Where are they now? Last GB and I team to win Curtis Cup in 1996

By COLIN FARQUHARSON (Colin@scottishgolfview.com)
They are the last Great Britain and Ireland team to win the Curtis Cup – and they are all 14 years older than they were when I took the picture at Killarney, Ireland on June 22, 1996.
Kneeling (left to right): Mhairi McKay (Scotland), Karen Stupples (England), team captain Ita Butler (Ireland), Elaine Ratcliffe (England), Lisa Dermott (Wales).
Standing (l to r): Lisa (Walton) Educate (England), Janice Moodie (Scotland), Alison (Rose) Davidson (Scotland), coach Mickey Walker (England), Julie (Wade) Otto (England), team manager Gladys Cadden (Scotland).
In case you’ve forgotten, here is how the two-day match unfolded:
Day 1 Foursomes (1 ½-1 ½)
Educate and Wade lost to Kelli Kuehne and Ellen Port 2 and 1.
Dermott and Rose bt Brenda Corrie Kuehn and Maria Jemsek 3 and 1.
McKay and Moodie halved with Cristie Kerr and Carol Semple Thompson.
Day 1 Singles (4 ½-1 ½)
Wade lost to Sarah Lebrun Ingram 4 and 2.
Stupples bt Kellee Booth 3 and 2.
Rose bt Kuehn 5 and 4.
Ratcliffe halved with Jemsek
McKay beat Kerr 1 hole.
Moodie bt Thompson 3 and 1.
End of Day 1: GB and I 6, United States 3

Day 2 Foursomes (2-1)
McKay and Moodie bt Booth and Ingram 3 and 2.
Dermott and Rose bt Kuehn and Jemsek 2 and 1.
Educate and Wade lost to Kuehne and Port 1 hole.
Day 2 Singles (3 ½-2 ½)
Wade lost to Kerr 1 hole.
Ratcliffe bt Ingram 3 and 1.
Stupples lost to Booth 3 and 2.
Rose bt Port 6 and 5.
McKay halved with Thompson.
Moodie bt Kuehne 2 and 1.
End of Day 2: GB and I 5 1/2, US 3 1/2

Final result: GB and I 1 ½, UNITED STATES 6 1/2


So where are they all now? Well, only Alison Rose, later to become Alison Davidson, and Julie Wade, now Julie Otto, did not turn professional.
Mhairi McKay and Janice Moodie, are both now married, live in America and play on the LPGA Tour of which Karen Stupples is also a member.
Julie Otto has been most helpful in trying to track down Lisa Walton who became Lisa Educate.
Julie reports: "Janice (Moodie) said that she thinks Lisa is working at Los Altos Country Club, Los Altos in California as an assistant to Brian Inkster (Juli Inkster's husband). Janice thinks Lisa has remarried and, looking at the LPGA website, there is a teaching pro at the Los Altos Club by the name of Lisa Johnson. I have sent an email in the hope that we have traced her! No reply yet." 
Lisa Dermott's last work place that I can trace was at the Ellesmere Port Golf Club and driving range in the South Wirral, Cheshire.
Elaine Ratcliffe plays/played on the Ladies European Tour.
Alison Davidson, another big help in putting together this arictle, told me:      "Unfortunately I don't keep in touch with any of the 1996 team although I met up with Elaine Ratcliffe at the 2008 Curtis Cup match at St Andrews."
Perhaps that 1996 team should have a big reunion - on the eve of the 2012 Curtis Cup match at Nairn so that they can pass on to Tegwen Matthews' squad the secret of being able to beat the United States.
Actually Great Britain and Ireland sides did well in the Curtis Cup matches of the early to mid-1990s. They won 10-8 in the 1992 match at Royal Liverpool's Hoylake links, then retained the trophy by drawing 9-9 over the Honors Course at Chattanooga, Tennessee. Then came the big win over the Americans in the so picturesque setting of Killarney Golf and Fishing Club.
Every player in Ita Butler's squad played her part but Scotland's Alison Rose was the heroine with four wins out of four ties - joining the select band of GB and I players who have achieved a 100 per cent record through every session of play in a Curtis Cup match.
Stirling-based Alison Rose, now Davidson, recalls that memorable week in 1996:
"The whole Killarney experience was amazing and something I will never forget. I remember standing on the first tee absolutely petrified, seeing the fairways lined with spectators but I was so determined that I would have taken on anyone that week.
"The highlight for me though was holing the winning putt and the crowd immediately giving a rendition of Flower of Scotland. It made me feel very proud.
"I am sure the whole experience of Killarney gave me the confidence to go on to win the Scottish and British  championships the following year, I suddenly realised that I had the ability to beat anyone.
"Turning pro was never an option for me. I liked my home comforts too much and I'm sure playing golf for a living is much more difficult that playing for fun.
"Got married to Martin in 1999 and we have two children, Euan aged 8 and Cara aged 6.
"Don't play a lot of golf now but still play some county golf and play in club medals throughout the summer, bit I am planning to play in the Scottish championship at Machrinahish in May.
"I have won Stirling and Clackmannan championship six times, I think, and won the East of Scotland championship last October."

Julie Otto (formerly Julie Hall, nee Julie Wade) has lived in Fife for quite a few years since she moved up from East Anglia - Felixstowe Ferry was her club, if I recall - to join the Ladies Golf Union staff and later the R and A.
Julie recaps for the benefit of Kirkwoodgolf.co.uk:
"For my part, as you know I finished playing competitive golf after the 1996 Curtis Cup match, although I made a brief reappearance for the 1997 Sunningdale Foursomes, winning with my good friend Helen Wadsworth (who played in the 1990 Curtis Cup).
"From 1996-2000 I worked firstly as Tournament Secretary and then Secretary of the Ladies' Golf Union, before joining the staff of The R and A in 2000 as Assistant Director of Rules. I was a Rules Official at nine Open Championships from 1998 until my final Open with The R and A in 2006, leaving The R and A to look after our family.
"I married Dr Stephen Otto, the Director of Research and Testing at The R and A in 2003, meeting him on R and A business whilst he was a Technical Consultant to The R and A's Equipment Standards Committee.
"We have three boys, Connor (6), Stephen (4) and Harry (2), and live approximately nine miles outside St Andrews near Anstruther on the East Neuk of Fife."

Scroll down  if you want to read the earlier articles in the "Where are they now?" Series
1 Laura Moffat, 2 Graham Lowson, 3 Mark Pilling, 4 Susannah Laing.