Catriona Isobel Matthew (née Lambert; born 25 August 1969) is a Scottish professional golfer who played mainly on the US-based LPGA Tour and was also a member of the Ladies European Tour.
Amateur career Catriona Lambert was born in Edinburgh, and grew up in North Berwick. She learned to play golf on the Children's Course and North Berwick West Links in the town. She had a successful junior and amateur career, becoming Scottish Girls champion in 1986 and Scottish Under-21 Stroke Play champion in 1988 and 1989. She captured the Scottish Amateur title in 1991, 1993 and 1994, and the British Amateur title in 1993. She is also a two-time winner of the St Rule Trophy played at St Andrews. She was a member of the 1990, 1992 and 1994 Great Britain & Ireland Curtis Cup teams. She graduated from the University of Stirling in 1992 having studied accountancy, this being one of a few British universities offering golf scholarships.
Professional career Matthew qualified for the LPGA Tour by tying for fifth at the 1994 LPGA Final Qualifying Tournament to earn exempt status for the 1995 season. She soon established herself on the Tour, and her best seasons were 2001 and 2005, when she finished tenth on the money list.
Matthew also qualified for the Ladies European Tour in 1995 and plays several events on that tour each season. She won her maiden professional tournament at the Holden Women's Australian Open in 1996. She won the 1998 McDonald's WPGA Championship on the Ladies European Tour. She was a member of the 1998 Solheim Cup Team and first reserve for the 2000 matches held in her native Scotland. When Helen Alfredsson hurt her wrist she was called into the team but Alfredsson recovered and Matthew did not play. She was somewhat controversially left out of the 2002 Solheim Cup team but was a captain's pick for the 2003 team, gaining the Cup winning point. She was a captain's pick for the 2005 team as well. She qualified outright for the 2007, 2009 and 2011 Solheim Cup teams.
She teamed with Janice Moodie to represent Scotland at the 2005 and 2006 Women's World Cup of Golf. and was a member of the victorious International team captained by Annika Sörenstam in the inaugural Lexus Cup.
She won the 2007 Scandinavian TPC hosted by Annika.
In January 2009, she won the inaugural HSBC LPGA Brasil Cup 2009, an unofficial LPGA event with a field of 14 LPGA players and a Brazilian national amateur. Matthew was five months pregnant with her second child at the time of the victory.
On 2 August 2009 at Royal Lytham & St Annes, Matthew won the Ricoh Women's British Open with a final score of 3-under-par over second-place finisher Karrie Webb. It was her first win in a major tournament. The victory came 11 weeks after she gave birth to her second daughter, Sophie. She was the first player from Scotland to win a women's major golf tournament.
On 13 November 2011, Matthew won her fourth LPGA title at the Lorena Ochoa Invitational in Mexico.
At the 2013 LPGA Championship, Matthew finished runner-up after losing a sudden-death playoff against the world number one Inbee Park. Matthew and Park finished the tournament tied together at five-under-par, with Matthew coming from seven strokes behind Park at the start of the final round. In the playoff, they both parred the first two extra holes, but Matthew lost out on the third extra hole when Park made birdie.
In July 2016, Matthew was named as a vice-captain for the 2017 Solheim Cup but ended up playing in the match after an injury to Suzann Pettersen.
On 21 September 2017, Matthew was announced as captain for the 2019 Solheim Cup, which took place at Gleneagles. Europe won the cup in 2019.
In October 2019, Matthew was announced as Solheim Cup captain for 2021. On 6 September 2021, Matthew led the European team to defeat the US at the Inverness Club, Toledo, Ohio.
Personal life Matthew's husband, Graeme, is her caddy. On 18 December 2006, they had their first child together, a daughter; on 16 May 2009, Matthew gave birth to a second daughter.
In July 2009, Matthew and her husband escaped a fire at the hotel they were staying in while she played in the Evian Masters. Graeme suffered burns to his feet and was unable to caddy for two rounds.
Matthew was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2010 New Year Honours and Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2020 New Year Honours for services to golf.
