The Curtis Cup Match is contested by female amateur golfers, one team from the United States of America and one team composed of players from Great Britain & Ireland. The teams consist of eight players and a captain.
The Match is conducted every two years, alternately in the USA and in Great Britain or Ireland. This is the 41st Curtis Cup Match, which was postponed from 2020 due to the impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic.
TEAM SELECTION
The USA Team is selected by the United States Golf Association’s International Team Selection Committee. The R&A selects the team from Great Britain and Ireland.
2021 CURTIS CUP CAPTAINS
USA Team: Sarah Ingram
Sarah LeBrun Ingram is a three-time U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur champion who also has represented the USA in three Curtis Cup Matches. The Nashville, Tenn., resident won her first Women's Mid-Amateur title in 1991, defeating former USGA Executive Committee member Martha Lang, 6 and 5, at Desert Highlands Golf Club in Scottsdale, Ariz. She followed that up with titles in 1993 and 1994. Only Meghan Stasi and Ellen Port have won more Women's Mid-Amateur titles (four apiece).
Ingram also was the runner-up to Jill McGill in the 1993 U.S. Women's Amateur Championship at San Diego Country Club in Chula Vista, Calif. McGill won the 36-hole final, 1 up.
Those performances led to selections to the 1992, 1994 and 1996 Curtis Cup Teams. The USA went 0-2-1 in those competitions, losing 10-8 in 1992 at Royal Liverpool in Hoylake, England, and 11½-6½ in 1996 at Killarney Golf & Fishing Club in the Republic of Ireland. The team played to a 9-9 tie in 1994 at The Honors Course in Ooltewah, Tenn., with GB&I retaining the Cup. Ingram owns a 2-1 mark in singles with her lone defeat coming to current GB&I captain Elaine Ratcliffe in 1996, 3 and 1. She also beat Julie Hall that year, 4 and 2.
Ingram was a two-time All-American and four-year letter winner at Duke University from 1985-88 and is a member of the Duke University Sports Hall of Fame, Tennessee Sports Hall of Fame and Tennessee Golf Hall of Fame. She twice represented the USA in the Women’s World Amateur Team Championship, helping the side to victory in 1994 in France.
Outside of her Women’s Mid-Amateur victories, Ingram won the 1986 and 1987 Maryland State Women’s Amateurs, the 1990 Canadian Women’s Amateur, the 1991 Women’s Western Amateur and Tennessee State Amateur, the 1992 Broadmoor Women’s Invitational and 1993 Women’s Southern Amateur. She also was the low amateur in the 1995 U.S. Women’s Open at The Broadmoor.
In 2018, Ingram served as the general chair of the U.S. Women’s Amateur at The Golf Club of Tennessee, her home club. She also qualified for the 2019 U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur, advancing to the Round of 16, and competed in the 2021 U.S. Senior Women’s Open.
GREAT BRITAIN & IRELAND Team: Elaine Ratcliffe
Elaine Ratcliffe, of England, enjoyed a decorated amateur career that included victories in the 1997 Finish Women’s Amateur and 1998 English Women’s Amateur. Ratcliffe was a member of the victorious 1996 Great Britain and Ireland Curtis Cup Team that defeated the USA 11½-6½ at Killarney Golf & Fishing Club in the Republic of Ireland. Ratcliffe posted a 1-0-1 mark in singles (she did not play in either foursomes session), defeating 2020 USA Curtis Cup captain Sarah Ingram, 3 and 1, on Sunday. She tied her Saturday match with Marla Jemsek. Ratcliffe also played on the victorious 1997 Vagliano Trophy Team that defeated Continental Europe by one point at Royal Aberdeen in Scotland.
She also represented Great Britain and Ireland in the 1996 Women’s World Amateur Team Championship, where the side finished tied for fourth in the Philippines. She also represented England in the European Amateur Team Championships.
Ratcliffe turned professional and was named the Ladies European Tour’s Rookie of the Year in 1999, but regained her amateur status in 2008. She has since captained England in a number of international matches, including the Ladies Home Internationals and European Amateur Team Championships. She also has twice led a Europe team against Asia-Pacific in the Patsy Hankins Trophy.
SPECTATORS
Fans are welcome to attend the 41st Curtis Cup Match. Ticket information can be found at curtiscup.org. Juniors 18 and under are granted complimentary admission when accompanied by a ticketed adult.
