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| Members of the 2013 PING Junior Solheim Cup team in Colorado |
The captain of the 2015 European PING Junior Solheim Cup will be announced at a press conference on Thursday at 3pm local time in Sweden, during the first round of the Helsingborg Open.
The PING Junior Solheim Cup will be a much higher profile event in September 2015 as for the first time, it will take place at the same venue and during the same week as The Solheim Cup, at Golf Club St. Leon-Rot in Germany.
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The eighth edition of The PING Junior Solheim Cup, a version of The Solheim Cup for girls aged 12 to 18, will see the top 12 European girls and their US counterparts playing on the ‘Rot’ 18 hole Championship Course, designed by architect Hannes Schreiner, just before the professionals tee up on the Dave Thomas-designed ‘St. Leon’ Course. The juniors normally act as vociferous cheer leaders for the more experienced competitors but this time the teams are likely to integrate even more closely.
Dietmarr Hopp, the past CEO and founder of SAP, one of the world’s foremost software companies, added: “By hosting both The Solheim Cup and the PING Junior Solheim Cup in 2015 St. Leon-Rot Golf Club gets the opportunity to bring the topic of professional golf to a wider public attention and thereby inspire as many young people as possible to start playing golf – both in Germany and the rest of the world. This is an opportunity to be seized!”
The idea of staging a prestigious transatlantic competition for girls, similar to The Solheim Cup, was first mooted by John Solheim, PING’s current Chairman and CEO who was determined to provide talented young girl golfers with a platform on which they could forward their careers by competing at the highest level against their peers from the other side of the Atlantic.
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The inaugural PING Junior Solheim Cup was staged in 2002 at Oak Ridge Country Club in Hopkins, Minnesota, and it has developed into an important stepping stone for many of the leading players in the women’s game.
The second PING Junior Solheim Cup was held in 2003 at Bokskogens GK in Sweden, when Europe earned their first home victory by a score of 13-11. The third event was held at Bridgewater Club in Indiana in 2005, when the USA ream won by 16-8. In 2007, the fourth staging of the event, Europe won for a second time on home soil at Bastad Golf Club in Sweden by 14-10 and in 2009, the USA won at Aurora Golf Club in Illinois by 15.5-8.5, continuing the trend of home side victories.
The record was broken at the fifth staging of the event in 2011, when there was a 12-12 tie at Knightsbrook Golf Club in Ireland. In accordance with the regulations, the defending champions, team USA, kept the Cup and when at the Inverness Hotel and Golf Club in Colorado in 2013, the United States won the third-straight PING Junior Solheim Cup by a scoreline of 14.5-9.5, the overall standings stood at USA 4.5, Europe 2.5.
The PING Junior Solheim Cup has earned a deserved reputation as a rich breeding ground for stars of the future. The likes of Charley Hull, Anna Nordqvist, Lexi Thompson, Paula Creamer, Azahara Munoz, and Caroline Masson have all played in the PING Junior Solheim Cup with the event spawning no less than five major champions.
EVENT FACT FILE:
CUP
· 7 PJSC
· 4 USA wins
· 2 Europe wins
· 1 draw
· (overall standings 4.5-2.5)
PLAYERS
· 15 PJSC players went on to play in the SC
· 8 from Europe (Azahara Munoz, Carlota Ciganda, Caroline Masson, Anna Nordqvist, Beatriz Recari, Melissa Reid, Caroline Hedwall, Charley Hull; 3 Spain, 2 Sweden, 2 England, 1 Germany)
· 7 from USA (Paula Creamer, Brittany Lang, Brittany Lincicome, Morgan Pressel, Vicky Hurst, Jessica Korda, Lexi Thompson; 1 California, 5 Florida, 1 Texas)
- Major winners (5): Anna Nordqvist, Paula Creamer, Brittany Lincicome, Morgan Pressel, Lexi Thompson
- Most PJSC events played: Azahara Munoz 3, Carlota Ciganda, 2, Paula Creamer 2, Brittany Lincicome 2, Caroline Masson 2
EUROPEAN CAPTAINS
· Previous captain nationalities
· Spain (1) Marta Figueras-Dotti 2002
· Sweden (5) Helen Alfredsson 2003, Charlotta Sörenstam 2005, Catrin Nilsmark 2007, Carin Koch 2009, Lotta Neumann 2011
· Scotland (1) Janice Moodie 2013
AMERICAN CAPTAINS
- Sherri Steinhauer, Val Skinner, Colleen Walker, Donna Andrews, Nancy Lopez, Meg Mallon, Kathy Whitworth
QUALIFYING
The European qualifying events will take place from February to August, 2015 and the final event is the Girls’ British Open Championship at West Kilbride Golf Club in Scotland.
European Eligibility Process
- 12 participants
- Participants must be 12-18 years old (born 1997 or later) and must not have reached their 18th birthday prior to January 1st, 2015.
- Participants must be amateurs and must not be members of a competitive collegiate golf program.
- Participants must be a European citizen.
- The leading six players from the PING Junior Solheim Cup ranking following Girls’ British Open Amateur Championship 2015 will be automatically picked. In the event of a tie for the qualification positions, the selection will be decided based on individual standings on the EGA Ladies European Amateur Ranking.
- Six Captain’s Picks.
- All amateur events and the EGA Ladies European Amateur Ranking will be taken into consideration when deciding the Captain’s Picks.
