Elaine Ratcliffe (born November 1972) is an English amateur golfer. She won the 1998

English Women's Amateur Championship The English Women's Amateur Championship is the women's national amateur match play golf championship of England. It was first played in 1912 and is currently organised by England Golf. The English Women's Amateur Championship is contested thro ...

. She played in the Curtis Cup in 1996 and 1998 and was the non-playing captain in 2021 and 2022.

Golf career

In 1990 Ratcliffe represented England in the

Girls Home Internationals The Girls Home Internationals was an amateur team golf championship for girls between the four Home Nations. Ireland was represented by the whole island of Ireland.The event was organised by The R&A. The inaugural event was held in 1969 and the v ...

at Penrith. The following year she had two rounds of 72 in the

Ladies' British Open Amateur Stroke Play Championship Ladies' British Open Amateur Stroke Play Championship was founded in 1969 by the Ladies' Golf Union (now merged into The R&A) of Great Britain. A stroke play tournament over 72 holes, it was discontinued by the R&A after the 2017 tournament won ...

at Long Ashton, to lead after 36 holes, but fell away badly on the final day. From 1991 to 1995 she attended the University of Stirling, having obtained a golf scholarship there. In 1995, having obtained her degree, she won the

English Ladies' Golf Association The English Women's Golf Association (EWGA) was the governing body responsible for many aspects of women's and girls' amateur golf in England. It ran from 1952 to 2011, until it merged with the men's English Golf Union to form England Golf. I ...

's Silver Tee award for successfully combining golf with education. Ratcliffe first came to prominence in 1995. She won the Cheshire championship and then reached the final of the

at Ipswich, losing 2&1 to Julie Hall. She was runner-up to Maria José Pons in the

at Prince's and was joint third in the

European Ladies Amateur Championship The European Ladies Amateur Championship is an annual amateur golf tournament. It is organized by the European Golf Association and is one of the "elite" tournaments recognized by the World Amateur Golf Ranking. The championship was first played in ...

in Berlin, five strokes behind Maria Hjorth despite an opening round of 78 which left her nine strokes off the lead. She also made her senior debut for England in the European Ladies' Team Championship in Milan and in the Women's Home Internationals in Wrexham where she won all her five matches. In April 1996 Ratcliffe was selected for the Curtis Cup match, played in June in Killarney. She was not selected for either foursomes session but she halved her singles match against Marla Jemsek on the opening day and beat

Sarah LeBrun Ingram Sarah LeBrun Ingram (née LeBrun, born 1965/1966) is an American amateur golfer, a member of the Tennessee Golf Hall of Fame and the Tennessee Sports Hall of Fame. She is a former All-American golfer at Duke University who became a three-time win ...

on the final day. In July she reached the semi-finals of the

Ladies' British Open Amateur Championship The Women's Amateur Championship, previously known as the Ladies' British Open Amateur Championship, was founded in 1893 by the Ladies' Golf Union. It is organised by The R&A, which merged with the Ladies' Golf Union in 2017. Until the dawn of the ...

, losing to

Becky Morgan Becky Morgan (born 5 September 1974) is a Welsh professional golfer who plays mainly on the U.S.-based LPGA Tour but is also a member of the Ladies European Tour. Amateur career Morgan was born in Abergavenny. She was introduced to the game ...

. She continued to have good results in stroke-play events, finishing a joint runner-up behind Sarah Gallagher in the

English Women's Open Amateur Stroke Play Championship The English Women's Open Amateur Stroke Play Championship is the national women's amateur stroke play golf championship in England. Entry is open to all amateur golfers. It has been played annually at since 1984 and is organised by the England Go ...

and runner-up to

Christina Kuld Christina may refer to: People * Christina (given name), shared by several people * Christina (surname), shared by several people Places * Christina, Montana, unincorporated community, United States * Christina, British Columbia, Canada * Chr ...