SCHEDULE OF PLAY
On Thursday, Aug. 26, and Friday, Aug. 27, there will be three morning four-ball matches and three afternoon foursomes (alternate-shot) matches. On Saturday, Aug. 28, there will be eight singles matches. All matches will be 18 holes.
All Times Local (BST)
Wednesday, Aug. 25 (Note: All times are subject to change)
4:30 p.m. – Opening Ceremony
Thursday, Aug. 26
7:45 a.m. - 8:09 a.m. – Foursomes (three matches)
1 p.m. - 1:30 p.m. – Four-Ball (three matches)
Friday, Aug. 27
7:45 a.m. - 8:09 a.m. – Foursomes (three matches)
1 p.m. - 1:30 p.m. – Four-Ball (three matches)
Saturday, Aug. 28
10 a.m. - 11:10 a.m. – Singles (eight matches)
The Closing Ceremony will immediately follow play
FOURSOMES
Foursomes is a match in which two players compete against two other players in an alternate-shot format, with each side playing just one ball.
SCORING
A victory in each match scores one point. In the event a match goes 18 holes without a winner, a half-point is awarded to each team.
The team that scores the most points wins the Match. In the event of a tie, the team that won the previous competition retains the Curtis Cup.
BROADCAST SCHEDULE
The 2021 Curtis Cup Match will receive more than 25 hours of live network coverage:
Date Broadcast Hours (EDT) Network
Thursday, Aug. 26
2:30 a.m. - 11 a.m.
11 a.m. - 1 p.m.
Golf Channel
Peacock
Friday, Aug. 27 2:30 a.m. - 11 a.m.
11 a.m. - 1 p.m. Golf Channel
Peacock
Saturday, Aug. 28 4:45 a.m. - 10:30 a.m. Golf Channel
CURTIS CUP MATCH HISTORY
Officially named “The Women’s International Cup,” the cup for the Curtis Cup Match was officially presented in 1932 by Harriot and Margaret Curtis, sisters who won the U.S. Women’s Amateur four times between them. The cup, a silver bowl of Paul Revere design, is inscribed: “To stimulate friendly rivalry among the women golfers of many lands.” The cup was first presented in 1927 to give momentum to the competition, but play didn’t begin until 1932, largely because of financial reasons.
As beloved as the Curtis Cup Match is among those who have battled for it, no other USGA competition has had such problems getting off the ground.
The Match dates to an informal match played in 1905. Frances Griscom, of Philadelphia, the 1900 U.S. Women’s Amateur champion, suggested that it would be fun for a group to play in the British Ladies Open Amateur, at Cromer, England. Eight Americans made the trip to play, including Miss Griscom, Georgianna Bishop, the 1904 Women’s Amateur champion, and Harriot and Margaret Curtis.
An informal match developed between the Americans and a team from Britain. Although the USA was soundly beaten, the exhilaration and goodwill established by their visit always stayed with the competitors, particularly Margaret and Harriot Curtis.
Interest in an international match was revived at a 1924 meeting of the Women’s Eastern Golf Association and became a subject of discussion among the Association, the British Ladies’ Golf Union and the French Golf Union over the next five years. In 1927, the Curtis sisters gave the idea another push by donating a cup for an international match. Fanny Osgood, of Boston, was appointed to again take up the matter with the LGU. A match was tentatively planned for 1928, but financial obstacles made it impossible.
In 1928, the USGA Women’s Committee appointed a subcommittee to consider an international match, but the idea was stymied by the usual lack of money. In 1930, the great American amateur Glenna Collett took matters into her own hands and arranged for a group of her countrywomen to play in Great Britain.
In 1931, the LGU agreed to regular matches with the United States. The USGA then decided to finance the American team and administer the competition. The Curtis Cup was accepted that same year as the official trophy.
The series began the following year at Wentworth Golf Club in England with the USA opposing Great Britain, with a proviso that France might join in whenever it was able to do so. While it was hoped that many nations would eventually join in the Match, the Curtis Cup has remained a two-sided competition.
In 2018, University of Alabama All-American Kristen Gillman became just the third player in the competition's history to go 5-0-0 in leading the USA to a 17-3 victory at Quaker Ridge Golf Club in Scarsdale, N.Y. The USA swept all eight Sunday singles for the first time since the format was changed to a three-day competition in 2008.
