#curtis cup

Stephanie Meadow: Jump Start!

Stephanie Meadow was playing in the 2014 Curtis Cup when the call came, notifying her that she’d been advanced from an alternate to the field at the 2014 US Women’s Open!  The new college grad had just about a week to get her head around the schedule shift, get her laundry done, and hustle from St. Louis Country Club to Pinehurst, NC.

Meadow’s from Northern Ireland and was a standout on the…

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Curtis Cup :: GB&I final day rally

The Curtis Cup is back in American hands following their 13-7 victory on home soil.

It was a tough final day for GB&I after falling 7-2 behind in the previous two days, leaving the GB&I team trying to claw back a 9.5-2.5 deficit on the final day to pull off an unlikely victory.

Scotland’s Gemma Dryburgh won her singles match one-up against Ashlan Ramsey, with Eilidh Briggs halving her tie with Mariah Stackhouse – the first black player to play in the Curtis Cup.

Elsewhere, Georgia Hall, Charlotte Thomas and Stephanie Meadow secured wins on the final day to soften the blow.

“That’s a great way to finish and gives everyone a bit of a boost.”

“I have to say, so proud of the girls for how they rallied all day today,” said GB&I captain,” Tegwen Mattews.

“More especially when they knew the match was gone, and yet they never gave up.  That could have put the chins really even further down.

“That’s a great way to finish and gives everyone a bit of a boost to say the least from a pretty disastrous two days.”

“We just didn’t hole any putts.” – Tegwen Matthews, Curtis Cup captain

Matthew lamented her side’s poor display on the greens an ultimately recognised that her team’s putting was the difference.

“I think my girls hit the ball as well if not better than the Americans,” she said.

“Except they were holing more putts. We had the ability to do that. We just didn’t hole any putts.”

Curtis Cup positives

She remained positive in the face of Curtis Cup defeat, and was happy with the experience her girls’ received.

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Curtis Cup :: Scottish pair head to US

Scottish pairing, Eilidh Briggs and Gemma Dryburgh are seek to help Great Britain & Ireland secure a win on US soil when the Curtis Cup tees off today.

Kilmacolm’s Briggs, 21, and Dryburgh, 20, are relishing their debuts as the visitors look to build on their 2012 Curtis Cup triumph at Nairn.

Briggs won the SLGA Order of Merit in 2013 and recently claimed the Welsh Open Stroke Play. Dryburgh, who hails from Aberdeen, has impressed on the US college circuit at Tulane University.

“the perfect mix to retain the Curtis Cup.”

The team is again captained by Wales’ Tegwen Matthews, who returns to the role for the third time. Matthews is confident the girls, and the rest of the team, can win in America.

“I’m thrilled and excited with this team and genuinely believe it has the perfect mix to retain the Curtis Cup,” said Matthews.

“Each and every member of this team has fought hard for their place and I know they all have the desire, talent and passion to bring the cup back home.”

Curtis Cup stats

GB&I’s victory at Nairn halted a run of seven consecutive Curtis Cup wins for the United States. GB&I’s only victory when the Curtis Cup has been played in America occurred in 1986 at Prairie Dunes, Kansas, where they triumphed 13-5.

The Nairn contest, which GB & I won by a single point over three days, was the closest since a 9-9 draw in 1994 at the Honors Course, Chattanooga in Tennessee. Overall, the US leads the series with 27 wins to GB & I’s seven. Three matches have been drawn.

This year’s action

This time around the Curtis Cup is being held at St. Louis Country Club, and Matthews knows how important a win in America.

“It’s always exciting to win away from home, a lot of people have made a long trip to come follow us, and to win it would be really special.”

“It’s the first time I’ve flown out of the UK with only half my team and the other half already being in America.”

Four players on team GB&I play college golf in America, and Matthews is hoping the added experience the girls have of playing in the US will stand them in good stead.

“It’s the first time I’ve flown out of the UK with only half my team and the other half already being in America. So that sort of felt a bit strange, normally you would have all travelled together out of the UK,” she said.

“A lot of us play American golf all the time, and even the ones that are not here in college.

“So a lot of the other ones we played, everybody is comfortable. It’s not as big as a factor anymore. I think that’s a big advantage that we have compared to years in the past.”

To see the Curtis Cup first round pairings click here.

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Eilidh Briggs realises Curtis Cup dream

Eilidh Briggs has secured her spot in the Curtis Cup team heading to America to defend the trophy at St Louis Country Club this June.

Speaking after her Welsh Stroke Play triumph Eilidh Briggs said: “Becoming a Curtis Cup player is something I’ve dreamed about since I took up golf.”

— Full SLGA Press Release below

Just a week after her 21st birthday a dream came true for Scot Eilidh Briggs when she won the Welsh Open Strokeplay Championship and clinched a place in the GB and Ireland team to defend the Curtis Cup at St Louis Country Club from June 6-8.