in the

. She also represented Great Britain & Ireland in the Espirito Santo Trophy in the Philippines. In 1997 Ratcliffe was runner-up in the

for the third successive year, behind Karen Margrethe Juul. She represented England in the European Ladies' Team Championship in Finland and won the Finnish title. She also represented Great Britain & Ireland in the Vagliano Trophy match in Sweden. Playing with Fiona Brown, Ratcliffe won the 1998 Women's International Four Ball at the Orangebrook Golf and Country Club in Florida. In May she won the

at Walton Heath beating

Liza Walters Liza may refer to * Liza (name), including a list of people named Liza * ''Liza'' (fish), a genus of mullets * ''Liza'' (1972 film), a 1972 Italian film * ''Liza'' (1978 film), a 1978 Malayalam horror film * Hurricane Liza (disambiguation), th ...

at the 19th hole in the final. Walters was two holes ahead with three to play but Ratcliffe won the 16th and 18th and then the first extra hole with a par 3. Two weeks later she was selected for the Curtis Cup match in Minneapolis in August. The Americans regained the cup by 10 matches to 8. Ratcliffe was selected for all four sessions, playing with

Kim Rostron Kim Andrew ( Rostron, born 12 February 1974) is an English amateur golfer. She won the 1997 English Women's Amateur Championship and the 1998 Ladies' British Open Amateur Championship. She played in the Curtis Cup in 1998 and 2000. Golf career ...

in the foursomes. She won both her matches on the opening day, beating

Carol Semple Thompson Carol Semple (born October 27, 1948), also known by her married name Carol Semple Thompson, is an American golfer who participated only on the amateur circuit, and never turned pro. Semple was born in Sewickley, Pennsylvania. She is from a pro ...

in the singles. On the final day she lost in the foursomes and halved her singles match against Virginia Grimes, to remain unbeaten in her four Curtis Cup singles matches. Ratcliffe turned professional after the 1998 Curtis Cup. She played on the

Ladies European Tour The Ladies European Tour is a professional golf tour for women which was founded in 1978. It is based at Buckinghamshire Golf Club near London in England. Like many UK-based sports organisations it is a company limited by guarantee, a legal stru ...

in 1999 and was the Rookie of the Year, finishing 66th on the money list with £12,145. Her best finish was in the

Ladies Hannover Expo 2000 Open The Ladies Hannover Expo 2000 Open was a women's professional golf tournament on the Ladies European Tour that took place at Rethmar Golf Links in Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central E ...

where she finished fifth, winning £4,240. Ratcliffe later had back problems and 1999 was to be her best season. She left the tour after the 2002 season. She was reinstated as an amateur in 2008. She was the non-playing captain of the Curtis Cup team in

2021 File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the 2021 Myanmar coup d'état, coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October–November 2021 ...

and

2022 File:2022 collage V1.png, Clockwise, from top left: Road junction at Yamato-Saidaiji Station several hours after the assassination of Shinzo Abe; 2022 Sri Lankan protests, Anti-government protest in Sri Lanka in front of the Presidential Secretari ...

Team appearances

* Curtis Cup (representing Great Britain & Ireland): 1996 (winners), 1998,

(non-playing captain),

(non-playing captain) * Vagliano Trophy (representing Great Britain & Ireland): 1997 * Espirito Santo Trophy (representing Great Britain & Ireland):

1996 File:1996 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: A Centennial Olympic Park bombing, bomb explodes at Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta, set off by a radical Anti-abortion violence, anti-abortionist; The center fuel tank explodes on TWA Flight 8 ...

* European Ladies' Team Championship (representing England):

1995 File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is O. J. Simpson murder case, acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the 1994, year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The ...

1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of t ...

* Women's Home Internationals (representing England): 1995 (winners), 1996 (winners), 1997 (winners) *

(representing England): 1990 (winners)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ratcliffe, Elaine English female golfers Amateur golfers Sportspeople from Crewe 1972 births Living people