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 graduated
from the University of Stirling in 1992 having studied accountancy, this being one of a few
British universities offering golf scholarships. Matthew qualified for the LPGA Tour in 1994
and for the Ladies European Tour in 1995 and plays several events on that tour each
season. Among her many triumphs, it is worth mentioning 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. Matthew was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2010 New Year Honours.

Catriona has participated in the Solheim Cup as a member of the European team since
1998. On September 21, 2017 she was announced as captain of the Solheim Cup
2019, which will take place in Gleneagles, from 9 to 15 September. This will be her
tenth Solheim and he arrives at it with the intention of repeating the triumph for the
European team that they achieved, also in Scotland, during her debut.

Have you closed your team for the Solheim?

Not till after the ASI Scottish Open which is in August.

But it seems that there’s going to be a lot ofSpanish names, aren’t there? Yes, it’s looking…

Yeah. Obviously Carlota and Azahara are looking pretty good for the team.

And now also Nuria Iturrioz?

Yeah, she’s done a great start in Europe so it will be nice to see how she plays in summer.

Did you know that, although it’s not yetclosed, it looks like the Solheim is going to come to Marbella in 2023? Would you say it’s a nice place for this tournament?

Yes, that would be a lovely place. Over the years there have been a lot of Spanish players so I think it would be great to see the Solheim coming to Spain.

And what is your guess about the Solheim, do you think there’s a chance for the European team to win?

I would say that the team is looking like they’re all playing pretty well. You have Carlota, Azahara, Ana, that had played before and we have new rookies coming on so I think that they are a pretty strong team.

And what is your main fear about the American team?

I think the Americans are going to have a different team this year: Britney is pregnant and a couple are coming back from having children, but whoever is in their team is going to be strong, I think it will be a good match and we’ll have a good chance
but we are going to have to play well.

Are you also going to have Paula Martí?

Yes, she’s going to be one of the helpers, so that will be great. We played at about the same time that Paula was playing. She’s a great addition for the team. There was great feedback from her helping the last time so with probably some Spaniards in the team
she was an obvious choice to have.

And what do you think about the Gleneagles?

Well it will be a great venue, the hotel is amazing, playing there is always great. They´ve fostered obviously the Ryder Cup before so they know what they´re doing and I think it will be a fantastic experience for everyone, players and espectators.

And are you thinking on playing or have you thought about finishing your career? How doyou feel about that?

I am still going to play in Europe, probably not going to play in the US anymore. But I enjoy playing a few here and I am playing the Senior Open next year, and that’ll be
good.

What is your dream in golf?

This year definitely to captain the winning Solheim team.

And in a longer term? 

I have always wanted to win obviously a major cup, I was hoping to win the British, It would have been nice to win a US Open and I didn’t quite manage that but It’s been pretty good.

And what do you think we need to enhance female golf?

For the elite to try and get a few more tournaments, get the players seen, get more publicity for them, I think if people come and actually watch them play they’ll realize how good they are. It’s just if there are a few more of them, more of this’ll fall into place.