Curtis Cup Match 1 Curtis Cup Match 41st Record Book 2021 2 Curtis Cup Match United States of America Wins the 2018 Match The Curtis Cup is staying on the American soil in which it was ended the match. played for this week at Quaker Ridge Golf Club. GB&I had one last chance to earn a half-point in the final A pair of U.S. Women’s Amateur champions – Sophia Schubert match, but Paula Grant, 24, of Northern Ireland, failed to (2017) and Kristen Gillman (2014) – delivered the decisive convert a 12-foot par putt on the 18th hole, enabling Mariel points in Sunday’s singles matches as the USA rolled to a 17-3 Galdiano, one of the USA’s two returning players from 2016 victory over Great Britain and Ireland. It was the largest mar- (Andrea Lee), to earn a 1-up victory. gin of victory in the history of the biennial competition, which began in 1932. “We’re obviously very disappointed with the score line and all you can do is congratulate the United States on its win and the The Americans entered the final session with a comfortable very high standard of golf they have played this week,” said 9-3 margin and needing only 1½ points to reclaim the Cup it GB&I captain Elaine Farquharson-Black. “We have played good lost in the Republic of Ireland in 2016. golf in spells, particularly on the first day, but at this level, you have to have more consistency and at times we’ve just not per- A determined USA Team, which featured six of the top 10 play- formed as well as we would have liked.” ers in the World Amateur Golf Ranking™, punctuated its domi- nating effort by claiming all eight of Sunday’s singles matches. NOTABLE “I’m very proud of my players,” said USA captain Virginia Derby The previous largest margin of victory was 11 points in 1982 Grimes, who went 3-0 as a player in the Match and now is 1-0 at Denver (Colo.) Country Club. Fox Sports golf analyst Juli as a captain. “They are a phenomenal group of girls. They’ve Inkster, a five-time USGA champion, was a member of that been so much fun to be around, and they just gelled and USA Team. bonded.” The USA swept a singles session for the first time since 1990 Gillman, whose 5-and-4 victory over 16-year-old Englishwoman when it went 6-0 at Somerset Hills Golf Club in Bernardsville, Annabell Fuller provided the clinching point, became just the N.J. That was also the last time the USA won all four sessions third player to go 5-0-0 since the Match switched from two to of the competition. The USA claimed all five sessions of this three days in 2008. year’s competition, a first since the format switch in 2008. A few minutes earlier, Schubert, playing in the first match, For the first time in the history of the competition, every USA defeated arguably GB&I’s top player, Olivia Mehaffey, 2 and 1. player claimed at least two points. Mehaffey came into Sunday’s session with a 2-1-1 mark, but got down early against the recent University of Texas graduate For seven of the eight USA players, team competition is not and never recovered. Schubert, of Oak Ridge, Tenn., delivered over for the summer. The seven college players – Lucy Li is a clutch approach shot on the par-4 16th hole and won with a still in high school – will be competing in the Palmer Cup next par, and then closed out the match with an up-and-down par month in Evian, France. The Palmer Cup features 24 American from a greenside bunker to halve No. 17. collegians – 12 men and 12 women – playing against a side of international collegians. It is the first time in the competi- “I was so excited to get out here today,” said the 22-year-old tion’s history that women will participate. Schubert, the USA’s oldest player. “I played OK yesterday and the day before, but I was just ready to come out here and play The USA now leads the series 29-8-3. their best player and just show them what I can do. QUOTABLE “[The week has] just been unreal. This has been a dream of Lilia Vu, No. 1 in the WAGR, on why the USA Team was so suc- mine for a really long time, just to make the Curtis Cup Team cessful this week: “We believe in each other so much. When and to win a major championship, the U.S. [Women’s] Am. So we’re on the course together, when it’s like foursomes or it’s been incredible. It’s definitely been like a whirlwind, and four-balls, we