Katelyn Dambaugh will be joined by Mariel Galdiano
on the USA Women’s World Amateur Team
(Golfweek Photo)

The players are Katelyn Dambaugh, 21, of Goose Creek, S.C.; Mariel Galdiano, 18, of Pearl City, Hawaii; and Andrea Lee, 18, of Hermosa Beach, Calif.

“We are thrilled that Katelyn, Mariel and Andrea will represent the United States during this exciting international competition,” said Diana Murphy, president of the United States Golf Association. “The Women’s World Amateur Team Championship carries such a rich competitive history, and these three young women will undoubtedly add to this great tradition.”

The Women’s World Amateur Team Championship is conducted by the International Golf Federation (IGF), which is currently running the golf competition at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Dambaugh is a senior at the University of South Carolina, and is No. 12 in the World Amateur Golf Ranking™ (WAGR). As a junior, she won the 2016 NCAA Baton Rouge Regional and set school marks for single-season stroke average (71.62) and top-five finishes (six). Dambaugh was runner-up in the 2010 U.S. Girls’ Junior Championship, as well as at the 2016 North & South Women’s Amateur and the SEC championships.

Galdiano, an incoming freshman at UCLA, is No. 6 in the WAGR. Earlier this month, she earned medalist honors in the 2016 U.S. Women’s Amateur, setting a 36-hole stroke-play scoring record at 9-under 133. Galdiano won the 2015 Canadian Women’s Amateur Championship and finished runner-up in the 2015 Golf Junior Classic. Galdiano, who represented the USA in the 2016 Curtis Cup Match, qualified for the 2011, 2013 and 2015 U.S. Women’s Open Championships.

Lee, an incoming freshman at Stanford University, is No. 17 in the WAGR. She was runner-up in the 2016 U.S. Girls’ Junior and Canadian Women’s Amateur championships, and reached the quarterfinals of the 2016 U.S. Women’s Amateur. Lee also represented the USA in the 2016 Curtis Cup Match, earned a silver medal for the USA in the 2015 Pan American Games and made the cut in the 2014 U.S. Women’s Open.

Dot Paluck, immediate past chairman of the USGA Women’s Committee, will serve as captain of the USA Women’s World Amateur Team.

“I am honored to have the opportunity to serve as captain to these outstanding competitors,” said Paluck. “I am greatly looking forward to our time in Mexico, and I know that the USA Team will well represent their country.”

The alternates are Monica Vaughn, 21, of Reedsport, Ore., and Bailey Tardy, 19, of Peachtree Corners, Ga.

The World Amateur Team Championship was founded in 1958, and the Women’s World Amateur Team Championship began in 1964. The IGF was founded in 1958 to encourage the international development of golf through friendship and sportsmanship. Today, the IGF consists of 135 national governing bodies of golf representing 129 countries, and is the international federation for golf for the International Olympic Committee.

The Mexican Golf Federation will host the 2016 Women’s World Amateur Team Championship. The championship was last played in 2014 in Karuizawa, Japan, with the team from Australia, led by 2016 Olympians Minjee Lee and Su Oh, taking the title. The USA last won the championship in 1998, and has captured the Espirito Santo Trophy a record 13 times.

The 2018 championship will be contested at Carton House (Montgomerie and O’Meara Courses) in Maynooth, Ireland.