CURTIS CUP

August 29, 2024

Meghan Stasi

Rachel Kuehn

Meghan Schofill

Press Conference

JULIA PINE: Good afternoon, everyone. I'm joined by our captain, Meghan Stasi, three-time Curtis Cup competitor Rachel Kuehn, and first-time Curtis Cup competitor and 2023 U.S. Women's Amateur champion, Megan Schofill. How excited are you about this week and to get things started tomorrow?

MEGHAN STASI: Yeah, it's been a long time coming, and we've had a great week so far, and just really looking forward to teeing it up tomorrow morning.

Q. Rachel, talk a little bit about what the Curtis Cup means to you.

RACHEL KUEHN: Yeah, Curtis Cup is obviously at the top of every amateur golfer's list that's eligible for it, so it's really a dream to compete in it. I don't think 10-year-old Rachel could have even imagined that I would make three of them, so you just never take any opportunity to represent your country for granted, and it's a really special week.

Q. Megan, you came with us to Wales as an alternate; what kind of fire did that light for you to make a team in the future?

MEGAN SCHOFILL: It definitely just showed me how great of an experience even just travelling with the team. I didn't get to compete, but just seeing all the amazing things that we got to accomplish that week, and I just knew I really wanted to be on a Curtis Cup team, and I'm really thankful that I was selected to be on this year's.

Q. Meghan, you played with the girls right before we headed over to London. What impresses you most about their games?

MEGHAN STASI: Well, they all have a lot of talent. We were able to play Pine Valley back last Saturday, so had a really good test there. Tough walk, tough test there.

I think all the girls showed that they all have unique characteristics, but they all come together and will play as a team.

Q. Rachel, this is towards the end of your amateur career. What does it mean to you to be wrapping it up here at the Curtis Cup, and talk a little bit more about representing your country.

RACHEL KUEHN: Yeah, I pretty much stayed amateur for the possibility of making this team. You really don't get amateur golf back once it's gone, so I've really cherished every moment, every opportunity, every team I've made. So this to me just ties it up with a nice little bow.

I'm sure by the end of the week I'll be emotional about it all, but I think right now we're all -- all eight of us, all nine of us are really focused. We know there's a tall task at hand, and I think we're really excited to get things started tomorrow morning.

Q. Megan, wrapping up this part of your amateur career and college golf, what do you love about team golf?

MEGAN SCHOFILL: I think team golf, it's so unique and so different from professional golf and junior golf in a lot of instances. For me, five years of college golf, it was unbelievable. I couldn't have asked for anything more. I truly loved it, and I'm definitely going to miss it. But getting to play on a team one last time before I start a new journey, I'm just really looking forward to being able to compete with these girls this week and just know that we're going to have a fun week.

Q. Did you girls know that your captain played at Troon earlier this year in a very big event, and that was the Scottish Amateur Stroke Play Championship, and was one of two people to qualify for the final round over at the Old Course at Troon, in your 40s; isn't that right?

MEGHAN STASI: I am in my 40s. Closer to my 50s. I've been dying to play in the Helen Holm and had a chance to play this year, and one of the practice rounds was not pretty, but that was the Thursday of the Old Course, so I wanted to make sure I got to the Sunday so I could play on the Old Course. I knew it was a big year before The Open Championship.

Q. So you know quite a bit about girls' golf then?

MEGHAN STASI: I do. We've been fortunate. I've coached at the University of Mississippi for several years, and it's been fun to watch the girls throughout the last year and a half compete. It's amazing how many familiar faces are still there in the coaching world.

Q. What is the difference between the young girls of today and the ones you were playing with?

MEGHAN STASI: Wow. Well, I feel like I'm still their age, but I just can't keep up anymore yardage-wise.

It's a lot of golf. They play a lot of golf all year-round now. I grew up playing several different sports, but they play a lot. They compete a lot. They're just so strong. The game is a lot stronger these days.

Q. Megan, how much are you and the rest of the team leaning on Rachel's Curtis Cup experience this week?

MEGAN SCHOFILL: I definitely think we will go to her with any questions. Someone that's played in three, it's amazing, and it shows you how much skill and talent she has. But I think all of us are really experienced. We've played a lot of match play, most of the girls, and I think we just know what it takes.

So it's definitely great to have Rachel to kind of give us that confidence and kind of tell us exactly how it's going to be and what to expect. Yeah, it's unbelievable.

RACHEL KUEHN: I just want to build off that. Our whole team is incredibly talented, and they don't need any advice, they don't need any guidance. They're incredible players in their own right. I'm just here to believe in them and to cheer them on.

