{"id":877279,"date":"2026-08-30T17:42:24","date_gmt":"2026-08-30T17:42:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/877279\/"},"modified":"2026-08-30T17:42:24","modified_gmt":"2026-08-30T17:42:24","slug":"these-generous-donors-protected-walker-and-curtis-cups-futures","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/877279\/","title":{"rendered":"These generous donors protected Walker and Curtis Cups’ futures"},"content":{"rendered":"

This content was first published in\u00a0Golf Journal, a quarterly print publication exclusively for USGA Members. To be among the first to receive\u00a0Golf Journal\u00a0and to learn how you can ensure a strong future for the game,\u00a0become a USGA Member today!<\/a><\/p>\n

Over the course of the histories of the Walker Cup and Curtis Cup Matches \u2013 biennial team events founded in 1922 and 1932, respectively \u2013 there are countless moments and triumphs that evoke the special nature of each event. But there\u2019s one in particular that comes to mind for 77-year-old Carol Semple Thompson, whose illustrious amateur career includes a staggering 122 USGA championship starts.<\/p>\n

Twenty-four years ago, in 2002, Thompson was competing in what turned out to be her 12th and final Curtis Cup, which pits the top female amateurs from the United States against their counterparts from Great Britain & Ireland \u2013 just as the Walker Cup does on the male side. The match was held in Thompson\u2019s home state of Pennsylvania, at Fox Chapel Golf Club in Pittsburgh, a mere 13 miles from where she grew up in Sewickley.<\/p>\n

Then 53 years old, Thompson played in the second match out in Sunday afternoon singles. The USA Team held an 8-4 lead heading into the final session. But in match play, anything can happen, and GB&I claimed the first two points of the afternoon. Thompson\u2019s opponent was 21-year-old Vikki Laing of Scotland. The two arrived tied on the 18th green, where Thompson faced one of the most consequential putts of her storied golf life: a 27-foot birdie putt for the win.<\/p>\n

What happened next was an appropriate cap to Thompson\u2019s World Golf Hall of Fame legacy. With a packed hometown gallery watching, she drained the putt to secure a record 18th Curtis Cup match victory for herself and clinch the overall match for the USA \u2013 a landmark moment for not only Thompson, but the Cup itself.<\/p>\n

\"A
\n Carol Semple Thompson at the 2002 Curtis Cup at Fox Chapel Golf Club.<\/p>\n

USGA\/John Mummert<\/p>\n

\u201cThat was definitely an out-of-body experience,\u201d Thompson recalls nearly a quarter-century later. \u201cWith that putt, I was able to make sure that we had halved the overall match. And then we went ahead and won it outright, but it was a big deal because I just never expected to make a long putt like that on the 18th green in my hometown.\u201d<\/p>\n

Over the decades \u2013 and through various match formats \u2013 the Walker and Curtis Cups have served to highlight the raw emotions of golf competition in its purest form. The USGA\u2019s mission includes supporting these historic amateur match-play events, which are contested every other year, in addition to the 15 championships it conducts annually. But unlike major championships such as the U.S. Open and U.S. Women\u2019s Open Presented by Ally, the Walker Cup and Curtis Cup are smaller-scale events that generate little or no revenue. With the aim of combatting the significant expenses involved in staging the Cups, the USGA outlined a bold proposition to protect their futures: endowment.<\/p>\n

In 2023, the USGA launched an initiative to raise $20 million from a select group of donors, and pledged to fully match those gifts. That financial base would secure the Cups\u2019 futures in perpetuity. These initial donors are referred to as the Keepers of the Cups.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re a mission-driven organization that raises money through a variety of ways, but we had never really thought about it this way before,\u201d says Chris Fraser, the USGA\u2019s chief philanthropy officer. \u201cWe weren\u2019t sure what kind of reception we were going to get, but the message resonated even more than we had expected.\u201d<\/p>\n

