GB&I Curtis Cup Team Named

The Ladies’ Golf Union announced the 2016 Great Britain and Ireland Curtis Cup Team on Thursday, a team highlighted by a pair of 21-year-old, three-time selections in Leona Maguire and Bronte Law. The Great Britain and Ireland Team will face the USA Team in the 39th Curtis Cup Match, June 10-12 at Dun Laoghaire Golf Club in Enniskerry, Ireland.

The USA Curtis Cup Team, which will be captained by Robin Burke, was named in February. 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.

Maguire, of the Republic of Ireland, is No. 1 in the Women’s World Amateur Golf Ranking™ (WAGR) and Law, of England, is No. 4. Both accomplished amateurs were on the last GB&I Team to win the Curtis Cup, a 10½-9½ victory in 2012 at The Nairn Golf Club in Scotland. Maguire also played in 2010 at Essex County Club in Manchester-by-the-Sea, Mass., while Law competed in the 2014 Match at St. Louis (Mo.) Country Club, a 13-7 victory for the USA.

Charlotte Thomas, 23, of England, is the third member of the 2016 GB&I Team with previous Curtis Cup experience, having competed two years ago.

The five newcomers to the GB&I side are Maria Dunne, 32, of Ireland, Alice Hewson, 18, of England, Meghan MacLaren, 21, of England, Olivia Mehaffey, 18, of Northern Ireland, and Rochelle Morris, 20, of England.

The first reserve is Lianna Bailey, 19, of England.

“We have an extremely talented team, which has considerable experience playing amateur golf at the highest level,” said GB&I captain Elaine Farquharson-Black, who competed in the 1990 and 1992 Curtis Cup Matches. “I am looking forward to meeting up with the team at The Castle Golf Club [in early June] to prepare for the Match. With some of the best players in the world on both sides, it is going to be a really exciting Curtis Cup.”

Six of the eight GB&I players were automatic selections – the top four in the WAGR as of April 27 and the leading two players in the LGU’s Order of Merit not selected from the WAGR – with the final two golfers picked by the LGU Selection Panel.

The USA leads the series, 28-7-3.

Maguire, a sophomore at Duke University, was the recipient of the 2015 Mark H. McCormack Medal, given annually to the No. 1 men’s and women’s players in the WAGR. She also won the 2015 Annika Award, given to the outstanding player in women’s college golf, and was named Women’s Golf Coaches Association Freshman of the Year. Along with twin sister Lisa, she competed in the 2010 Curtis Cup. She has represented Europe in the Junior Ryder Cup and Junior Solheim Cup matches against the USA.

Bronte Law, of England, joins Leona Maguire as a three-time Great Britain and Ireland Curtis Cup competitor. (USGA/Steven Gibbons)

Law, a junior at UCLA, won the English Women’s Amateur the past two years and was a runner-up in the 2016 South American Women’s Amateur. She has represented England in a variety of competitions since the age of 14, including the Junior Solheim Cup and Junior Ryder Cup matches. She owns four collegiate victories for the Bruins. She also advanced to the quarterfinals of the 2016 U.S. Women’s Amateur, where she lost to eventual runner-up and 2016 USA Curtis Cup competitor Sierra Brooks.

Thomas, a senior at the University of Washington, posted a 1-2 mark in the 2014 Curtis Cup Match, defeating Erynne Lee, 2 up, in Sunday singles. She is a past winner of the English Mid-Amateur Championship and runner-up in the English Stroke Play. She also was the champion of the inaugural Annika Invitational at Mission Hills in Shenzhen, China. At Washington, she became the first Husky to win in her college debut by claiming top honors at the 2012 Oregon State Invitational. This year, she owns one victory and posted seven top-10 finishes.

Mehaffey, No. 9 in the WAGR, will be a college teammate of USA Curtis Cup competitor Monica Vaughn at Arizona State University this fall. This year, Mehaffey won the Irish Women’s Open Stroke Play and finished second in defense of her Helen Holm Scottish Open Stroke Play title. She represented Europe in the 2015 Junior Solheim Cup. In 2015, she also won the Scottish and Welsh Open Amateur titles en route to claiming the LGU Order of Merit to earn a spot in this year’s Ricoh Women’s British Open.

Dunne, one of two LGU Selection Panel picks, will be the oldest player in the Match. She finished third in the recent Helen Holm Scottish Women’s Open at Royal Troon. Dunne played college golf at Bethune-Cookman University in Daytona Beach, Fla. Her achievements this past year include representing Ireland in the European Team Championships, winning the Irish Foursomes Championship with Chloe Ryan, advancing to the quarterfinals of the 2015 Spanish Women’s Amateur and the Round of 16 in this year’s Spanish Amateur.

Hewson, a freshman at Clemson University, has been a regular winner in Great Britain since claiming the English Girls’ Under 13 Championship in 2010. She also won the Scottish Under 16 Stroke Play and the Under 18 prize at the St. Rule Trophy. She has posted two college victories in her first season for the Lady Tigers.

MacLaren, a junior at Florida International University in Miami, is a past British and Irish Stroke Play champion and owns eight collegiate victories. She will represent FIU as an individual in the upcoming NCAA regionals. She also represented GB&I in the 2015 Vagliano Trophy and represented Europe in the inaugural Patsy Hankins Trophy against Asia Pacific. Her top-10 finishes this season include the Helen Holm Scottish Women’s Open Stroke Play and the South American Amateur.

Morris was the runner-up in two recent national championships: the English Women’s Amateur and the English Women’s Open Stroke Play. She also was second in The Leveret Trophy and advanced to the match-play portion of the French Under 21 Championship.

GB&I Curtis Cup Team Named

More From 2016 Curtis Cup