Although the Americans own a 29-8-3 lead in the biennial competition, the true meaning of the Curtis Cup Match has never been overshadowed by the results and the Match has always been regarded as a vehicle of international friendship and understanding.
The Match also has proved to be launching ground for future professional stardom. Those competitors include U.S. Women’s Open champions JoAnne Gunderson Carner, Paula Creamer, Juli Inkster, Cristie Kerr, Hollis Stacy and Michelle Wie as well as LPGA Tour stars Beth Daniel, Jessica Korda, Stacy Lewis, Nancy Lopez and Lexi Thompson.
Top Great Britain and Ireland players include World Golf Hall of Fame inductee Laura Davies, Angela Bonallack, Mary McKenna, Catriona Matthew, Belle Robertson, Karen Stupples, Georgia Hall, Bronte Law, Charley Hull and three-time McCormack Medal winner Leona Maguire.
World Golf Hall of Famer Carol Semple Thompson competed in a record 12 Curtis Cup Matches, while seven-time USGA champion Anne Quast Sander was a member of eight USA teams. McKenna has represented GB&I a record nine times.
RECENT CURTIS CUP RESULTS
2000: USA 10, GB&I 8; Ganton Golf Club, North Yorkshire, England
2002: USA 11, GB&I 7; Fox Chapel Golf Club, Pittsburgh, Pa.
2004: USA 10, GB&I 8; Formby Golf Club, Merseyside, England
2006: USA 11½, GB&I 6½; Bandon Dunes Golf Resort (Pacific Dunes Course), Bandon, Ore.
2008: USA 13, GB&I 7; Old Course at St. Andrews, Scotland
2010: USA 12½, GB&I 7½; Essex County Club, Manchester-by-the-Sea, Mass.
2012: GB&I 10½, USA 9½; The Nairn Golf Club, Nairn, Scotland
2014: USA 13, GB&I 7; St. Louis Country Club, St. Louis, Mo.
2016: GB&I 11½, USA 8½; Dun Laoghaire Golf Club, Dublin, Ireland
2018: USA 17, GB&I 3; Quaker Ridge Golf Club, Scarsdale, N.Y.
FUTURE SITES
June 10-12, 2022: Merion Golf Club, Ardmore, Pa.
June 12-14, 2026: Bel-Air Country Club, Los Angeles, Calif.
2018 CURTIS CUP RECAP
University of Alabama All-American Kristen Gillman became just the third player in the competition’s history to go 5-0-0 in leading the USA to a 17-3 victory at Quaker Ridge Golf Club in Scarsdale, N.Y. The USA swept all eight Sunday singles for the first time since the format was changed to a three-day competition in 2008.
2021 GREAT BRITAIN & IRELAND TEAM
The GB&I Team has two players currently inside the WAGR top 25, Lauren Walsh (No. 21) and Hannah Darling (No. 25). Annabell Fuller is the lone player to have also competed in the 2018 Match at Quaker Ridge Golf Club.
Hannah Darling has enjoyed an exceptional summer of golf, including winning the R&A Girls’ Amateur Championship and the St. Rule Trophy, finishing runner-up at the Helen Holm Scottish Women’s Open Championship, and reaching the quarterfinals of The Women’s Amateur Championship and Scottish Women’s Amateur Championship. She will make her Curtis Cup debut this year but has previously represented GB&I in the Junior Vagliano Trophy and Europe in the Junior Solheim Cup. She will enroll this fall at the University of South Carolina.
Louise Duncan ended a 24-year drought for Scottish golf by winning this year’s Women’s Amateur Championship at Kilmarnock (Barassie) in her debut appearance. She became the first Scot to win since Alison Rose in 1997. She defeated Iceland’s Jóhanna Lea Lúðvíksdóttir by a record 9&8 margin in the 36-hole final. She has previously represented Scotland in the 2019 Home Internationals and the European Girls Championship. She is a Stirling University student majoring in sports studies and an R&A Foundation Scholar. Duncan recently earned a T10 finished at the 2021 AIG Women's Open, where she also claimed low amateur honors.
