Karen Stupples

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Karen Stupples
Personal Information
Birth 6 June 1973 (1973-06-06) (age 35)
Dover, Kent, England
Height 5 ft 5 in (1.65 m)
Nationality Flag of the United Kingdom United Kingdom Flag of England England
Residence Orlando, Florida, U.S.
College Florida State University
Career
Turned Pro 1998
Current tour LPGA Tour (joined 1999)
Other tour LET (joined 2004)
Professional wins 2 (LPGA Tour: 2)
Major Championship results
Wins: 1
Women's British Open Won 2004
Awards

Karen Stupples (born 6 June 1973 in Dover, Kent) is an English professional golfer who plays primarily on the U.S. based LPGA Tour and is also a member of the Ladies European Tour.

Contents

[edit] Amateur career

Karen Stupples started her golfing career as a caddie for her father at Prince's Golf Club, Sandwich in order to earn pocket money.[1] She played for England Juniors from 1989-1991 and England Seniors from 1995-1998.[2] She also represented Great Britain & Ireland in the Curtis Cup in the winning 1996 team at home in Killarney, Ireland[3] and losing 1998 team away in Minneapolis, Minnesota.[4]

She was going to study Polymer Science in the UK before deciding to go to university in the United States.[5] With the assistance of College Prospects of America, she took a golf scholarship initially at Arkansas State University before transferring to Florida State University in 1993.[6] As a Seminole she won two events (Spring 1994 Spalding/Peggy Kirk Bell and Spring 1995 Lady Gator),[7] was selected as All-ACC in 1994 and 1995, and was also named a 1995 Second-Team All-American.[8] She turned professional following the U.S. Women's Amateur Championship of 1998.[9]

[edit] Professional career

Despite being a professional, Stupples returned home to England becoming a cloakroom attendant for the Port of Dover and waitressing at a public golf course in Kent[1] as she didn't have the money to take a run at Q-School.[10] When a regular restaurant customer offered to sponsor her for three years she and her husband sold their house, furniture and car and moved to the US[11] where she earned non-exempt status on the LPGA Tour by tying for 52nd at the 1998 Final Qualifying Tournament.[9]

She made her professional debut in Hawaii having Monday qualified[5] and after a season in which her best finish was a tie for 8th, she returned to the LPGA Final Qualifying Tournament, where she tied for 17th to earn exempt status for the 2000 season. Over the 2000 - 2003 period she achieved 7 top ten finishes[9] but her form transformed in 2004.

After finishing second behind Annika Sörenstam at the ANZ Ladies Masters in Australia, Stupples carded the best 72-hole raw score in LPGA Tour history (258) to win her maiden title, the Welch's Fry Championship, by five strokes. This win made her eligible to join the Ladies European Tour and begin earning points for the 2005 Solheim Cup.[12] She had not joined the LET when joining the LPGA as she could not at the time afford the joining fee of £600.[13] She followed this up by winning the Women's British Open at Sunningdale where she became only the second player in history to record a double-eagle or albatross at an LPGA major championship (began the final round with an eagle, albatross on the first two holes).[14] She became only the third English player to win a major after Laura Davies and Alison Nicholas.[15] and was the first home winner since Penny Grice-Whittaker in 1991.[14] She crossed the $1 million mark in LPGA career earnings at the U.S. Women's Open and finished in sixth place on the money list.[9]

At the end of 2004 Stupples was made an honorary member of Royal Cinque Ports Golf Club in Deal, the Kent golf club which she first joined as a 15-year-old[16] and she attended a reception at Buckingham Palace where she met Prince Andrew.[17]

In 2005 Stupples represented England at the 2005 Women's World Cup of Golf in South Africa alongside Laura Davies,[18] was one of Catrin Nilsmark's five wild card picks making her Solheim Cup debut at Crooked Stick GC, in Carmel, Indiana[19] and was part of the International Team at the Lexus Cup.[20]

She announced she was pregnant in 2006 and gave birth to her son, Logan James in April 2007.[21]

[edit] Professional wins

[edit] LPGA Tour

[edit] LPGA Tour career summary

Year Majors Other wins LPGA wins Earnings ($) Money list rank Average
1999 0 0 0 34,826 130 73.16
2000 0 0 0 59,113 119 73.53
2001 0 0 0 91,027 89 72.66
2002 0 0 0 214,760 46 72.41
2003 0 0 0 325,774 35 71.68
2004 1 1 2 968,852 6 70.65
2005 0 0 0 304,385 41 72.44
2006 0 0 0 276,188 49 72.16

