Five Players Named to 2012 USA Curtis Cup Team


The United States Golf Association has announced the selection of five players to represent the USA in the 2012 Curtis Cup Match, to be conducted June 8-10 at The Nairn Golf Club in Scotland.

The players are: Amy Anderson, 19, of Oxbow, N.D.; Lindy Duncan, 20, of Fort Lauderdale, Fla.; Austin Ernst, 19, of Seneca, S.C.; Tiffany Lua, 20, of Rowland Heights, Calif.; and Brooke Pancake, 21, of Chattanooga, Tenn. Three additional players will be named to complete the eight-member Team in January.

The Curtis Cup Match is a biennial international women's amateur golf competition between eight-player teams from the United States of America and Great Britain and Ireland. The USA won the 2010 Match at Essex County Club in Manchester-by-the-Sea, Mass., 12.5-7.5.

"I am thrilled that these five outstanding young women will be members of the 2012 Curtis Cup Team," said USA Team Captain Patricia Cornett, M.D. "I had the great pleasure of watching these players over the past year and am confident they will represent the USA in exemplary fashion. I congratulate each on this wonderful and well-deserved honor."

Anderson, a junior at North Dakota State University, won the 2009 U.S. Girls' Junior Championship and was among the first-round leaders at the 2011 U.S. Women's Open Championship, where she finished as the fourth-lowest amateur.

Duncan, a junior at Duke University, was a semifinalist in the 2006 U.S. Women's Amateur at the age of 15. She also finished as second-lowest amateur at the 2011 Women's Open, and is a two-time National Golf Coaches Association All-American and two-time Atlantic Coast Conference Player of the Year.

Ernst, a sophomore at Louisiana State University, took the individual title at the 2011 NCAA Division I Championship, becoming the first freshman to win in 13 years. She also advanced to the semifinals at the 2011 U.S. Women's Amateur Championship.

Lua, a junior at UCLA, compiled a 1-2-0 record in the 2010 Curtis Cup Match. She also helped UCLA capture the 2011 NCAA Division I Women's Golf Championship, and was a semifinalist at the 2011 U.S. Women's Amateur Public Links Championship.

Pancake, a senior at the University of Alabama, advanced to the semifinals of the 2011 U.S. Women's Amateur and is a three-time NGCA All-American Scholar.

All five players named to the USA Curtis Cup Team finished within the top 20 at the 2011 NCAA Division I Championship. Duncan, Ernst and Pancake were named to the 2011 NGCA All-American first team, while Anderson and Lua received second-team honors.

Full biographical information on the players can be found at http://www.usga.org/news/2011/December/2012-USA-Curtis-Cup-Team-Bios/. More information on Cornett can be found at http://www.usga.org/NewsSF.aspx?id=2147496068.

The Curtis Cup Match consists of six foursomes (alternate-shot) matches, six four-ball matches and eight singles matches over three days of competition. The USA Team has won the last seven Matches and leads the series, 27-6-3.

The above report is courtesy of the USGA. For more information, visit www.usga.org.