Who plays in the Curtis Cup? Why is it called the Curtis Cup?

The Curtis Cup is co-organized by the United States Golf Association and The R&A and is contested by teams representing the United States and “Great Britain and Ireland”.

The same two teams originally contested the Ryder Cup, but unlike that competition, the Curtis Cup has not widened the Great Britain and Ireland team to include all Europeans (nor has the analogous event for amateur men, the Walker Cup).

Why is it called the Curtis Cup?

The Curtis Cup is named after a pair of American sisters Margaret Curtis and Harriot Curtis, who were early golf champions and advocates of an international competition. Those sisters were

Harriot Curtis and Margaret Curtis were two of the best women golfers in the early days of organized women’s tournament play in the United States.

The Curtis sisters were members of Essex County Club in Manchester, Mass., their hometown.

Harriot won the 1906 U.S. Women’s Amateur Championship. In the finals of the 1907 Women’s Am, Margaret defeated Harriot, then Margaret won again in 1911-12.

The Curtis sisters came from a prominent family in Massachussetts in the 19th and early 20th centuries.

Their father had been a Union Cavalry officer in the Civil War; a brother had served in the Taft Administration as United States Secretary of the Treasury.

One of the sisters’ cousins, Laurence Curtis, was one of the earliest presidents of the USGA.

The Curtis sisters were among a group of eight American women who traveled to play in the 1905 British Ladies Amateur Championship. While there, the Americans and a team of British women played an informal team match.

That event sowed the seeds, leading the Curtis sisters and others on both sides of the Atlantic to lobby for a formal USA vs. GB&I team competition.

There were many starts and stops over the next couple decades as interest remained, but funds were lacking.

In 1927, hoping to spur the USGA and Ladies Golf Union (LGU) to establish such a competition, Harriot and Margaret commissioned the creation of a trophy, a silver cup ( The Curtis Cup.)

It was another five years before the trophy was awarded, however, first presented at the 1932 Curtis Cup, the inaugural edition.

Who plays in the Curtis Cup?

The Curtis Cup is played by female amateur golfers, one team from the United States and one team comprised of players from Great Britain and Ireland.