Curtis Cup taps former SCGA Women’s Amateur champions
April 17, 2018
Lilia Vu and Andrea Lee – the only two SCGA Women’s Amateur Tournament champions in history – have been named to the USA Team for the 2018 Curtis Cup Match, announced today by the United States Golf Association (USGA) in a release.
Vu, of Fountain Valley, is currently the No. 1-ranked female amateur golfer in the world, and highlights an eight-person team that will compete June 8-10 at Quaker Ridge Golf Club in Scarsdale, N.Y.
The players are:
"We couldn’t be prouder to announce that these eight terrific young women will represent the United States in the 40th Curtis Cup Match,” said Mark Newell, USGA president. “They are among the most talented players in the world, and not only that, they are true ambassadors for the game and for the USGA. We all wish them the best as they prepare to compete this June at Quaker Ridge.”
The Curtis Cup Match is a biennial international women’s amateur golf competition between eight-player teams from the United States of America and Great Britain and Ireland (GB&I). It consists of six foursomes (alternate-shot) matches, six four-ball matches and eight singles matches over three days of competition. The USGA’s International Team Selection (ITS) Committee selects the USA Team, while the Ladies’ Golf Union selects the GB&I Team.
“Our committee is extremely thoughtful during the selection process and takes very seriously the opportunity to select the members of this team,” said Martha Lang, of Birmingham, Ala., who is in her first year as chair of the ITS Committee and fourth year as a member of the USGA Executive Committee. “We know the players we selected are extraordinarily talented competitors who will embody the tradition of camaraderie set forth by Margaret and Harriot Curtis in 1932.”
All eight players on the USA Team are among the top 25 in the Women’s World Amateur Golf Ranking™, with Vu (No. 1), Kupcho (No. 3), Lee (No. 5), Stephenson (No. 7) and Li (No. 10) in the top 10. Two members of the team, Galdiano and Lee, competed in the 2016 Match.
Vu captured the SCGA Women’s Amateur Championship in 2016 after firing a second-round 68. Last month, Vu set a UCLA school record at the Arizona Wildcat Invitational, winning her fourth straight individual title dating back to last fall. She is a two-time first-team All-American who last year advanced to the semifinals of the U.S. Women’s Amateur.
Hermosa Beach’s Lee, who won the inaugural SCGA Women’s Amateur Championship in 2015, and is the reigning tournament champion after raising the title plate again in 2017, was a member of the 2016 Curtis Cup Team that lost to GB&I, 11.5-8.5.
A sophomore at Stanford University, Lee garnered several honors following her freshman year, including Pac-12 freshman of the year, Pac-12 first team and Ping/Women’s Golf Coaches Association freshman of the year. Picking up where she left off, Lee’s sophomore season began with three individual victories in her first five starts. She was the runner-up in the 2016 U.S. Girls’ Junior, and a semifinalist in the 2014 U.S. Women’s Amateur.
Virginia Derby Grimes, the 1998 U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur champion and a member of the victorious 1998, 2000 and 2006 Curtis Cup Teams, will serve as USA captain.
“It’s exciting to have the team announced and to start preparing for June,” said Derby Grimes. “I’ve had the opportunity to get to know many of these young women over the past few months, and I can tell you firsthand that they are not only remarkable players, but remarkable people who take representing the United States extremely seriously. We’re going to work hard over the next few weeks and give the GB&I Team all we’ve got!”
Notable past USA Curtis Cup Team members include U.S. Women’s Open champions JoAnne Gunderson Carner, Paula Creamer, Juli Inkster, Cristie Kerr, Patty Sheehan,Hollis Stacy and Michelle Wie, as well as past and present LPGA stars such as Lewis, Thompson, Beth Daniel, Jessica Korda, Nancy Lopez and Dottie Pepper.