Professional wins (11) LPGA Tour wins (4) No.DateTournamentWinning scoreTo parMarginof victoryRunner(s)-upWinner'sshare ($)117 Feb 2001Cup Noodles Hawaiian Ladies Open67-71-72=210−63 strokes Annika Sörenstam112,500222 Aug 2004Wendy's Championship for Children72-67-71-68=278−10Playoff Hee-Won Han165,00032 Aug 2009Women's British Open174-67-71-73=285−33 strokes Karrie Webb335,000413 Nov 2011Lorena Ochoa Invitational69-68-68-71=276−124 strokes I.K. Kim Anna Nordqvist200,000
LPGA Tour playoff record (1–2) No.YearTournamentOpponent(s)Result12004Wendy's Championship for Children Hee-Won HanWon with par on first extra hole22012LPGA KEB-HanaBank Championship Suzann Pettersen Lost to birdie on third extra hole 32013Wegmans LPGA Championship Inbee Park Lost to birdie on third extra hole
Ladies European Tour wins (6) No.DateTournamentWinning scoreTo parMarginof victoryRunner(s)-upWinner'sshare (€)19 Aug 1998McDonald's WPGA Championship71-69-67-69=276−125 strokes Helen Alfredsson Laura Davies45,000212 Aug 2007Scandinavian TPC hosted by Annika71-74-66-68=279−103 strokes Sophie Gustafson Laura Diaz78,75032 Aug 2009Women's British Open174-67-71-73=285−33 strokes Karrie Webb235,036420 Aug 2011Aberdeen Ladies Scottish Open70-65-66=201−1510 strokes Hannah Jun33,00055 Aug 2012Ladies Irish Open67-71-71=209−71 stroke Suzann Pettersen52,50061 Sep 2013Aberdeen Asset Management Ladies Scottish Open71-67-70=208−82 strokes Hannah Burke31,537
Other wins (2) No.DateTournamentWinning scoreTo parMarginof victoryRunner-up19 Nov 1996Holden Women's Australian Open (ALPG Tour)72-74-68-69=283−123 strokes Karrie Webb225 Jan 2009HSBC LPGA Brasil Cup (unofficial LPGA event)69-69=138−65 strokes Kristy McPherson
1 The Ricoh Women's British Open was co-sanctioned by the LPGA Tour and the Ladies European Tour.Majors championships are shown in bold.
Major championships Wins (1) YearChampionshipWinning scoreMarginRunner-up 2009 Women's British Open −3 (74-67-71-73=285) 3 strokes Karrie Webb
Results timeline Results not in chronological order. Tournament 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 Chevron ChampionshipT13T7T27U.S. Women's OpenT5227CUTT8T44Women's PGA ChampionshipCUTT25T37CUTCUTdu Maurier Classic CUTT12T41T145T46 Tournament 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009Chevron ChampionshipCUTT515544CUTT2CUTU.S. Women's OpenT4T22T2219T3119T16T17Women's PGA ChampionshipT308T37T61T49CUTT10CUTWomen's British Open ^T3T35CUTT2921CUTT7T381 Tournament 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019Chevron ChampionshipT15CUTT15T7T11T11T32CUTT55U.S. Women's OpenCUTT21CUTT15T10CUTT26T44CUTWomen's PGA ChampionshipT34T34T362T30T22T12CUTCUTCUTThe Evian Championship ^^ T64CUTT53T36CUTCUTWomen's British OpenCUTT5T10T11CUTT50T5CUTT42CUT Tournament 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024Chevron ChampionshipU.S. Women's OpenWomen's PGA ChampionshipThe Evian Championship ^^NTWomen's British OpenT59CUTCUTCUTCUT ^ The Women's British Open replaced the du Maurier Classic as an LPGA major in 2001. ^^ The Evian Championship was added as a major in 2013
CUT = missed the half-way cut NT = no tournament T = tied
Summary Tournament Wins 2nd 3rd Top-5 Top-10 Top-25 Events Cuts madeChevron Championship 0 1 0 3 5 10 20 15U.S. Women's Open 0 0 0 1 3 11 22 17Women's PGA Championship 0 1 0 1 3 6 23 15The Evian Championship 0 0 0 0 0 0 6 3Women's British Open 1 0 1 4 6 8 24 14du Maurier Classic 0 0 0 1 1 3 6 5Totals 1 2 1 10 18 38 101 69 Most consecutive cuts made – 10 (2001 LPGA – 2003 U.S. Open) Longest streak of top-10s – 2 (four times)
LPGA Tour career summary Year Tournamentsplayed Cuts Made Wins 2nd 3rd Top 10s Best Finish Earnings($) Moneylist rank Scoringaverage Scoringrank 199522130000T1237,83210173.5990199627170001T576,4907973.1266199730210114T2221,2763372.1531199826180000T13118,1576372.33541999302301172370,1622171.53212000282300075278,3823272.102420012926112101747,9701071.4118200228260208T2567,3941571.22132003272600173506,2732171.22202004282710061650,4441471.161720052625006123776,9241071.4612200618130001T4191,1536572.9083200718170106T2518,3662872.1625200822180103T2433,7264171.9235200910910031480,6782671.4421201018140002T6264,7174072.16372011191810061692,3401672.04112012201801072714,2721871.09132013211801152643,8962171.50282014242000243541,9513271.4833201522170002T8288,2856371.6440201623220002T5414,6694471.3739201718110000T1793,24510372.3811920181780001T1083,61710872.108820191130000T4011,30316474.151562020210000T599,38415374.17n/a official through 2020 season Career earnings $9,733,132
World ranking Position in Women's World Golf Rankings at the end of each calendar year.