The initial goal was to secure 20 donors within five years, but it only took 18 months. And the generosity has continued to flow. The Keepers of the Cups all understand and deeply appreciate the sportsmanship and international fellowship fostered by these historic competitions, and the critical importance of securing their future funding.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy wife, Susan, and I have always been interested in supporting amateur golf,\u201d says George Wyper, of Darien, Conn. \u201cWithin the game of golf, there is no higher ideal. Locally, we have always supported caddie programs, but as we aged, we looked more to support the development of players. In our minds, the key characteristics of golf \u2013 integrity, competitive focus, strong character \u2013 are lifelong attributes to success. We have supported the Walker Cup and Curtis Cup as epitomizing the finest examples of what young golfers can aspire to.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fellow Keeper Thomas Laffont, of Santa Monica, Calif., agrees.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn a world where the economics of golf are being transformed, where we read about how much money the top players are making, the Walker Cup is kind of the opposite of that,\u201d he says. \u201cIt\u2019s about amateur golf and competition. It\u2019s about country, not the individual. It\u2019s about honoring the history of the game.\u201d<\/p>\n

As valued stewards, the Keepers of the Cups are welcomed to be an integral part of the Matches themselves. The Walker Cup and Curtis Cup are intimate by design. The venues are carefully selected, Top-100 world mainstays like Seminole, Merion, Pine Valley and the National Golf Links of America, to name a few. And unlike a major championship, you won\u2019t find extensive gallery ropes or numerous restricted areas. The on-course action is refreshingly accessible. Keepers enjoy a VIP-level experience, complete with special events and opportunities to meet the players and team captains.<\/p>\n

While the various benefits are abundant and appreciated, the Keepers are quick to point out that the real joy of their giving lies in supporting the game they love and taking part in the USGA\u2019s mission to protect and preserve it.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs a Keeper of the Cups, I chose to make a personally significant contribution because it was a way to make a legacy-type endowment,\u201d says Robert Whittenberger, of Pipersville, Pa. \u201cI have long been an emotional supporter of amateur golf and national team events. Formally supporting them is a way for me to make a material financial contribution. I see this donation as something of which my son would be proud once he is old enough to understand.\u201d<\/p>\n

Keepers Sanjay and Julie Meshri, of Tulsa, Okla., took up golf as adults and attended their first Walker Cup at St. Andrews in 2023. The more they learned about the history of the Cups, the more interested they were in helping to preserve their legacies.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had such an amazing time, just getting to walk close to the players and seeing how incredibly skilled they are,\u201d Sanjay says. \u201cYou just don\u2019t get that close in other tournaments. It\u2019s really good to feel like a long-term steward of the game.\u201d<\/p>\n

Another unexpected bonus for the Keepers: newfound friendships across the globe.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re making friends from clubs in Great Britain and Ireland. Just watching how everyone treats each other is wonderful,\u201d Sanjay says. \u201cIt\u2019s been an amazing experience, and we didn\u2019t have expectations other than we just wanted to support it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Many Keepers emphasize the satisfaction they feel in joining with others who share their values.<\/p>\n

\u201cBeing a major gift donor to the USGA Foundation puts you in an exceptional group of people,\u201d says Whittenberger. \u201cMajor gift donors all love the game of golf, have the resources to make a major gift and have a generous and charitable orientation that is uncommon. I\u2019m proud to be a member.\u201d<\/p>\n

Both the Walker Cup and Curtis Cup are named for their founders: former USGA president George Herbert Walker, grandfather and eponym of President George H. W. Bush and great-grandfather of President George W. Bush; and sisters Harriot and Margaret Curtis, who combined to win four U.S. Women\u2019s Amateurs and were lifelong philanthropists.<\/p>\n