[edit] Solheim Cup Record

Year Total Matches Total W-L-H Singles W-L-H 4somes W-L-H 4balls W-L-H Points Won Points %
Career 2 0-2-0 0-1-0 0-0-0 0-1-0 0 0%
2005 2 0-2-0 0-1-0 lost to M. Mallon 3&1 0-1-0 lost w/S. Gustafson 2&1 0 0%

[edit] Notes and References

  1. ^ a b The Interview Karen Stupples: Overnight sensation years in the making. The Independent on Sunday (2005-01-30). Retrieved on 2007-03-23.
  2. ^ Karen Stupples Player Profile. LET. Retrieved on 2007-03-23.
  3. ^ 1996 Curtis Cup Match. USGA. Retrieved on 2007-03-25.
  4. ^ Previous Curtis Cup Matches 1932-2002. USGA. Retrieved on 2007-03-23.
  5. ^ a b Up close and personal with Karen Stupples. LET (2005-07-10). Retrieved on 2007-03-23.
  6. ^ College Prospects of Ameirica UK Clients. College Prospects of Ameirica (UK). Retrieved on 2007-03-23.
  7. ^ Seminole Golfer Westrup Named National Women's Golfer Of The Week. Florida State University Athletics (2006-03-29). Retrieved on 2007-03-23.
  8. ^ Debbie Dillman Profile. Florida State University Athletics. Retrieved on 2007-03-23.
  9. ^ a b c d LPGA Full Career Biography. LPGA. Retrieved on 2007-03-23.
  10. ^ Karen Stupples goes from waitress to LPGA star. Golf Today. Retrieved on 2007-03-23.
  11. ^ Morgan makes Solheim claim - Stupples stymied. LET (2003-08-05). Retrieved on 2007-03-23.
  12. ^ Stupples breaks new ground in America. LET (2004-03-15). Retrieved on 2007-03-23.
  13. ^ Karen Stupples joins the LET. LET (2004-03-29). Retrieved on 2007-03-23.
  14. ^ a b Super Stupples storms in at Sunningdale. LET (2004-08-01). Retrieved on 2007-03-23.
  15. ^ Stupples Learned from watching Annika. LPGA (2004). Retrieved on 2007-03-23.
  16. ^ Kent golfers honour Karen Stupples. ELGA (2004-12-21). Retrieved on 2007-03-23.
  17. ^ Sit Down with Stupples. LPGA. Retrieved on 2007-03-23.
  18. ^ Women's World Cup of Golf: Twenty teams confirmed. LET (2004-12-17). Retrieved on 2007-03-23.
  19. ^ The 2005 European Solheim Cup team announced. LET (2005-08-28). Retrieved on 2007-03-23.
  20. ^ Internationals win The Lexus Cup. LET (2005-12-12). Retrieved on 2007-03-23.
  21. ^ New Arrival for Stupples. LET Ladies European Tour (2007-04-24). Retrieved on 2007-04-27.

[edit] External links


v • d • e
Women's British Open Champions

Non-Major Championship
1976 Jenny Lee Smith · 1977 Vivien Saunders · 1978 Janey Melville · 1979 Alison Sheard · 1980 Debbie Massey · 1981 Debbie Massey · 1982 Marta Figueras-Doti · 1983 No event · 1984 Ayako Okamoto · 1985 Betsy King · 1986 Laura Davies · 1987 Alison Nicholas · 1988 Corinne Dibnah · 1989 Jane Geddes · 1990 Helen Alfredsson · 1991 Penny Grice-Whittker · 1992 Patty Sheehan · 1993 Karen Lunn · 1994 Liselotte Neumann · 1995 Karrie Webb · 1996 Emilee Klein · 1997 Karrie Webb · 1998 Sherri Steinhauer · 1999 Sherri Steinhauer · 2000 Sophie Gustafson ·

Major Championship
2001 Se Ri Pak · 2002 Karrie Webb · 2003 Annika Sörenstam · 2004 Karen Stupples · 2005 Jeong Jang · 2006 Sherri Steinhauer · 2007 Lorena Ochoa
Persondata
NAME Stupples, Karen
ALTERNATIVE NAMES
SHORT DESCRIPTION Professional Golfer
DATE OF BIRTH June 24, 1973
PLACE OF BIRTH Dover, England
DATE OF DEATH
PLACE OF DEATH
Languages