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England’s Georgia Hall has stormed into a share of third place on the European PING Junior Solheim Cup Ranking thanks to her dramatic victory in windswept conditions at last week’s Ladies British Open Amateur Championship at Machynys Bay.
The 17 year-old from Remedy Oaks Golf Club in Dorset aced the 17th hole on her way to beating Spain’s Luna Sobron by one hole in the final in Wales and the 90 ranking points she earned moved her into a share of third place alongside Germany’s Karolin Lampert on the Ranking table with just two counting events left to go.
The European ranking table is led by Denmark’s Emily Pedersen who has accumulated 142.50 points after winning two of this year’s qualifying events. Sweden’s Linnea Ström lies in second place ten points ahead of Hall and Lampert while France’s Shannon Aubert currently holds down fifth place ahead of Italy’s Virginia Carta and Chloe Williams from Wales.
The top six players on the Ranking after the last two qualifying events all earn automatic places in the European team for this year’s PING Junior Solheim Cup match at The Inverness Golf Club in Denver, Colorado, on August 13-14 with the six automatic qualifiers being joined by a further six Captain’s picks.
The next PING Junior Solheim Cup European qualifying event is the European Girls’ Team Championship at Linköping, Sweden (July 9-13) before the qualifying system concludes at the European Ladies’ Team Championship at Fulford GC, England (July 9-13).
Hall travelled to Wales as the reigning British Girls’ champion and she added the Ladies’ title to her name with a terrific performance that was concluded when she beat Spain’s Noemi Jimenez in the semi-final before the dramatic finale against Sobron later the same day.
“I’m so happy I can hardly speak,” said the 17 year-old English international. “I was behind all the way in just about the strongest wind I have ever played in but I never gave up. I knew I had to be patient and wait for things to turn my way and they did.
“To get my first hole-in-one and win the British championship at the same time is like a dream come true.”
Lampert earned 40 PING Junior Solheim Cup ranking points after reaching the semi-finals at Machynys Bay while England’s Amber Ratcliffe and Spain’s Harang Lee also moved up the table thanks to their performances in Wales. Ratcliffe earned 32.5 points for finishing fourth behind Denmark’s Nanna Madsen in the stroke play stage and now sits just outside the automatic qualifying places. Lee is tied 16th after losing to Hall in the quarter-finals. The current top-10 (in order) are: Pedersen (142.50 points), Ström (100.00), Hall and Lampert (both 90.00), Aubert (40.00), Williams and Carta (both 37.50), Nuria Itturios, Quirine Eijkenboom and Ratcliffe (all 32.50).
Leading golf manufacturing company PING is the founder, owner and title sponsor of The PING Junior Solheim Cup. The contest pits the 12 best European junior girl golfers (born 1995 or later) against the 12 best junior girl golfers from the United his year’s PING Junior Solheim Cup is to be played at The Inverness Golf Club, on the outskirts of Denver, Colorado, on August 13-14. It always takes place immediately ahead of The Solheim Cup, which this year will be played on August 16-18, just 20 minutes away from The Inverness Club.
The updated European PING Junior Solheim Cup Ranking, plus more news and event information can be found at www.solheimcupeurope.com.
