Virginia Derby Grimes, 1998 U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur champion, of Montgomery, Ala., will captain the 2018 USA Curtis Cup Team. A biennial competition between top female amateur golfers from the United States and Great Britain and Ireland (GB&I), the 40th Match will be contested June 8-10 at Quaker Ridge Golf Club in Scarsdale, N.Y.
A member of the victorious 1998, 2000 and 2006 USA Curtis Cup Teams, Derby Grimes owns a 4-0-1 record in foursomes, which is tied for the second-best record in Match history. She is one of 10 women on either side to go undefeated while playing in at least four foursomes (alternate-shot) matches.
“Virginia is an incredibly accomplished and well-respected player,” said Pam Murray, chairman of the USGA Women’s Committee. “Her individual Curtis Cup record speaks for itself, and we are proud and excited to welcome her as captain of the 2018 Team.”
Derby Grimes won the 1998 U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur with a 4-and-3 victory over Robin Weiss at Champions Golf Club in Houston, Texas, and was runner-up to Corey Weworski in the 2004 championship. She was a member of Alabama’s winning team in the 1997 USGA Women’s State Team Championship and earned medalist honors in the 1995 and 1997 U.S. Women’s Amateur Championships.
“To captain the 2018 Curtis Cup Team and represent the United States and the USGA is both an honor and a privilege,” said Derby Grimes. “Having the opportunity to play on three winning Curtis Cup Teams remains one of the most gratifying accomplishments of my career. My captains – Barbara McIntire in 1998, Jane Booth in 2000 and Carol Semple Thompson in 2006 – all made lasting impressions on me, and I hope I am able to continue that tradition by sharing my perspective and passion for this game that continues to teach me so much.”
A 1987 Auburn University graduate, Derby Grimes was a member of Auburn’s women’s golf team in 1985-86 and served as the team’s coach from 1991-94. Auburn recognized Derby Grimes in 1998 by renaming its women’s golf tournament the Auburn Tiger-Derby Invitational. The tournament, which has not been played since 2008, will be restarted in 2018 as the Evans-Derby Experience to also recognize former Auburn coach Kim Evans. In 2004, Derby Grimes was inducted into Auburn’s Tiger Trail, which honors outstanding athletes, coaches and administrators.
Derby Grimes served on the USGA Women’s Committee in 2003-04 and was inducted into the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame in 2004. The Alabama native is a five-time Alabama Women’s Amateur and three-time Mississippi Women’s Amateur champion, and also won the 1987 and 1996 Women’s Southern Amateur Championships and the 1998 and 2006 South Atlantic Amateur Championships, known as the Sally.
The GB&I Team won the 2016 Curtis Cup Match at Dun Laoghaire Golf Club in Ireland, while the USA won the 2014 Match at St. Louis (Mo.) Country Club. The USA leads the overall series, 28-8-3.
The 2018 Curtis Cup will be the second USGA championship conducted at Quaker Ridge, which hosted the 1997 Walker Cup Match, won by the USA. Founded in 1915, Quaker Ridge originally featured a nine-hole course designed by John Duncan Dunn. In 1916, A.W. Tillinghast was commissioned to redesign seven holes and create 11 new holes. The course opened in its current configuration in 1918, and Robert Trent Jones (1965), Rees Jones (1993) and Gil Hanse (2009-12) have overseen modifications.
