Winning in America ain’t easy. Take GB&I’s fortunes on away soil in the Curtis Cup, for instance.
It’s been so long since a travelling team from these isles won over there, you half expect the footage of the conquest to come on a grainy, crackling newsreel that’s accompanied by the British Pathe fanfare.
Back in 1986, GB&I’s women won the Curtis Cup in America for the first time in the biennial event’s history. Forty years on, the feat has never been repeated.
“I couldn't quite believe it when I had to go all the way back to ‘86 to find the last team that won over there,” said Catriona Matthew, the current GB&I captain who will try to bridge that yawning gap when she takes her team to Bel Air Country Club next month to defend the cup.
“I was just a teenager in ‘86. I was just getting right into my golf. So, 40 years on, I think that's a nice round number to try and change that.”
If anyone can, then Catriona can. One of Scotland’s greatest golfers has plenty of experience of home and away wins, of course.
She helped guide Europe’s Solheim Cup professionals to back-to-back successes in 2019 and 2021 and the 56-year-old is now hoping to emulate that achievement with some amateur dramatics.
Matthew, who played in three Curtis Cups back in the day and became the first pro golfer to take up the captaincy for the 2024 match, is well aware of the size of the task.
It’s a challenge she’s relishing, though. “I mean, it’s going to be tough,” said Matthew, who unveiled her side for the transatlantic tussle in Los Angeles yesterday.
“I saw the American team was announced and most of the players are in the top 25 of the world rankings.
“But if you're just looking at the play over the spring season in America, all our players have beaten the Americans over 18-holes.
"Matchplay, of course, is so different from three, four-round strokeplay. But it's just instilling that belief that they're very capable over 18-holes of beating them.”
The 2024 contest at Sunningdale was quite something. GB&I hadn’t won the Curtis Cup since 2016 and in that time they had suffered some dreadful trouncings.
The 17-3 defeat at Quaker Ridge in 2018 and the 15 ½ - 4 ½ reversal at Merion in 2022, for instance, were so painful, even the record books were left nursing cuts and bruises.
Matthew’s calm, diligent and inspired captaincy soothed those wounds, though, as GB&I earned a thrilling 10 ½ - 9 ½ win.
It was a very special team. Lottie Woad, now a professional, has already won two LPGA Tour titles while Mimi Rhodes won three times during her rookie season on the Ladies European Tour.
There are some big shoes to fill. Only two players from the 2024 team – Beth Coulter and Patience Rhodes – are in this year’s side.
Two years ago, the Scottish duo of Hannah Darling and Lorna McClymont, who are both now touring professionals, played key roles in the GB&I victory but there will be no Scots in Matthew’s 2026 squad.
“It’s just the cyclical nature of it,” said Matthew, who welcomed Carly McDonald’s recent win in the Girls’ Under-16 Championship but acknowledged that the St Andrews youngster is still only 14.
“There are a few younger ones coming up so hopefully we’ll see some Scots back for the 2028 match. There were none who were really ready this time.”
When GB&I last won in America 40 years ago, the wonderful Scot, Belle Robertson, was part of the side at the sprightly age of 50.
These days, both teams are full of teenagers and early 20-somethings. “It’s just the changing face of golf,” added Matthew.
“The majority turn pro. You don't really have the full-time amateurs that you used to have in the past. The likes of Belle, Mary McKenna, Carol Semple Thompson; the ones who played in numerous Curtis Cups.”
GB&I held the Curtis Cup three times in a row between 1992 and 1996. Sandwiched between two home wins was a 9-9 draw in the US in 1994.
If GB&I manage a win in LA this year, they’ll erect a golden statue of Matthew on top of the Royal & Ancient clubhouse.
Whatever happens, this will be Matthew’s swansong as GB&I skipper. “No, no, it’s two and done,” she smiled when asked if she’d fancy a third term.
“It's such a privilege to be able to do a Solheim Cup or a Curtis Cup. I think for a captain it’s home and away and then you give someone else the opportunity.”
Matthew will be hoping her GB&I side seize the Curtis Cup opportunity next month.
