Karen Stupples

In 1973, Stupples was born in Dover, Kent. She started her golfing career as a caddie for her father at Prince's Golf Club, Sandwich to earn pocket money.^[1] She played for England Juniors from 1989 to 1991 and England Seniors from 1995 to 1998.^[2] She also represented Great Britain & Ireland on the Curtis Cup winning team in 1996 at home in Killarney, Ireland^[3] and losing 1998 team away in Minneapolis, Minnesota.^[4]

Stupples was going to study polymer science in the UK before deciding to go to university in the United States.^[5] With the assistance of College Prospects of America, she took a golf scholarship at Arkansas State University before transferring to Florida State University in 1993.^[6] As a Seminole, she won two events (Spring 1994 Spalding/Peggy Kirk Bell and Spring 1995 Lady Gator),^[7] was selected as All-Atlantic Coast Conference in 1994 and 1995, and was also named a 1995 Second-Team All-American.^[8]

Stupples turned professional following the 1998 U.S. Women's Amateur.^[9]

Despite being a professional, Stupples returned home to England becoming a cloakroom attendant for the Port of Dover and waitressing at a public golf course in Kent^[1] as she did not have the money to take a run at LPGA Qualifying School.^[10] When a regular restaurant customer offered to sponsor her for three years, she and her husband sold their house, furniture and car and moved to the United States^[11] where she earned non-exempt status on the LPGA Tour by tying for 52nd at the 1998 Final Qualifying Tournament.^[9]

Stupples made her professional debut in Hawaii^[5] and, after a season in which her best finish was a tie for 8th, she returned to the LPGA Final Qualifying Tournament, where she tied for 17th to earn exempt status for the 2000 season. Over the 2000 - 2003 period, she achieved 7 top ten finishes,^[9] but her form transformed in 2004.

After finishing second behind Annika Sörenstam at the ANZ Ladies Masters in Australia, Stupples carded the best 72-hole raw score in LPGA Tour history (258) to win her maiden title, the Welch's/Fry's Championship, by five strokes. This win made her eligible to join the Ladies European Tour and begin earning points for the 2005 Solheim Cup.^[12] She had not joined the LET when joining the LPGA as she could not at the time afford the joining fee of £600.^[13] She followed this up by winning the Women's British Open at Sunningdale where she became only the second player in history to record a double eagle or albatross at an LPGA major championship (began the final round with an eagle, albatross on the first two holes).^[14] She became only the third English player to win a major after Laura Davies and Alison Nicholas.^[15] and was the first home winner since Penny Grice-Whittaker in 1991.^[14] She crossed the $1 million mark in LPGA career earnings at the U.S. Women's Open and finished in sixth place on the money list.^[9]

At the end of 2004, Stupples was made an honorary member of Royal Cinque Ports Golf Club in Deal, the Kent golf club which she first joined as a 15-year-old^[16] and she attended a reception at Buckingham Palace where she met The Duke of York.^[17]

In 2005, Stupples represented England at the 2005 Women's World Cup of Golf in South Africa alongside Laura Davies,^[18] was one of Catrin Nilsmark's five wild card picks making her Solheim Cup debut at Crooked Stick GC, in Carmel, Indiana^[19] and was part of the International Team at the Lexus Cup.^[20]

At the 2014 Women's British Open, Stupples announced her retirement from professional golf.^[21]

Stupples is married to Bobby Inman, who served as her caddie, and she gave birth to a son on 21 April 2007.^[23]

Amateur

• European Ladies' Team Championship (representing England): 1995, 1997
• Curtis Cup (representing Great Britain & Ireland): 1996 (winners), 1998
• Vagliano Trophy (representing Great Britain & Ireland): 1997

Professional

• Lexus Cup (representing International team): 2005 (winners), 2008 (winners)
• Solheim Cup (representing Europe): 2005, 2011 (winners)
• World Cup (representing England): 2005