Dun Laoghaire stage set for the 39th Curtis Cup

PRESS RELEASE

39^th Curtis Cup Match

Dun Laoghaire Golf Club

10-12 June 2016

 

Dun Laoghaire stage set for the 39^th Curtis Cup

 

9 June 2016

 

Live Scoring Link (available Friday 10 June)

Caption (L:R): GB&I Team Captain Elaine Farquharson-Black, GB&I team members; Charlotte Thomas, Rochelle Morris, Alice Hewson, Meghan MacLaren, Leona Maguire, Olivia Mehaffey, Bronte Law, Maria Dunne and Team Captain Helen Hewlett. 

 

The 39^th Curtis Cup match is finally upon us and Dun Laoghaire Golf Club and its members have final preparation complete before the first tee shot at 8am tomorrow morning, Friday 10 June.

Nicky Robinson, member of Dun Laoghaire Golf Club and past ILGU Board member commented on the excitement in the build up to the 39^th match "There is such a great feeling around the clubhouse and over 200 members are volunteering for the weekend, with 1,000 of the 1,500 members availing of complimentary tickets."

Nicky shared her memory of how the process started back in 2011 when Dun Laoghaire expressed interest in hosting the event, "I saw a notice from the LGU welcoming expressions of interest and thought Dun Laoghaire would be the perfect place for it. I spoke to the President of the Club and we put in our bid. It was announced that we were successful at the 2012 Curtis Cup in Nairn and here we are four years later."

Past Curtis Cup Captain Ada O'Sullivan, spoke to us about the thrill around the event, "Dun Laoghaire is a fantastic venue and you can feel the exciting atmosphere today with the past players around and teams practicing." Asked about the end result, the past Captain shared her thoughts "I think the GB&I team have a great chance. Six of the players have already played in the States and we have huge experience. They are not afraid to play with and against the Americans and just wanted to get started."

The American Team have been noted as the clear favourites coming into the match as all players are in the World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR) top 30. However, the GB&I team have three players in the WAGR top 10 and if team spirit is to go by the GB&I side have as great a chance as any to take home the coveted trophy, as they did in 2012 at Nairn Golf Club. 

Speaking to some of the Irish GB&I players at Dun Laoghaire today, world number 8 Olivia Mehaffey talked about the preparations, "The last few days have been great. We've done a lot of structured work and played foursomes and four balls so today we're going out to get a last feel of the course."

World number 3 Leona Maguire has enjoyed the prep and is really looking forward to getting started. Maguire is hoping to win the Cup with the GB&I side and "get it back on the right side of the Atlantic" come Sunday evening.

Robin Burke will captain the American Team while Elaine Farquharson-Black will lead the GB&I side. Both captains are past players and will hope to have a trophy in hand come Sunday evening.

 

Morning Foursomes Draw - Friday 10 June (Announced at the Opening Ceremony – available on the LGU website HERE after 6pm on Thursday 9 June)

 

GB&I Curtis Cup Team
Maria Dunne
Alice Hewson
Bronte Law
Meghan MacLaren
Leona Maguire
Olivia Mehaffey
Rochelle Morris
Charlotte Thomas

American Curtis Cup Team
Sierra Brooks
Mariel Galdiano
Andrea Lee
Mika Liu
Hannah O'Sullivan
Bailey Tardy
Monica Vaughn
Bethany Wu