Meet the 2016 GB&I Curtis Cup Team
No. 185 in the Women’s World Amateur Golf Ranking™
Dunne, who played collegiately at Bethune-Cookman University in Daytona Beach, Fla., is the oldest player on either side and the oldest to represent Great Britain and Ireland since 37-year-old Vicky Thomas in 1992. She boosted her résumé with a third-place finish in the Helen Holm Scottish Open Amateur Stroke Play Championship at Troon in April. She shared the lead with GB&I Team member Olivia Mehaffey with a few holes to play. Her 2015-16 achievements include representing Ireland in the European Team Championships, winning the Irish Foursomes with partner Chloe Ryan, advancing to the quarterfinals of the 2015 Spanish Amateur and the Round of 16 in this year’s Spanish Amateur. Her husband Bryan is a farmer in Skerries, a seaside town in County Dublin. She was one of two wild-card selections by the Ladies Golf Union Panel.
No. 36 in the Women’s World Amateur Golf Ranking™
Hewson, a freshman at Clemson University, brings plenty of international experience into her first Curtis Cup appearance. She has competed for Great Britain and Ireland in the Vagliano Trophy against Continental Europe and its junior companion. She has been a regular winner since claiming the Under 13 English Girls’ title. She also has won the Scottish Under 16 Stroke Play, the Under 18 title at the St. Rule Trophy and the Telegraph Junior Championship. Hewson helped England defeat Spain in the biennial international and led England in both the girls’ and women’s Home Internationals, and the team event at the European Young Masters. She has posted two victories in her first season at Clemson.
No. 4 in the Women’s World Amateur Golf Ranking™
Law, a UCLA junior, is making her third consecutive appearance in the Curtis Cup Match, having helped GB&I reclaim the Cup in 2012 at The Nairn Golf Club in Scotland with a 10½-9½ victory that ended a 16-year drought. She also competed in the 13-7 loss in 2014 at St. Louis (Mo.) Country Club. Law owns three college victories this season for the Bruins, including a tie for first with USA Curtis Cup competitor Bailey Tardy in NCAA Bryan (Texas) Regional. She also has claimed the last two English Women’s Amateur titles. She has been representing England in a variety of competitions since the age of 14, including appearances in the Junior Ryder Cup and Junior Solheim Cup. Last summer, she advanced to the quarterfinals of the U.S. Women’s Amateur, where she lost to eventual runner-up and 2016 USA Curtis Cup competitor Sierra Brooks. Earlier this year, she was the runner-up in the South American Amateur.
No. 40 in the Women’s World Amateur Golf Ranking™
MacLaren, a junior at Florida International University, is a past champion of the British and Irish Stroke Play competitions. She also owns eight college victories and advanced to the NCAA regionals this year as an individual. Additionally, she represented GB&I in the 2015 Vagliano Trophy and represented Europe in the inaugural Patsy Hankins Trophy. Her top-10 finishes this season include the Helen Holm Scottish Women’s Open Amateur Stroke Play and the South American Amateur.
No. 2 in the Women’s World Amateur Golf Ranking™
Maguire, a sophomore at Duke University, enjoyed a stellar 2015 season in which she was the recipient of the Mark H. McCormack Medal for being the leading female amateur in the WAGR as well as the Annika Award for being the collegiate player of the year. The Women’s Golf Coaches Association also named her its Freshman of the Year. Along with twin sister, Lisa, who also attends Duke, they competed in the 2010 Curtis Cup Match at Essex County Club in Manchester-by-the-Sea, Mass., a 12½-7½ defeat. She was a member of the victorious 2012 Curtis Cup Team at The Nairn Golf Club in Scotland, the first win for GB&I since the 1996 Match. Maguire also represented Europe in the Junior Ryder Cup and Junior Solheim Cup, and won the 2009 Helen Holm Scottish Women’s Open Amateur Stroke Play, the year she made her Vagliano Trophy debut for GB&I at the age of 15. In 2011, she claimed the Ladies British Stroke Play, the Irish Women’s Open Stroke Play and the Portuguese Women’s Open Amateur.
No. 8 in the Women’s World Amateur Golf Ranking™
Mehaffey has been rising up the rankings in the past two years, thanks to winning performances in the 2015 Scottish and Welsh Open Amateur Stroke Play competitions. She also claimed the 2015 LGU Order of Merit, which earned her a spot in the 2015 Ricoh Women’s British Open. She has represented Europe in the Junior Solheim Cup and GB&I in the 2014 Vagliano Trophy. She also played in the Junior Vagliano Trophy in 2012. This year, Mehaffey won the Irish Women’s Open Stroke Play and was runner-up in defense of her Helen Holm crown. Mehaffey has signed to play at Arizona State University in the fall, where one of her teammates will be 2016 USA Curtis Cup competitor Monica Vaughn.
No. 307 in the Women’s World Amateur Golf Ranking™
Morris earned her spot by being among the top two in the Ladies' Golf Union Order of Merit who was not among the top four in the WAGR. Morris posted a pair of runner-up finishes in two national championships in 2015: the English Women’s Amateur and the English Women’s Open Stroke Play. She also finished second among the qualifiers for the English Women’s Open Match Play. This year, she finished second in The Leveret Trophy, a prestigious stroke-play event, and advanced to the match-play stages of the French Under 21 Championship.
No. 41 in the Women’s World Amateur Golf Ranking™
Although born in Surrey, England, Thomas spent her high school years in Singapore and now plays out of Moonah Links in Australia. A senior at the University of Washington, Thomas owns one college victory this season and seven other top-10 finishes. Thomas became the first Lady Husky to win a tournament in her first appearance, taking the 2012 Oregon State Invitational as a freshman. Thomas went 1-2 in the 2014 Curtis Cup Match at St. Louis (Mo.) Country Club, posting a 2-up Sunday singles win over Erynne Lee in GB&I’s 13-7 defeat. She is a past winner of the English Women’s Open Mid-Amateur Championship and a runner-up in the English Stroke Play. Thomas also won the inaugural Annika Invitational at Mission Hills in Shenzhen, China.