Essex County Club...

No. 7, par-3 (click to enlarge)...will be hosting the 2010 Curtis Cup. Arguably, one of the coolest old courses in golf.

Far Hills, N.J. – Essex County Club in Manchester-by-the-Sea, Mass., has been selected by the United States Golf Association as the site of the 2010 Curtis Cup Match. The dates of the Match will be June 11-13.

Essex County Club, the sixth member club of the USGA, originally opened in 1893. During Donald Ross’ tenure as the club’s head professional, from 1910 to 1913, he completely redesigned the course, finishing in 1917. Since then, the course has remained virtually unchanged.

The Curtis Cup Match, a biennial women’s amateur team competition played between eight-member teams from the United States of America and Great Britain and Ireland, has strong roots at Essex County Club. The Match is named in recognition of the efforts of two Essex members, Margaret and Harriot Curtis, in starting the event. Both sisters were U.S. Women’s Amateur champions – Harriot in 1906 and Margaret in 1907, 1911 and 1912, which was held at Essex. In 1938, Essex County Club hosted the Curtis Cup Match, won by the United States team.

The 2010 Match will be the fifth USGA event at Essex, which first welcomed the USGA in 1897 for the U.S. Women’s Amateur. In 1995, the U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur was contested at the club. In addition, the club has also hosted numerous Massachusetts State Opens, Massachusetts State Amateurs, Massachusetts Women’s Amateurs and New England PGA Seniors.

"As the home of the Curtis sisters and a former site of the Curtis Cup, the Essex County Club is thrilled to have the competition returning,” said Bill Van Faasen, general chairman for the 2010 Match. “We are especially honored to welcome the Match back given its rich history here."

Essex County Club has other noteworthy ties to the USGA. Joe Lloyd, the head professional at Essex from 1895 to 1909, won the 1897 U.S. Open, and Herbert Jacques Jr., a member of Essex, was the USGA president in 1933-34. His father, Herbert Jacques Sr., the USGA president in 1909-1910, was an architect involved in creating the original clubhouse at Essex.

Prior to 2010, Bandon Dunes Golf Resort in Bandon, Ore, will host the 2006 Curtis Cup Match, and the 2008 Match will be contested at the Old Course at St. Andrews in Scotland.