Captain Catriona Matthew will be sole Scot involved in Curtis Cup defence

Catriona Matthew will aim to work some more of her magic as a captain without a Scot in her Great Britain & Ireland side for next month’s Curtis Cup in Los Angeles.

Seven English players and one from Ireland have either qualified automatically or been selected by Matthew for the match on 12-14 June at Bel Air Country Club, where GB&I will be bidding to pull off a first win in the biennial event on US soil in 40 years.

It’s the first time in five editions that a Scot has failed to make the team, with Hannah Darling and Lorna McClymont having both been part of a winning side at Sunningdale two years ago.

Captain Catriona Matthew led GB&I to victory in the 2024 Curtis Cup at Sunningdale and is now bidding to emulate the feat on US soil in Los Angeles next month | Tom Dulat/R&A/R&A via Getty Images

Carly McDonald is Scotland’s new young star, having recently emulated both Darling and Grace Crawford and by winning The R&A Girls’ Under-16 Championship. At just 14, though, she’s not ready yet for a Curtis Cup.

“Yeah, I obviously had Lorna and Hannah last time and both turned pro and there is no-one really for this Curtis Cup,” admitted Matthew, a double Solheim Cup-winning captain before taking on this role, in reply to being asked about her Scot-free team.

“There's a few younger ones coming up, so maybe for the next one in ‘28 we'll hopefully see some Scots back in the team. But, just with the kind of cyclical nature, there was just none really ready after Lorna and Hannah coming through.”

England’s Patience Rhodes and Ireland’s Beth Coulter are survivors from the winning Sunningdale side, with Sophia Fullbrook, Lily Hirst, Isla McDonald-O’Brien, Charlotte Naughton, Nellie Ong and Davina Xanh being the other players being on duty for this match. England’s Annabel Peaford and Ireland’s Emma Fleming are the non-travelling reserves.

GB&I bidding for first win on US soil since 1986

“I was actually looking through the other night just to see the last time we had won it in the States,” admitted Matthew. “And yes, it was 1986. So 40 years, I think that's a nice round number to try and change that.

“I's going to be tough. I saw the American team was announced and, apart from one, they're all in the top 25 of the WAGR rankings. But if you're just looking at the play over the spring season in America, all our team have beaten the Americans over 18 holes.

“Match play is so different from three or four rounds of stroke play and it's just instilling that belief that they're very capable over 18 holes of beating them.”