FAR HILLS, N.J. – The United States Golf Association has selected the three players who will represent the USA at the 2014 Women’s World Amateur Team Championship, to be played Sept. 3-6 at Karuizawa 72 Golf East in Karuizawa, Japan.
The three players are: Kristen Gillman, 16, of Austin, Texas; Alison Lee, 19, of Valencia, Calif.; and Emma Talley, 20, of Princeton, Ky.
“I am so proud of Kristen, Alison and Emma for their accomplishments both on and off the golf course,” said Daniel B. Burton, USGA vice president and chairman of the International Team Selection Committee. “They represent the very best in the game, and we are honored to have them join the likes of Paula Creamer, Beth Daniel, Juli Inkster, Jessica Korda and Nancy Lopez as USA Women’s World Amateur Team players.”
Martha Lang, the 1988 U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur champion and a past USA Curtis Cup Team player and captain, will serve as captain of the USA Women’s World Amateur Team.
“Playing for your country is one of the ultimate goals of any athlete,” said Lang, the immediate past chairman of the USGA Women’s Committee. “These three talented young women will undoubtedly represent the United States with class and determination. I am honored to serve as their captain, and am looking forward to our week in Japan.”
Gillman is a junior at Lake Travis High School, and is No. 57 in the Women’s World Amateur Golf Ranking™, as of Aug. 3. Last Sunday, Gillman won the U.S. Women’s Amateur Championship with a 2-up victory over Brooke Mackenzie Henderson, of Canada. The week before her Women’s Amateur victory, Gillman won the Junior PGA Championship by 11 strokes, setting a championship scoring record. Gillman was a member of the victorious West Team at the 2014 Wyndham Cup, and will represent the United States at the 2014 Junior Ryder Cup in Scotland.
Lee is a sophomore at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), and is No. 3 in the women's world ranking. Lee was the runner-up in the 2012 U.S. Girls’ Junior Championship, and was a member of the victorious USA Team at the 2014 Curtis Cup Match. She reached the semifinals of the 2013 U.S. Women’s Amateur and the quarterfinals of the 2014 Women’s Amateur, and has also played in three U.S. Women’s Open Championships (2009, 2010, 2012). Earlier this summer, Lee won the North & South Women’s Amateur Championship. Lee has three collegiate victories, including the 2014 Pacific-12 Championship, and won the inaugural ANNIKA Award, which is presented to the best player in women’s college golf.
Talley is a junior at the University of Alabama, and is ranked No. 9 in the world. She won the 2013 U.S. Women’s Amateur, and made the winning putt for the USA in June at the 2014 Curtis Cup Match. Talley competed in the 2011, 2012 and 2014 U.S. Women’s Opens, making the cut in 2012 and 2014, and also made the cut in the 2014 Ricoh Women’s British Open Championship. Talley has one collegiate victory, the 2013 Ping-ASU Invitational, and was named SEC Freshman of the Year in 2013.
The alternates are, in order of ranking: Doris Chen, 21, of Bradenton, Fla.; and Ally McDonald, 21, of Fulton, Miss.
The World Amateur Team Championship was founded in 1958, and the Women’s World Amateur Team Championship began in 1964. The International Golf Federation (IGF) was founded in 1958 to encourage the international development of golf through friendship and sportsmanship. Today, the IGF consists of 137 national governing bodies of golf representing 131 countries, and is the international federation for golf for the International Olympic Committee. One of its main functions is to conduct the biennial World Amateur Team Championships for men and women. It will conduct the golf competition at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, and is conducting the golf competition at the 2014 Youth Olympic Games this month in China.
The 2014 Women’s World Amateur Team Championship will be contested on the Oshitate and Iriyama Courses and hosted by the Japan Golf Association. The Women’s World Amateur Team Championship was last played in 2012 in Antalya, Turkey, with the Republic of Korea becoming the first country in 22 years to capture consecutive titles. The USA last won the championship in 1998, and has captured the Espirito Santo Trophy a record 13 times.
The 2016 championship will be hosted by the Mexican Golf Federation and will be held at El Camaleón Golf Club and the Grand Coral Riviera Maya Resort in Cancun, Mexico.