\"Two
\n The Curtis Cup and Walker Cup trophies.<\/p>\n

USGA\/Jonathan Kolbe<\/p>\n

Walker Stapleton and Curt Curtis are among the living relatives of these founders, and in the case of Curtis, the last remaining. As Keepers and staunch supporters of the amateur game, they take the Cups\u2019 legacies seriously.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have the distinction of being absolutely the worst golfer of all the Curtises,\u201d Curtis says with a laugh. \u201cBut I am a major supporter of amateur sports, so when I heard about the Keepers of the Cups, I just thought it was a terrific idea, and a no-brainer for me.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought it made a ton of sense to both be supportive of amateur golf and do something that would give the USGA the financial stability to run these competitions to the best of their ability and with the greatest amount of success, and not to worry about variability of costs,\u201d said Stapleton.<\/p>\n

A recurring motivating theme shared by the Keepers is the idea of golf as a lifelong pursuit, with the Walker Cup and Curtis Cup exemplifying the foundation of that ideal.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe first President Bush (41) used golf in a lot of the diplomacy he conducted in Maine, specifically at Cape Arundel Golf Club in Kennebunkport,\u201d Stapleton says. \u201cAnd President Bush (43) still spends most of the summer in Maine, and you can find him multiple times a week at Cape Arundel. That\u2019s kind of our family course, and through generations of family members, it\u2019s really brought people together.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the underlying philosophy is that golf starts with the amateur game, with introducing kids at the earliest possible age and exposing them to all the great lessons that golf teaches, from patience to dealing with frustration, to perseverance and tenacity,\u201d he continues. \u201cThose are the irreplaceable values that are required to have a successful round of golf. I think the great mission of the USGA is to spread the game as far as possible and be as inclusive as possible, because that will ensure that the game is in great shape for generations to come. This effort from the Keepers of the Cups is an important first step in creating an endowment structure to support the preeminent amateur events in the game.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Older
\n President George W. Bush and Walker Cup Team in 2025 at Cypress Point.<\/p>\n

USGA\/John Mummert<\/p>\n

There are no outsized purses on the line for the Curtis and Walker Cups \u2013 just the pure, unadulterated glory of partnered and head-to-head match play, and the natural camaraderie that blossoms therein. Competitors over the years have included nearly every star you can imagine before they turned professional, from Jack Nicklaus, Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy and Scottie Scheffler on the men\u2019s side to Nancy Lopez, Juli Inkster, Michelle Wie West and Lexi Thompson on the women\u2019s.<\/p>\n

There is perhaps no more ringing endorsement for the preservation of the Cups than the testimonies from those who have competed. For Carol Semple Thompson, the Curtis Cup and Walker Cup have meaning that goes far deeper than the competition itself.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think that amateur status in general is under attack,\u201d she says. \u201cThere are so many changes going on with the NIL and college golf, and the college players don\u2019t think about amateur golf anymore. They\u2019re all headed toward trying to make a living playing golf. Being an amateur means playing for the love of the game rather than the love of making money at it, and I\u2019m afraid we\u2019re going to lose that completely in the future. So that makes these two teams even more important.\u201d<\/p>\n

Stewart Hagestad has played on five USA Walker Cup Teams and is one of the increasingly rare few who resisted the lure of professional golf. He retains a deep appreciation for the generosity of the donors who enable amateur golf to continue to thrive.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of the people who are involved in the Walker Cup have become really close friends and mentors who I look up to in a lot of ways because we have this amazing shared love and passion and appreciation for all things golf,\u201d says Hagestad, 35, a three-time U.S. Mid-Amateur champion. \u201cSo the fact that all of these different folks have the desire, and have written the check, to be part of the Keepers of the Cups is pretty remarkable.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"A
\n Akshay Bhatia on Stewart Hagestad\u2019s shoulder at 2019 Walker Cup at Royal Liverpool.<\/p>\n

