Captains Named for USA World Amateur Teams


Past USGA President Fred S. Ridley of Tampa, Fla., has been named captain of the USA Team for the 2010 World Amateur Team Championship, to be played in October in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Roberta Bolduc of Longmeadow, Mass., will serve in the same capacity for the American women's team, which will compete a week early, also in Argentina.

"Being named captain of the USA World Amateur Team is a great honor and an experience I am very much looking forward to," Ridley said. "With golf in the Olympics now a reality, international interest in the game is at an all-time high. The World Amateur Team Championships represent international amateur golf at its highest level."

Ridley, 57, served as USGA president in 2004 and 2005 and was a member of the Executive Committee for 12 years. He was also USGA treasurer in 1998 and 1999 and vice president from 2000-2003.

He has had a distinguished career in amateur golf. Six years after losing in the first round of match play of the 1969 U.S. Junior Amateur, he won the 1975 U.S. Amateur. That earned him a berth on the 1976 USA World Amateur Team. One year later, he was named to the USA Walker Cup Team. He also served as a non-playing captain of the USA Walker Cup Team in 1987 and 1989.

"I am extremely honored to have the opportunity to captain the Women's World Amateur Team for the USA and I look forward to a great experience with three of our finest women amateurs," Bolduc said. "Just as we have seen with the Olympics, it is amazing to see athletes of all cultures come together in friendship and good will to share the love of a sport. The World Amateur Team Championship highlights the appeal of golf throughout the world."

Bolduc was a member of the USGA Women's Committee from 1997-2008 and served as its chairman in 2007 and '08. She was chairman of the USGA Senior Women's Amateur Championship Committee in 2003 and 2004 and served on the USGA Handicap and Women's Handicap Procedure committees. She served as chairman of the 1995 U.S. Girls' Junior Championship at Longmeadow Country Club, where she is a former member of the board of governors and where she served as the club's first female president, from 1998-2001. She has served on the Women's Trans-National Golf Association Executive Committee and the board of directors of the Women's Golf Association of Massachusetts (WGAM) and is a past president of the Women's Eastern Golf Association.

She played in the inaugural U.S. Women's Mid-Amateur Championship in 1987 and has played in nine USGA Senior Women's Amateurs. In addition, she was the 1999 and 2000 WGAM Senior champion and the 1995 Women's Eastern Senior champion.

The Women's World Amateur Team Championship, for the Espirito Santo Trophy, will be played October 20-23 at Buenos Aires and Olivos Golf Clubs. The World Amateur Team Championship, for the Eisenhower Trophy, will be played October 28-31 at the same clubs.

The World Amateur Team Championships began in 1958, with the Women's World Amateur Team Championship starting in 1964. The International Golf Federation (IGF) was founded in 1958 to encourage the international development of golf through friendship and sportsmanship. Today, the IGF consists of more than 120 national governing bodies of golf and is recognized as the international federation for golf for the International Olympic Committee. As one of its main functions, the IGF conducts the World Amateur Team Championships for women and men on a biennial basis.

The World Amateur Team Championships were last played in 2008 in Australia. Scotland claimed the men's title and Sweden won the women's championship.

For more information, visit www.internationalgolffederation.org or www.usga.org.