’t play,” she observed.

For the opening session of foursomes, McKenna has made a bold statement: she has decided against pairing the Maguire twins, Leona and Lisa, together.

Instead, Leona will partner her Ireland international team-mate McVeigh in the bottom foursomes match against Cydney Clanton and Stephanie Kono, while the other foursomes will see Sally Watson and Rachel Jennings face Song and Jennifer Johnson, with Hannah Barwood and Holly Clyburn facing Thompson and Jessica Korda in the middle match.

While Lisa Maguire – and Scotland’s Pamela Pretswell – have been omitted from the opening foursomes, it is McKenna’s intention that all eight of her players will have played after the afternoon’s fourballs.

“Everybody will play the first day,” said McKenna, who clearly doesn’t come from the same school of thinking as former Ryder Cup captain Mark James, who left so many players idle until the singles when that match was held in nearby Brookline in 1999.

On her decision to break up the Maguire twins and to play McVeigh, her stated leader in the bottom foursomes, McKenna observed: “Leona and Lisa have got here as individuals and I can’t say if they are going to play together over the next two days.

“Danielle is the leader in the team, she’s been super with the other girls in her own quiet way and I’ve explained my thinking in having her play in the third foursomes. She’s happy with that.”

The important thing, from a Britain and Ireland perspective, is that they get off to a good start in the first session of foursomes, the alternate shot game that is alien to the Americans.

Still, two years ago at St Andrews, it was the United States who jumped out of the traps the quicker in foursomes and established a lead that was maintained to the end.

There’s no doubt the Americans enter the match as favourites.

As Mohler put it, she has “a strong, deep team” with the remarkable Thompson – who first qualified to play in the US Women’s Open as a 12-year-old in 2007 and who has also played in it each of the past two years – seen as the poster girl of a team bristling with young talent.

“I don’t think age matters. We’re all great players, that’s what matters,” said Thompson.

Yet, as a soft rain leaked from grey skies for much of yesterday, it seemed as if the course could just as easily have found a home in Ireland or England or Scotland. It is not one which will invoke fear in any of the visiting team.

“Yes, it’s similar to back home. It requires a lot of creativity,” said McVeigh, who didn’t expect any of the visiting team to be overwhelmed by the American reputations. “You play your own golf ball, they can’t interfere with our ball.”

The message, so, is clear: it’s time to go out and play. McKenna, a veteran of nine Curtis Cup teams in her own playing days, including being part of the breakthrough winning side at Prairie Dunes in 1986, has instilled a belief that victory is theirs if they can take it.

“And they don’t have to play like God to achieve it,” she said. The next three days will tell a tale.

(All times Irish, Britain and Ireland names first)

2.0 – Sally Watson/Rachel Jennings v Jennifer Song/Jennifer Johnson

2.10 – Hannah Barwood/Holly Clyburn v Alexis Thompson/Jessica Korda

2.20 – Danielle McVeigh/Leona Maguire v Cydney Clanton/Stephanie Kono