The 2013 SLGA Order of Merit winner and Gemma Dryburgh are the two Scots included in the eight strong team.

“It really was a whirlwind few days,” admitted Briggs. “I didn’t know that winning the Welsh would secure one of the two Curtis Cup spots from the LGU Order of Merit but it certainly worked out well.

“At the start of the year, I had a hope of making the team. Now I am absolutely thrilled.

“Becoming a Curtis Cup player is something I’ve dreamed about since I took up golf.”

Briggs is different from so many of the modern day amateurs. She is not a teenager just biding her time before making the switch to the professional ranks.

The Kilmacolm golfer manages to combine elite sport with her studies for a teaching degree in physical education at Stirling University.

“The University is great and so supportive,” she said. “I have extended my degree to five years and been able to reorganise my teaching practices from the summer to the autumn terms. I should qualify in 2016. I love teaching PE and am so glad to be able to do both golf and university. And I’ll still be an amateur by the time of the next Curtis Cup.”

Briggs took up golf when she was just seven and her record is impressive. In 2011, she won the Scottish Girls’ Championship and reached the final of the Scottish Championship. She is a three time winner of the SLGA Girls’ Order of Merit and has played for Scotland in two senior Home Internationals and at the World Amateur Team Championship.

All her family are great supporters. Older sister Megan – the 2009 Scottish Amateur Champion – and Mum Dorothy will both be going to St Louis as spectators and Dad Ian often caddies for his daughters.

It is Briggs’ consistency which has impressed over the last few years. “I had a lot of top tens in LGU events but needed the win,” said the player who is coached by Gregor Howie. “Finally making the breakthrough in Wales was perfect timing.”

As a Stirling University Curtis Cup player, Briggs is following in famous footsteps. Catriona Matthew, the 2009 Women’s British Open Champion, played in the team three times during her period studying for a business degree.

Two years ago, Briggs watched on TV as GB and Ireland won the Curtis Cup at Nairn. Now she is looking forward to her US adventure.

“The University always sends players to the Orange Blossom Tour in Florida in January so I have played some golf in America and I’ll get advice from the Scots that are studying over there,” she said. “I know it is going to be a fantastic experience.”

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Curtis Cup Scots praised by Craggs

SLGA national coach Kevin Craggs says he is ‘absolutely delighted’ to see two Scottish golfers called up to represent Great Britain & Ireland in this year’s Curtis Cup.

Gemma Dryburgh and Eilidh Briggs, pictured above, have been included in eight-strong side that will take on the USA in St Louis at the beginning of next month, where GB&I will attempt to successfully defend the title for the first time in 18 years.

The Scots duo are joined in the Curtis Cup side by five English players – Bronte Law, Gabriella Cowley, Annabel Dimmock, Georgia Hall, and Charlotte Thomas – as well as Ireland’s Stephanie Meadow.

According to Craggs, Dryburgh and Briggs are ‘true assets to Scottish golf’.

“I’m absolutely delighted to see the girls included in the Curtis Cup team,” he told bunkered.co.uk. “They are credit to themselves, their personal coaches, and more than justify their places in the side.”

Craggs admits that he hasn’t had a great number of dealings with the US-based Dryburgh but said: “Anytime she has represented Scotland, she has been an exemplary squad member and is a great girl.”

With regard to Briggs, he added: “Eilidh has come right through the SLGA set-up and has been impeccable throughout. She continues to improve year on year and that is largely down to her own determination, her own passion, and her own drive. She deserves all the success she is currently enjoying.”

“I know Eilidh took inspiration from seeing the likes of Carly Booth, Krystle Caithness, and Sally Watson in the Curtis Cup.” – Kevin Craggs

The inclusion of the girls will be seen by some as a welcome boost for Scottish golf, particularly following the failure of any of the country’s male golfers to make last year’s Walker Cup side for the first time since 1949.

“It’s not my place to comment on the Walker Cup,” added Craggs. “All I can say is that I’ve always believed in the strength and structure of the programme we’ve provided for the girls in our squads and I’m just delighted to see them succeeding.

“It has to be noted, though, that we have only provided the structure; it has been up to the players themselves to take advantage of it and have the desire within themselves to succeed and become the best they can be.”

Craggs also revealed that he hopes that seeing Dryburgh and Briggs play in the Curtis Cup will serve as inspiration to the next crop of girls coming up through the ranks.

“One of the mantras we continue to try to drum into the players is ‘TEAM: together, everybody achieves more’,” said Craggs. “I know that Eilidh took inspiration from seeing the likes of Carly Booth, Krystle Caithness, and Sally Watson playing in the Curtis Cup, and so I can only hope that seeing Eilidh and Gemma this year will give encouragement to the likes of Connie Jaffrey, Lauren Whyte, Alyson McKechin, Shannon McWilliam, and Kirsty Brodie that they can play in future Curtis Cups.”

The 2014 Curtis Cup: Find out more