Annabell Fuller makes her second Curtis Cup appearance after representing GB&I in 2018. Since then, she has won the 2020 English Women’s Open Amateur Stroke Play Championship and in the same year finished runner-up at The Women’s Amateur Championship. She reached the quarterfinals this year. Playing for the University of Florida, she won the 2021 Florida Gators Invitational and recorded a further four top-10 finishes. Was a member of the victorious England team at the 2021 European Ladies’ Team Championship and Home Internationals and has also represented Europe in the Junior Solheim Cup. Last week, she made the cut at the 2021 AIG Women's Open.
Charlotte Heath, a Florida State University student, will make her Curtis Cup debut this year. She won the 2020 Australian Amateur Championship and went on to record four top-10 finishes during her 2021 college season. Returning to the UK, she finished fourth at the Helen Holm Scottish Women’s Open Championship and was a member of the victorious England team at the European Ladies’ Team Championship and Home Internationals.
Caley McGinty spent two stellar seasons at Kent State University, where she was a two-time All-American. McGinty has recently transferred to Oklahoma State. In 2020-21, McGinty won the Mid-America Conference Championship, Clemson Invitational and Sunshine Shootout. She was named the 2021 MAC Freshman of the Year as well as the MAC Golfer of the Year. She was a member of the winning England team at the recent European Ladies’ Team Championship and Home Internationals. This will be her first time representing GB&I in an international match.
Emily Toy, the 2019 Women’s Amateur champion, reached the semifinals in her title defense and then the Round of 16 in this year’s championship. She finished runner-up in the 2021 Helen Holm Scottish Women’s Open Championship. She was a member of the winning England team at the recent European Ladies’ Team Championship and Home Internationals – this was her fourth time representing her country since 2019. She has previously competed for GB&I in the 2019 Astor Trophy and Vagliano Trophy but this will be her Curtis Cup debut.
Lauren Walsh, a sophomore at Wake Forest and the highest ranked member of the GB&I Team, recorded three top-10 finishes this season following on from two wins in 2020 at the Sunshine State Amateur and Women’s Griffin Amateur. She finished eighth in 2019 at the ISPS Handa World Invitational on the Ladies’ European Tour. Since 2019 she has represented Ireland on three occasions and was recently a member of the International team at the Arnold Palmer Cup. Last week, she made the cut at the 2021 AIG Women's Open.
Annabel Wilson, a sophomore at UCLA, recorded three top-10 finishes in 2021, including a runner-up result at the Ping/ASU Invitational. She won the 2019 Irish Women’s Close Championship and since then has represented Ireland on three occasions. This will be her first time representing GB&I.
2021 USA TEAM
The USA Team has six players currently inside the WAGR top 25, including world No. 1 Rose Zhang and world No. 2 Rachel Heck. All members of the team are making their Curtis Cup debuts.
Jensen Castle, 20, of West Columbia, S.C., defeated Yu-Chiang (Vivian) Hou, 2 and 1, to win the 121st U.S. Women’s Amateur Championship at Westchester Country Club in Rye, N.Y., on Aug. 8. Castle, a rising junior at the University of Kentucky, survived a 12-for-2 playoff to advance to match play on her way to becoming the first Wildcat golfer to win the U.S. Women’s Amateur. She also competed in the 2021 U.S. Women’s Open at The Olympic Club and reached the quarterfinals of the 2021 U.S. Women’s Amateur Four-Ball with University of Kentucky teammate Marissa Wenzler. In 2020, Castle set Kentucky’s single-season stroke average record as a freshman.
Allisen Corpuz, 23, of Kapolei, Hawaii, is a recent University of Southern California graduate who has competed in 16 USGA championships, including three U.S. Women’s Opens. In 2008, Corpuz surpassed fellow Hawaii native Michelle Wie as the youngest qualifier in U.S. Women’s Amateur Public Links history at 10 years, 3 months and 9 days. Corpuz was the runner-up to Rachel Kuehn in the 2020 Women’s North & South Amateur at Pinehurst No. 2, losing in 19 holes, and was a semifinalist in this year’s event. Corpuz was named a first-team All-American by both Golfweek and the Women’s Golf Coaches Association and led a talented USC team with a 71.57 stroke average. She is currently No. 11 in WAGR.
