Lucy Li, junior sensation from Redwood Shores, and Andrea Lee, sophomore at Stanford, are all set for the 2018 Curtis Cup Matches. Li and Lee will compete this weekend June 8-10 at Quaker Ridge Golf Club in New York, as the USA team tries to take the Cup back from the Great Britain & Ireland. The biennial matches, organized by the USGA and R&A, consist of the top eight female amateur players from each side in a team match play format.
Li, currently ranked No.9 in the World Amateur Golf Rankings, is making her debut appearance in the Curtis Cup Matches. She became a household name in 2014, when she was 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. More recently, she qualified for the 2018 U.S. Women’s Open, making the cut and finishing T-55. 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.
Li is looking forward to her Curtis Cup debut, “It’s been my goal for a few years now, to represent my country. It’s going to be really great, and to be able to learn from like Andrea, who’s already played in this once, and Mariel, and just to learn how you play an event like this and how you carry yourself around.”
At No.5 in the rankings, Andrea Lee was a member of the 2016 Curtis Cup Team that lost to Great Britain & Ireland, 11.5-8.5. She was 1-2-0 in her Curtis Cup debut, earning a win in Sunday’s singles format. In her two years at Stanford, Lee has racked up accomplishments including a runner up finish in the 2018 NCAA Championship and qualifying for the 2018 U.S. Women’s Open. Her sophomore season included three individual wins and selections to the PING/Women’s Golf Coaches Association first team All-American, Pac-12 first team, and Palmer Cup. 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. 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.
Andrea Lee reacts to just missing a birdie putt at the seventh hole during a practice round ahead of the 2018 Curtis Cup at Quaker Ridge Golf Club in Scarsdale, N.Y. on Thursday, June 7, 2018. (Copyright USGA/Steven Gibbons)
With all those honors, Lee will still have nerves as she represents team USA in the matches: “I mean, we’re all just kind of itching to get out there. We’ve been here for a few days now, played a lot of practice rounds and all that stuff, getting to know our games better with each other and finding out who’s compatible in alternate-shot and four-ball. But the nerves will definitely kick in tonight when the flags are raised. It’s always an honor to represent our country, and it’s going to be really fun. Really excited for tomorrow, and I can’t wait to get out there. I’m sure we all are.”
The competition begins Friday morning with Four-Ball matches and will continue all weekend, culminating with Sunday’s singles matches.
-NCGA Staff
