Most Career Points Won By a Curtis Cup Golfer

The Curtis Cup takes place every other year between teams of amateur women golfers, one representing the United States (Team USA) and one Great Britain & Ireland (Team GB&I). In the event's history, which dates to 1932, only four golfers have earned 10 or more points over their Curtis Cup careers. But just one of those has reached 20 points.

Curtis Cup golfers play foursomes, fourball and singles matches today. Winning a match is worth one point, halving (tying) a match is worth a half-point. A golfer can play as many as five matches in a single Curtis Cup today, although that number was lower through most of the tournament's history.

The List: Most Curtis Cup Points, Career

All golfers who won at least eight points in Curtis Cup matches:

• 20.0 points — Carol Semple Thompson, USA (1974, 1976, 1980, 1982, 1988, 1990, 1992, 1994, 1996, 1998, 2000, 2002)
• 12.0 points — Anne Quast Sander, USA (1958, 1960, 1962, 1966, 1968, 1974, 1984, 1990)
• 12.0 points — Mary McKenna, GB&I (1970, 1972, 1974, 1976, 1978, 1980, 1982, 1984, 1986)
• 10.5 points — Phyllis Preuss, USA (1962, 1964, 1966, 1968, 1970)
• 10 points — Rachel Kuehn, USA (2021, 2022, 2024)
• 9.0 points — Jane Bastanchury Booth, USA (1970, 1972, 1974)
• 9.0 points — Lancy Smith, USA (1972, 1978, 1980, 1982, 1984)
• 8.5 points — Belle McCorkindale Robertson, GB&I (1960, 1966, 1968, 1970, 1972)
• 8.0 points — Elizabeth Price, GB&I (1950, 1952, 1954, 1956, 1958, 1960)
• 8.0 points — Angela Ward Bonallack, GB&I (1956, 1958, 1960, 1962, 1964, 1966)
• 8.0 points — Barbara McIntire, USA (1958, 1960, 1962, 1964, 1966, 1972)
• 8.0 points — Julia Greenhalgh, GB&I (1964, 1970, 1974, 1976, 1978)
• 8.0 points — Vicki Thomas, GB&I (1982, 1984, 1986, 1988, 1990, 1992)
• 8.0 points — Bronte Law, GB&I (2012, 2014, 2016)

Carol Semple Thompson's 20 career points earned in Curtis Cup play belongs on those lists of the most-unbreakable records in golf. She's 7.5 points ahead of the next-best on the list. But, today, career amateurs — at least at the level good enough to repeatedly earn spots in the Curtis Cup — don't really exist anymore. Most golfers good enough to make a Curtis Cup team year after year, after all, are probably going to turn pro and start making some money.

Semple Thompson played in 12 Curtis Cups (which is also a tournament record), first in 1974 when she was 25 years old and last in 2002 at age 53. And in that 2002 Curtis Cup, Semple Thompson clinched Team USA's victory by making a 27-foot birdie putt on the final hole.

Semple Thompson won the U.S. Women's Amateur in 1973, the British Ladies Amateur in 1974, and four consecutive U.S. Senior Women's Amateurs (1999-2002). She is a member of the World Golf Hall of Fame.

The highest career points total by a Team GB&I golfer is Mary McKenna's 12.5, earned over nine appearances from 1970 to 1986. And nine appearances in the Curtis Cup is the team record for GB&I.

The only golfers on the list whose first appearance in the Curtis Cup was in 1984 or later are Bronte Law and Rachel Kuehn. Law earned eight points for Team GB&I in three Cups, 2012, 2014 and 2016. Kuehn went 9-2-2 (10 points) for Team USA in 2021, 2022 and 2024.

Related articles:

• Who is the Curtis Cup named for?
• List of all Curtis Cup team captains
• Sisters, mother-daughter pairs who both played Curtis Cup

Sources:
PGATour.com. "Career female amateur joins World Golf Hall of Fame," June 24, 2008, https://web.archive.org/web/20120930061415/http://www.pgatour.com/2008/r/06/24/uswomensopen/index.html.
USGA. Curtis Cup Media Guide, Curtis Cup Records, https://www.usga.org/content/usga/home-page/media/online-media-center/usga-records/curtis-cup-records.html.