April 17, 2018
Lucy Li and Andrea Lee Named to Curtis Cup Squad
The USA Team for the 2018 Curtis Cup Matches will have a Northern California flavor.
Junior sensation Lucy Li of Redwood Shores and Andrea Lee, a sophomore at Stanford, were named Tuesday to USA Team for the 2018 Curtis Cup Match, to be conducted June 8-10 at Quaker Ridge Golf Club in New York. Six other players from around the country round out the USA Team.
“We couldn’t be prouder to announce that these eight terrific young women will represent the United States in the 40th Curtis Cup Match,” said Mark Newell, USGA president. “They are among the most talented players in the world, and not only that, they are true ambassadors for the game and for the USGA. We all wish them the best as they prepare to compete this June at Quaker Ridge.”
Li, currently at No.10 in the World Amateur Golf Rankings, became a household name in 2014, when she became the youngest ever to qualify for the U.S. Women’s Open at 11 years, 8 months and 19 days old and was a Drive, Chip and Putt National Champion at Augusta National. In 2017, she reached the quarterfinals of the U.S. Women’s Amateur and earned medalist honors at the U.S. Girls’ Junior before losing in the Round of 32. She competed in the 2017 and 2018 LPGA’s ANA Inspiration, earning low-amateur honors in 2017, and is the first 15-year-old on the USA Curtis Cup Team since Lexi Thompson in 2010. Li is expected to also compete in this year’s U.S. Girls’ Junior Championship at Poppy Hills GC.
At No.5 in the rankings, Lee was a member of the 2016 Curtis Cup Team that lost to Great Britain & Ireland, 11.5-8.5. She garnered several honors following her freshman year at the Farm, including Pac-12 freshman of the year, Pac-12 first team and Ping/Women’s Golf Coaches Association freshman of the year. Picking up where she left off, her sophomore season began with three individual victories in her first five starts. Lee was the runner-up in the 2016 U.S. Girls’ Junior, and a semifinalist in the 2014 U.S. Women’s Amateur. She has also won two SCGA Women’s Amateur titles.
Notable past USA Curtis Cup Team members include U.S. Women’s Open champions JoAnne Gunderson Carner, Paula Creamer, Juli Inkster, Cristie Kerr, Patty Sheehan, Hollis Stacy and Michelle Wie, as well as past and present LPGA stars such as Lewis, Thompson, Beth Daniel, Jessica Korda, Nancy Lopez and Dottie Pepper.
-NCGA Staff