USGA\/John Mummert<\/p>\n

Like Hagestad, 48-year-old Meghan Stasi is a lifelong amateur, and she shares the USGA record of four U.S. Women\u2019s Mid-Amateur championship titles with Ellen Port. Stasi competed on the 2008 USA Curtis Cup Team and served as captain for the second time in this year\u2019s Curtis Cup at Bel-Air Country Club in Los Angeles, a memorable victory for the USA. It\u2019s difficult to overstate the meaning and prestige associated with being named to a Curtis Cup Team.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are only eight players on the team, so it\u2019s an extremely hard team to make,\u201d she says. \u201cThere are only 222 players that ever have played on the USA Curtis Cup Team. So to know that you\u2019re part of that history is just so special, and I don\u2019t think any player should ever take that for granted.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s the most incredible experience,\u201d she continued. \u201cGolf is a one-person game, but this week, you\u2019re playing for your team, you\u2019re playing for your country, and nothing gets better than that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Another cherished aspect of the Walker Cup and Curtis Cup is the chance to witness the ascendant talent of players who are perhaps not yet household names.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s history in the making,\u201d says Stasi. \u201cAnd it\u2019s having the opportunity to meet the best players in the world at an amateur level.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Five
\n Michelle Wie and 2018 Curtis Cup Team at Quaker Ridge Golf Club.<\/p>\n

USGA\/Jonathan Kolbe<\/p>\n

As a nonprofit, every dollar the USGA generates is reinvested into its initiatives. Television rights, ticket sales and corporate sponsorships for major championships like the U.S. Open and U.S. Women\u2019s Open account for the overwhelming majority of the USGA\u2019s revenue, but funds generated from the USGA Foundation and Members Program are also an important aspect of the USGA\u2019s financial outlook. In addition to conducting national championships, there are numerous other worthy endeavors the USGA supports, from the recently launched U.S. National Development Program (USNDP) and Pathways internship program to long-standing partnerships with First Tee and LPGA\/USGA Girls Golf \u2013 not to mention its work in agronomy, sustainability, governance, handicapping and more.<\/p>\n

While there are already existing endowment opportunities on a smaller scale for programs within the USNDP and Pathways internships (formal, immersive employment experiences devoted to the development of hard skills, mentorship and leadership training for young people interested in working in golf and other sports), the hope is for those programs to one day be fully endowed, too. In the competitive events realm, the success of the Keepers of the Cups endowment model has prompted the question: Can it work for other championships? It is certainly under consideration, with more details to come. Future endowment initiatives could potentially target championships like the U.S. Adaptive Open, which launched in 2022, or the U.S. Amateur and U.S. Women\u2019s Amateur.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Keeper program wasn\u2019t just about fundraising for the Walker Cup and Curtis Cup or the USGA,\u201d says Laffont. \u201cIt was also a reminder of why we\u2019re into golf in the first place: the camaraderie, the friendships. I hope that it\u2019s something that we can continue to do in other venues. There are all these interesting championships that live under the USGA umbrella that deserve to be recognized and are reminders to all of us of why we love the game so much.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ultimately, the Keepers of the Cups initiative has been a valuable proof of concept for the USGA.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Keepers have blazed a trail that we believe is going to ultimately allow us not only to protect the Walker Cup and the Curtis Cup going forward, but to do so much other good for the game,\u201d Fraser says. \u201cThey were willing to step forward in a very meaningful way. They\u2019ve shown us what\u2019s possible.\u201d<\/p>\n

Thanks to the generosity of these 31 trail-blazing Keepers of the Cup, both the Walker Cup and Curtis Cup\u2019s longstanding mission \u2013 facilitating camaraderie, goodwill, understanding and friendly rivalry through the game of golf \u2013 will continue to be amplified for generations to come.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"This content was first published in\u00a0Golf Journal, a quarterly print publication exclusively for USGA Members. To be among…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":877280,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[443],"tags":[49,48,622,82],"class_list":["post-877279","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-golf","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-golf","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/877279","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=877279"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/877279\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/877280"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=877279"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=877279"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=877279"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}