NORTON, Massachusetts (May 28, 2024) – Mass Golf has announced its roster for the 120th Clement A. Griscom Cup, as they set out to bring the title back to Massachusetts in 2024. The event dates back to 1898, featuring spirited team competition among three sides of standout amateur women golfers from Mass Golf, the Women’s Metropolitan Golf Association and the Women’s Golf Association of Philadelphia.
The event will be held at Lehigh Country Club in Allentown, Pennsylvania, on May 29th and 30th. This is the first time the Griscom Cup has been contested at the 1927 William Flynn design, joining a list of illustrious hosts that includes Myopia Hunt Club, Essex County Club, Shinnecock Hills, Winged Foot and Merion Golf Club. Flynn also designed Lancaster Country Club, about 60 miles down the road, where the U.S. Women’s Open Championship will be contested this week.
Mass Golf’s roster features eight amateur golfers from across the state, captained by Griscom Cup veteran Chelsea Curtis.
Westwood High junior Lillian Guleserian made a memorable run to the semi-finals at the 2023 Massachusetts Women’s Amateur Championship, which included a hole-in-one. Guleserian has verbally committed to play at Penn State University in the fall of 2025. Emma Abramson concluded a successful freshman year at Williams College, and will look to build on her win at the 2023 Massachusetts Women’s Stroke Play Championship.
Christine Mandile is the only member of the 2024 squad that was also on the 2022 Massachusetts team that last claimed the cup. She recently completed her junior season at Richmond University. Mackenzie Whitney led team Massachusetts in points at the 2023 Griscom Cup with 5.5. Whitney just wrapped up her sophomore season at Siena College, where she was a two-time MAAC Golfer of the Week this spring.
Grace Farland has enjoyed recent success in team competition, when she finished runner up in the 2023 Massachusetts Women’s Four-Ball Championship with teammate Victoria Veator. She recorded two top-10s at Hartford as a junior during the 2023-2024 season.
Both Piper Jordan of Middlebury College and Jaelyn DeBoise of Stonehill College are coming off their first year of collegiate golf. Jordan earned 1.5 points in the 2023 Griscom Cup, while DeBoise will be making her first appearance in the event.
Maddison Smith‘s inclusion on the team means this will be the third straight year with a Smith representing Massachusetts, following in the footsteps of sisters Molly (2022) and Morgan (2023). Smith won the 2023 Massachusetts Girls’ Junior Amateur.
COMPETITION FORMAT
The three teams will compete in a three-way, Nassau-style match-play competition. Points are awarded for winning the front nine, back nine and the 18-hole round. On the first day, the matches will be a team (foursomes) format, and on the second day, the players compete in singles matches. The team with the most points over two days will take home the Cup.
The Griscom Cup Matches date back to 1898, but 1902 marked the first year that teams from three states – Massachusetts, New York, and Pennsylvania – competed in this inter-city challenge. The event was named after Frances Griscom of Pennsylvania and has been conducted every year with the exception of the World War II period (1942-1945), 1984 due to inclement weather, and 2020 due to COVID-19.
Most of the early Griscom Cup players were familiar with one another through their participation in the U.S. Women’s Amateur Championships. In fact, in 1900 Miss Frances Griscom defeated Margaret Curtis, from Boston, for the Women’s Amateur title. The next year, Boston petitioned to challenge for the Cup. That first three-city challenge took place in 1902 at Baltusrol Links (NJ). The following year saw the beginning of the annual rotation of the tournament among the three cities.
Mass Golf is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization that is dedicated to advancing golf in Massachusetts by building an engaged and inclusive community around the sport.
With a community made up of over 123,000 golf enthusiasts and over 360 member clubs, Mass Golf is one of the largest state golf associations in the country. Members enjoy the benefits of handicapping, engaging golf content, course rating and scoring services along with the opportunity to compete in an array of events for golfers of all ages and abilities.
At the forefront of junior development, Mass Golf is proud to offer programming to youth in the state through First Tee Massachusetts and subsidized rounds of golf by way of Youth on Course.
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