Year Worldranking Source2006 45 2007 26 2008 38 2009 16 2010 31 2011 21 2012 14 2013 11 2014 28 2015 67 2016 62 2017 143 2018 185 2019 325 2020 393
Team appearances Amateur European Lady Junior's Team Championship (representing Scotland): 1988 European Ladies' Team Championship (representing Scotland): 1989, 1991, 1993 Vagliano Trophy (representing Great Britain & Ireland): 1989 (winners), 1991 (winners), 1993 (winners) Curtis Cup (representing Great Britain & Ireland): 1990, 1992 (winners), 1994 (tie, Cup retained), 2024 (non-playing captain, winners) Espirito Santo Trophy (representing Great Britain & Ireland): 1992 Commonwealth Trophy (representing Great Britain): 1991 (winners)
Professional Solheim Cup (representing Europe): 1998, 2003 (winners), 2005, 2007, 2009, 2011 (winners), 2013 (winners), 2015, 2017, 2019 (non-playing captain, winners), 2021 (non-playing captain, winners) Lexus Cup (representing International team): 2005 (winners), 2007 World Cup (representing Scotland): 2005, 2006, 2008 Handa Cup (representing World team): 2015 The Queens (representing Europe): 2015, 2016 European Championships (representing Great Britain): 2018
Solheim Cup record Year Totalmatches TotalW–L–H SinglesW–L–H FoursomesW–L–H FourballsW–L–H Pointswon Points%Career3718–11–86–2–18–5–44–4–32259.5199831–2–00–1–0 lost to S. Steinhauer 3&21–1–0 won w/ A. Sörenstam 3&2lost w/ A. Sörenstam 3&20–0–0133.3200353–1–11–0–0 def. R. Jones 3&11–0–1 won w/ J. Moodie 5&3halved w/ J. Moodie1–1–0 lost w/ L. Davies 2&1won w/ J. Moodie 4&33.570.0200552–2–11–0–0 def. W. Ward 3&20–1–1 halved w/ C. Kochlost w/ A. Sörenstam 1 dn1–1–0 won w/ A. Sörenstam 2&1lost w/ C. Koch 1 dn2.550.0200743–1–01–0–0 def. L. Diaz 3&21–1–0 lost w/ A. Sörenstam 4&2 won w/ A. Sörenstam 1 up1–0–0 won w/ I. Tinning 4&2375.0200941–1–21–0–0 def. K. McPherson 3&20–1–0 lost w/ J. Moodie 2&10–0–2 halved w/ M. Hjorthhalved w/ D. Luna250.0201142–0–21–0–0 def. P. Creamer 6&51–0–1 won w/ A. Muñoz 3&2halved w/ A. Muñoz0–0–1 halved w/ S. Gal375.0201340–2–20–0–1 halved with G. Piller0–1–1 lost w/ J. Ewart Shadoff 3&2halved w/ C. Hull0–1–0 lost w/ C. Masson 2&1125.0201543–1–00–1–0 lost to M. Pressel 2 dn2–0–0 won w/ S. Gal 3&2won w/ S. Gal 1 up1–0–0 won w/ K. Icher 2&1375.0201743–1–01–0–0 def. S. Lewis 1 up2–0–0 won w/ K. Icher 1 upwon w/ K. Icher 2&10–1–0 lost w/ G. Hall 4&2375.0
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