Q. As well as your Curtis Cup experience, you're one of several members of this team who came and played Palmer Cup at Lahinch this year. Do you think the fact that the U.S. Team won that overseas is helpful for the team this week?

RACHEL KUEHN: Yeah, they're very different events, different team dynamics, obviously because you add guys into the mix, too, and the international team makeup is very different. I don't think there were many GB&I girls part of that team. I know there were a few.

But I've had really great experiences playing my Palmer Cups, but I don't think I necessarily equate them to each other. They're very different. They're very different dynamics.

Q. Can I ask you all about Asterisk Talley, just how incredible it is what she's been able to do this year at age 15 and how excited you are to see her play this week?

MEGAN SCHOFILL: Yeah, the things she's doing, it's impressive. I know at 15, I was not doing that. I think I was still hoping to break 80 at 15.

Yeah, it was a really cool opportunity for all three of us that got low am at the U.S. Open to make Curtis Cup, and just to see that happen, I think that's a really cool experience, and it was just a really great thing for all three of us.

RACHEL KUEHN: I think what's incredible about Asterisk is not only the maturity of her golf game, but emotionally she's right on par with everyone. Again, like you said, at 15 I was not like that. It just speaks to how young and talented the game is becoming, and the future of golf is really bright.

MEGHAN STASI: Yeah, and she's above and beyond her maturity for a 15-year-old golfer out there. Been really fun to watch her this summer and get to know her on a little different level this week.

Q. Obviously a great number of the Great Britain & Ireland team are based out in the States in the college system, as well. I wonder what kind of dynamic that brings and how familiar you are all with each other.

RACHEL KUEHN: Yeah, I think all but one play collegiate golf in the United States, so we've seen each other. We're all friends.

I go back to the quotes on the Curtis Cup, the whole friendly rivalry idea. I think that's very much true. We're all friendly with them. We get along with them great.

I do think that it's nice to get familiar with their golf games ahead of time. We've been playing with them for two, three, four, five years, so it should be a really great week.

Q. Meghan, just the dynamic of defending a trophy, on one hand it presumably gives a great deal of confidence but on the other brings its own unique pressure, as well. Maybe speak to that.

MEGHAN STASI: Sure. Well, this is my first time, but it's a tall task, so I think the girls are up for it, and it's been a great week preparing, and they've been preparing, a lot of them, for a very long time.

I think tonight once that National Anthem starts, we'll be ready to go. We'll be game face and ready to tee it up tomorrow morning.

Q. To all three of you, just an appreciation of this golf course here and the test that it provides in terms of golf but also the history of the place and that element to it.

MEGAN SCHOFILL: Yeah, this golf course is unbelievable. It's a really great test of golf. I think if you're playing really well, you can kind of get some stuff going and kind of have a really great round, but if you hit it in the wrong spot, it can be really penalizing.

It's just unbelievable. I'm really grateful to be here this week. I could not have picked a better place to get to play my first Curtis Cup.

Q. For the players, I wondered what the best piece of advice you've heard this week about playing Sunningdale or maybe the best piece of insight that's been shared with you about the place.

RACHEL KUEHN: Yeah, not necessarily on the golf course but just about the week as a whole, I've been really blessed with two -- an incredible family but two parents that have just encouraged me to chase my dreams. My parents have always told me no matter the situation, just soak it in. If it's the pressure you're feeling, if it's nerves, if you're on a birdie run, to just soak it in because you don't really get these experiences back and there's a lot of people that would kill to be in your situation.

I think they've just really encouraged me to just kind of enjoy the moment. You don't know when you're going to get these situations back.

Q. Megan, talk about what representing your country means for you.

MEGAN SCHOFILL: For me, anytime you get to represent the United States, it's an honour and a privilege. I really want to make my country proud and make everyone that's here proud.

I think obviously I'm going to go out there and play with heart and play my best golf, but I also want to really hold myself up with high standards and really be proud of who I am.

Q. Rachel, the last Curtis Cup team you were on you had spent a lot of time with them previously in 2021 because of the schedule change. Talk about the dynamics of this team and what has surprised you most.

RACHEL KUEHN: Yeah, most of us kind of knew each other. There were a few younger girls that maybe didn't know each other quite as well. I was really pleasantly surprised when we all got together for the first time; everyone just really gelled. Everyone brought their own characteristics, their own personality to the table, and everyone has a spot on this team. I think we really value each other's advice, opinions, but beyond that, we believe in each other as golfers. We trust each other, as well.

I think I've just been pleasantly surprised with how quickly we've really come together and formed a really strong team bond.