Rachel Heck, 19, of Memphis, Tenn., is a rising sophomore at Stanford University who won the 2021 Annika Award as the top collegiate golfer. She became the third player in women’s college history to sweep conference (Pacific 12), regional (Stanford Regional) and national titles (NCAAs), joining USC’s Annie Park and Arizona’s Marisa Baena. At Grayhawk Golf Club in Scottsdale, Ariz., Heck became the first Stanford woman to win an NCAA title, and the ninth freshman to achieve the feat. Heck’s 69.72 scoring average over 25 rounds is the lowest in NCAA women’s golf history. Last August, Heck was the stroke-play medalist in the U.S. Women’s Amateur before losing in the Round of 16. She also was a quarterfinalist in the 2020 North & South Women’s Amateur. Heck was a five-time AJGA All-American and a two-time USA Today Player of the Year. Most recently, she advanced to the semifinals of the 2021 U.S. Women’s Amateur and is currently No. 2 in WAGR.
Gina Kim, 21, of Durham, N.C., a rising senior at Duke University, won the 2021 North & South Women’s Amateur as well as the 2021 ACC Individual Championship. In June, she played in her third U.S. Women’s Open, and was the championship’s low amateur in 2019 at the Country Club of Charleston (S.C.). She is a two-time semifinalist in USGA events: the 2018 U.S. Girls’ Junior at Poppy Hills and the 2017 U.S. Women’s Amateur Four-Ball with Jennifer Chang. She is currently No. 18 in WAGR.
Rachel Kuehn, 20, of Asheville, N.C., a rising junior at Wake Forest University, earned medalist honors at the 2021 U.S. Women’s Amateur Championship at Westchester Country Club, posting 6-under-par 138 on the famed West Course. She won the 2020 North & South Women’s Amateur and the 2020 Ladies National Golf Association Amateur. Kuehn’s mom, Brenda Corrie Kuehn, was a member of the 1996 and 1998 USA Curtis Cup Teams alongside current captain Sarah Ingram. In 1998, Kuehn went 4-0 and scored the winning point in the USA’s victory. The Kuehns become the second mother/daughter tandem to have played in a Curtis Cup, joining the USA’s Jane Bastanchury Booth (1970, 1972, 1974) and Kellee Booth (1996, 1998). Rachel Kuehn is currently No. 24 in WAGR.
Brooke Matthews, 22, of Rogers, Ark., who recently reached the Round of 16 in the 2021 U.S. Women’s Amateur Championship, is a rising senior at Arkansas. In 2019, she earned SEC All-Freshman Team honors, and earlier this year was named First Team All-SEC. She represented Team USA in the 2021 Arnold Palmer Cup earlier this summer, and is currently No. 36 in WAGR.
Emilia Migliaccio, 22, of Cary, N.C., was a quarterfinalist in the 2020 U.S. Women’s Amateur and finished runner-up to Tsubasa Kajitani in the 2021 Augusta National Women’s Amateur. Migliaccio, a recent graduate of Wake Forest University, was a two-time first-team All-American and led the Demon Deacons to the 2019 ACC title while capturing the ACC individual title. She competed in the 2018 and 2020 U.S. Women’s Opens, and recently reached the Round of 32 in the U.S. Women’s Amateur at Westchester Country Club in Rye, N.Y. Migliaccio decided against turning professional and will return to Wake Forest this fall for a two-year master’s program in communication. Her summer has included an internship with Golf Channel during which she has covered LPGA and USGA events. She is currently No. 17 in WAGR.
Rose Zhang, 18, of Irvine, Calif., is the 2020 U.S. Women’s Amateur champion, having defeated Gabriela Ruffels in a 38-hole final match last August in Maryland, and the reigning U.S. Girls’ Junior champion, having defeated Bailey Davis, 6 and 4, in Maryland in July. She is currently No. 1 in the Women’s WAGR and won both the 2020 and 2021 McCormack Medals as the world’s leading amateur, the latter on Aug. 11. Zhang has competed in four LPGA major championships, making the cut in three, including a T11 finish in the 2020 ANA Inspiration. She has represented the United States on both the Junior Solheim Cup and Junior Ryder Cup teams. In 2020, she won the Rolex Girls Junior Championship, the Ping Invitational and the Rolex Tournament of Champions. Zhang finished T3 at this year’s Augusta National Women’s Amateur.
CURTIS CUP MATCHES IN WALES
1964: Royal Porthcawl Golf Club, Porthcawl (USA won, 10½-7½)
1980: St. Pierre Golf & Country Club, Chepstow, Gwent (USA won, 13-5)
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