With a sparkling list of accomplishments on her resume, it might be hard to determine the most memorable for Carol Semple Thompson. But it seems like the 2002 Curtis Cup at Fox Chapel Golf Club is a very strong contender.
Golf fans from around the world were treated to an event featuring the best female amateurs in the world. The event was tight from start to finish and, appropriately enough, came down to a single stroke.
In the final singles match of the event against Vikki Laing, the two came to the 18th tied. Semple Thompson’s approach came up just short of the putting surface, leaving her an uphill, 27-foot bender, a true tester. She studied the putt from all angles and put a smooth, solid stroke on the ball and watched it track toward the hole and fall into the cup.
Fans around the green and those who saw the putt on television cheered loudly not only because it gave Team USA the victory, but also because of how proud they were of the local lady.
“People were watching because I was the local old bag,” she said in typical Carol fashion, downplaying a very big achievement. “The crowd erupted. It was quite fulfilling, I must say.”
When asked if that was the greatest moment in her illustrious career, she said, “Well for starters, I knew it would be my last,” she chuckled. “So that made it special. But, of course, how it ended was amazing. Did I think I was going to make that putt? Absolutely not.”
The meaning of that moment was not lost on her, however.
“I cannot imagine a better script than this happening here, in a Curtis Cup match, with me plodding along, struggling to pull myself back to all square and then finally going ahead,” Thompson said later that day. “I think this has to rank up there as far as any Curtis Cup experience that I’ve had.”
Historic Fox Chapel Golf Club will be back in the national spotlight this summer when the 6th U.S. Senior Women’s Open will be held there Aug. 1-4. In 2023, England’s Trish Johnson became the fourth player from Europe to win the event.
Semple Thompson’s participation in that event has still not been determined but it’s nearly certain she won’t be playing.
“I’ve not been playing well, and I don’t have an exemption,” she said. “I could request one, but I really don’t think it would be fair to take a spot from someone more deserving.”
There was a time when it appeared in women’s amateur golf that there was CST and the rest of the field. It wasn’t that simple, of course, but the way she dominated brought up comparisons with another golfer enjoying similar success.
You may have heard of him … Tiger Woods.
She was an extremely talented player who could play all the shots, a combination that added up to 62 career victories.
She also, in direct contrast to the business-like and reserved outward appearance, had a roaring inferno raging inside the lady who not only loved playing the game but loved winning even more.
“That is so flattering to be mentioned in the same breath as Tiger Woods and Jack Nicklaus,” Semple Thompson said. “But I’m not even in the same category with them.”
Virginia Grimes, the captain of the winning 2018 Curtis Cup team and a two-time Curtis Cup teammate of Thompson’s, described her.
“As a player, she was very competitive,” Grimes said. “It might not show in her demeanor on the course, but inside she always wanted to beat you. It didn’t matter what it was.”
When Thompson was born in 1948, Arnold Palmer was 19 years old and, on his way to become one of the all-time greats of the game.
By the time she was 16, she had already won a big-time tournament, beating her mother, Phyllis, in the Western Pennsylvania Women’s Golf Championship.
Who could have known that victory would have been the starting point for what has been the best amateur career ever fashioned by a female golfer?
Looking back, it almost defies belief that two of the best to ever play the game grew up within an hour and a half of each other in Western Pennsylvania.
“How cool is that?” Thompson asked recently while sitting out a rain delay during a round of golf in Florida. “I’m proud of my career and I’m proud of Western Pennsylvania. We’ve had a lot of wonderful golfers in Western Pa. My parents were and there were so many others.”
She was the captain for two Curtis Cup teams and had several players who would go on to LPGA careers.
“I think she’s just the greatest amateur to ever play,” said Stacy Lewis, a dominant player on the women’s pro tour.
“I think she was a player’s captain,” said Paige MacKenzie. “She knew you were going to go out there and take care of business. If you took care of your match, the team was going to be fine. She trusted us to go out and do what we were capable of.”
As captain in 2006, an 11 ½-6 ½ U.S. victory, Thompson took an active role in helping her team navigate the potentially difficult and windy conditions of the Pacific Dunes Course at Bandon Dunes in Oregon.
“One of my favorite memories about Carol from that week was on the practice round days,” Mackenzie said. “She took her clubs out and was playing with us. It was so obvious that she was competitive. She wanted to show us shots and how to work the ball in the wind. Even though she was past her competitive Curtis Cup days, you could see the drive, desire, and passion for the game.”
She has had a wonderful career in a game she and her family love. She continues to quietly be a contributor to the game in quiet ways, unlike when she was a dominant force in the game.
There’s no doubt, Carol Semple Thompson is one of golf’s crown jewels.
Today’s players would be fortunate to spend some time with her, learning a bit about how to play the game, how to be a contributor to society and how to give back for all the game has afforded them.
They’d soon find out that there’s a reason she’s known as the Queen of American Amateur.
• She won the Pennsylvania State Amateur 22 times.
• She has the record for most career starts in USGA championships: 121. She also was the first golfer to ever compete in 100 USGA championships.
• She is a seven-time USGA champion, behind only Bob Jones, Joanne Carner, Tiger Woods and Jack Nicklaus in that category.
• She’s been on more Curtis Cup teams (11), plus two more years as a captain, and scored more points than anyone else.
• She has 11 holes-in-one.
• She was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 2008, the WPGA Hall of Fame in 2013.
• She was one of only 11 players to hold both the U.S. Women’s Amateur and Ladies’ British Open Amateur titles at the same time.
• She played in 32 U.S. Women’s Opens.
