BATON ROUGE – LSU’s reigning women’s NCAA Champion, Austin Ernst, received a Christmas present a few days early Wednesday as the United States Golf Association announced that she was one of five players selected to represent the USA in the 2012 Curtis Cup Match set for June 2012 at The Nairn Golf Club in Scotland.
Three addition 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 USA and Great Britain and Ireland. The USA won the 2010 Match at Essex Country Club in Manchester-by-the-Sea, Mass., 12.5-7.5.
Joining Ernst are Amy Anderson of Oxbow, N.D.; Lindy Duncan of Fort Lauderdale, Fla.; Tiffany Lua of Rowland Heights, Calif. (the only remaining amateur from the 2010 Curtis Cup win); and Brooke Pancake of Chattanooga, Tenn.
“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.”
Ernst, a sophomore at LSU, 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.
The Seneca, S.C., native has won three times in her career, including one tournament this past fall. In the NCAA Championships, Ernst rallied in the final round from three shots down, thanks to a hole-in-one and a lengthy birdie putt on back-to-back holes early on the last day. For the seven holes, she posted a seven-under par, shooting six-under 66 on the second and fourth days.
Ernst, back home in South Carolina for the semester break, tweeted earlier in the day after the announcement: “Can’t wait to represent the United States at the 2012 Curtis Cup in Scotland! So honored and blessed.”
“We are so proud to have Austin represent the USA and LSU in the Curtis Cup,” said LSU Coach Karen Bahnsen, who with Ernst now has her second Curtis Cup member as former U.S. Women’s Amateur Champion Meredith Duncan was a member of the winning team in 2002.
Anderson, a junior at North Dakota State University, won the 2009 U.S. Girls’ Junior Championship while 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.
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.
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.
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.