just read each other’s putts. We know it with I’ve just loved every minute of it.” confidence and just do it.” Gillman, 20, of Austin, Texas, a first-team All-American this USA captain Virginia Derby Grimes on Kristen Gillman going past season at the University of Alabama, played the equiva- 5-0-0 in the Match: “It’s really rare and she played excep- lent of 2-under-par golf – with match-play concessions – in her tionally well. She had it going. I definitely wanted to keep victory. After halving the first three holes, she won three of the putting her out there, but she was playing well and making next four to take a 3-up lead at the turn. Even though Fuller, putts.” the youngest member of the GB&I Team, won the 11th hole with a par, she lost Nos. 10, 12 and 13 and a par on the par-5 14th Curtis Cup Match 3 40th Curtis Cup Match Results June 8-10, 2018 Quaker Ridge Golf Club, Scarsdale, N.Y. Par: 35-35—70, Yardage: 6,235 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND USA GB&I FOUR-BALLS Jennifer Kupcho/Lucy Li (halved) Olivia Mehaffey/Sophie Lamb (halved) ½ ½ Lilia Vu/Kristen Gillman (4 and 3) Alice Hewson/Lily May Humphreys 1 0 Lauren Stephenson/Sophia Schubert (halved) Paula Grant/Shannon McWIlliam (halved) ½ ½ Day 1 Four-Balls 2 1 FOURSOMES Mariel Galdiano/Andrea Lee Olivia Mehaffey/Sophie Lamb (3 and 2) 0 1 Jennifer Kupcho/Lilia Vu (2 up) Alice Hewson/India Clyburn 1 0 Lauren Stephenson/Kristen Gillman (4 and 2) Paula Grant/Lily May Humphreys 1 0 Day 1 Foursomes 2 1 Day 1 Total 4 2 FOUR-BALLS Jennifer Kupcho/Kristen Gillman (3 and 2) Olivia Mehaffey/Sophie Lamb 1 0 Mariel Galdiano/Lilia Vu (2 and 1) Alice Hewson/Annabell Fuller 1 0 Lucy Li/Andrea Lee (3 and 2) Lily May Humphreys/Shannon McWilliam 1 0 Day 2 Four-Balls 3 0 FOURSOMES Jennifer Kupcho/Lilia Vu Olivia Mehaffey/Sophie Lamb (2 and 1) 0 1 Kristen Gillman/Lauren Stephenson (6 and 5) Annabell Fuller/India Clyburn 1 0 Lucy Li/Sophia Schubert (7 and 5) Paula Grant/Shannon McWilliam 1 0 Day 2 Foursomes 2 1 Day 2 Total 9 3 SINGLES Sophia Schubert (2 and 1) Olivia Mehaffey 1 0 Lilia Vu (2 up) Sophie Lamb 1 0 Jennifer Kupcho (2 and 1) Lily May Humphreys 1 0 Andrea Lee (2 and 1) Alice Hewson 1 0 Lauren Stephenson (2 and 1) Shannon McWilliam 1 0 Kristen Gillman (5 and 4) Annabell Fuller 1 0 Lucy Li (5 and 4) India Clyburn 1 0 Mariel Galdiano (1 up) Paula Grant 1 0 Day 3 Singles 8 0 Match Totals 17 3 Captain: Virginia Derby Grimes Captain: Elaine Farquharson-Black 4 Curtis Cup Match Match History Officially named “The Women’s International Cup,” the cup In 1931, the LGU agreed to regular matches with the United for the Curtis Cup Match was officially presented in 1932 States. The USGA then decided to finance the American Team by Harriot and Margaret Curtis, sisters who won the U.S. and administer the competition. The Curtis Cup was accept- Women’s Amateur four times between them. The cup, a sil- ed that same year as the official trophy. ver bowl of Paul Revere design, is inscribed, “To stimulate friendly rivalry among the women golfers of many lands.” The series began the following year with the United States The cup was first presented in 1927 to give momentum to opposing Great Britain, with a proviso that France might join the proposed competition, but play didn’t begin until 1932, in whenever it was able to do so. While it was hoped that largely due to financial reasons. many nations would eventually join in the Match, the Curtis Cup has remained a two-sided competition. As beloved as the Curtis Cup Match is among those who have battled for it, no other USGA competition has had such prob- The first Curtis Cup Match was played in 1932 at Wentworth lems getting off the ground. Golf Club in England. Marion Hollins captained the American Team, which consisted of Vare, Maureen Orcutt, Virginia The Match has its origins in an informal match played in 1905. Van Wie, Opal Hill, Helen Hicks, Leona Pressler Cheney and Frances Griscom of Philadelphia, the 1900 U.S. Women’s Dorothy Higbie. The team representing Great Britain and Amateur champion, suggested that it would be fun for a Ireland was made up of Joyce Wethered, the famous English group to play in the British Ladies Open Amateur, at Cromer, champion who also served as captain, Wanda Morgan, Enid England.