Five English, three Irish players make up GB and I team for Dun Laoghaire

The Great Britain and Ireland team of eight for the 39th Curtis Cup match against the United States of America at Dun Laoghaire Golf Club, near Dublin, from June 10 to 12 has been named and will feature three players who have previously participated in the biennial transatlantic women's amateur international contest. Experience will be provided by World No 1, Leona Maguire (Ireland), English champion, Bronte Law (England) and Charlotte Thomas (England). The remainder of the team will be made up of five newcomers to this level of golf.

The team is;

Name		Home Club	Age
Maria	Dunne	Skerries	32
Alice	Hewson	Berkhamsted	18
Bronte	Law	Bramhall	21
Meghan	MacLaren	Wellingborough	21
Leona	Maguire	Slieve Russell	21
Olivia	Mehaffey	Royal County Down Ladies'	18
Rochelle	Morris	Woodsome Hall	20
Charlotte	Thomas	West Surrey	23
1st Reserve
Lianna	Bailey	Kirby Muxloe	19

The team will be captained by Aberdeen solicitor Elaine Farquharson-Black (Deeside), who played in the 1990 and 1992 Curtis Cup matches.

"We have an extremely talented team which has considerable experience of playing amateur golf at the highest level," said Elaine. "I am looking forward to meeting up with the team at The Castle Golf Club 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."
Manager of the GB and I team is Helen (Dobson) Hewlett who played in the 1990 Curtis Cup match and also won the 1989 Ladies' British Open Amateur Championship.

The USA team has achieved 28 wins and GB&I seven with three halved matches since the Curtis Cup, presented by American sisters, Margaret and Harriot S Curtis, to the LGU and the USGA, was first played at Wentworth in 1932. The trophy is a silver bowl of Paul Revere Design and is inscribed: "To stimulate friendly rivalry among the women golfers of many lands."
GB and I have won four of the last seven matches played at home - 1988 (Royal St George's), 1992 (Royal Liverpool), 1996 (Killarney), 2012 (Nairn).


PLAYER PROFILES;

MARIA DUNNE (Skerries)  Selection Panel Pick
Maria boosted her chances by finishing third in the Helen Holm Scottish women's open amateur stroke-play at Troon in April. She was joint leader with Olivia Mehaffey with just a few holes to play.
Maria played on the US women's college golf circuit as a student at Bethune-Cookman College, Florida).
Her 2015-16 achievements have included representing Ireland at the European Team Championships, winning the Irish foursomes championship with Chloe Ryan, reaching quarter-finals of 2015 Spanish women's amateur Championship 2015 and the last 16 this year, finishing in third place in the 2016 Helen Holm Scottish Open Stroke Play Championship.

ALICE HEWSON (Berkhamsted) WAGR Automatic
Alice, ranked 36th in the world, is an England and GB&I international who has played in both the Vagliano Trophy and its companion junior match. She has been a regular winner since capturing the English U13 girls’ title and her successes have included the Scottish U16 stroke play, the U18 prize at the St Rule Trophy and the girls’ title at the Telegraph Junior Championship.
Alice has helped England beat Spain in the biennial international, to win the girls’ and women’s Home Internationals and the team event at the European Young Masters. She has won twice since starting at Clemson University in South Carolina last year.

BRONTE LAW (Bramhall) WAGR Automatic
Bronte is the world number four and will be playing in her third Curtis Cup team, having made her debut as a member of the winning side at Nairn in 2012. She has won the English women’s amateur for the past two years and was runner-up in the 2016 South American women’s amateur. She has represented England since she was 14, notably winning a World Championship bronze medal in 2014.
Bronte has also represented Europe in the Junior Solheim and Ryder Cups and has won four times on the US women’s college circuit, where she is a student at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA)

MEGHAN MACLAREN (Wellingborough) LGU Order of Merit Automatic
Meghan, ranked No 41 in the world, is a prolific winner on both sides of the Atlantic. She is a past British and Irish stroke play champion and has won eight times on the US college circuit where she is a student at the Florida International University.
Meghan is an England and GB&I international, having played in the 2015 Vagliano Trophy match at Malone GC, Belfast. She represented Europe in this season’s inaugural Patsy Hankins Trophy against Asia Pacific.  She has had top ten finishes this season in both the South American Amateur and the Helen Holm Scottish stroke play championships.


LEONA MAGUIRE (Slieve Russell GC and Duke University) WAGR Automatic
Leona has been ranked the World's No 1 female amateur since May 2015. The success she has achieved throughout her teens on this side of the Atlantic has continued since she enrolled at Duke University, North Carolina.
Played in the 2010 and 2012 Curtis Cup matches and has also played for Europe in Junior Ryder Cup and Junior Solheim Cup matches against the United States. Won the Helen Holm Scottish women's stroke-play title in 2009, the year she made her debut for GB&I in the Vagliano Trophy match.
In 2011 she won the Ladies British stroke play, the Irish women's open stroke play and the Portuguese women's open amateur championship.

OLIVIA MEHAFFEY (Royal County Down Ladies’) WAGR Automatic
Her terrific improvement over the past two years or so is reflected by her No 9 position in the Women's World Amateur Rankings.
Olivia played in the Junior Vagliano Trophy match at Chantilly in 2012 and stepped up to the Vagliano Trophy match at Malone GC, Belfast two years later.
She had a tremendous year in 2015, winning, among a host of tournaments, the Scottish and Welsh open amateur stroke play titles on her way to capturing the LGU Order of Merit title and with it a place in this year's Ricoh Women's British Open. She has also played for the European team in the Junior Solheim Cup.
Success has continued in 2016 for Olivia who won the Irish women's open stroke play earlier this season and finished a close second in her defence of the Helen Holm Scottish Open Stroke Play title.  In August Olivia will enrol at Arizona State University on a four-year course.

ROCHELLE MORRIS (Woodsome Hall) LGU Order of Merit Automatic
Rochelle is on the brink of a big title after securing a number of second places recently. She was the runner-up in two national championships last year namely, the English Women’s Amateur Championship at Hunstanton and the English Women’s Open Stroke Play Championship at St Anne’s Old Links.
In addition she was second qualifier for the English women’s open match play at Trentham.
This year, Rochelle was second in The Leveret Trophy, the prestigious stroke play event which is one of the season’s curtain raisers and she also reached the matchplay stages of the French U21 championship.

CHARLOTTE THOMAS (West Surrey)
Selection Panel Pick
Charlotte is an England international who will represent GB&I for the second time in the Curtis Cup. She played in the 2014 match at St Louis, Missouri and has also played in the Vagliano Trophy. She is Surrey-born, but based overseas, and has a thoroughly international record. She is a past winner of the English mid-amateur championship and runner-up in the English stroke play. Charlotte is a student at the University of Washington, Seattle, and has won this college season and had seven top ten finishes. She was the winner of the inaugural Annika Invitational at Mission Hills in Shenzhen, China.

THE 2014 GB and I team who were beaten at St Louis, Missouri were:
Eilidh Briggs (Scotland)
Gabriella Cowley (England)
Annabel Dimmock (England)
Gemma Dryburgh (Scotland)
Georgia Hall (England)
Bronte Law (England)
Stephanie Meadow (N Ireland)
Charlotte Thomas (England).

*Leona Maguire was not available for selection.
+Cowley, Dimmock, Dryburgh, Hall and Meadow later turned professional.