- Alcott will lead 12 US girls next year at The Old Course at La Zagaleta in Spain
PING and the American Junior Golf Association name, World Golf Hall of Famer, Amy Alcott as the PING Junior Solheim Cup’s United States team captain for the 13th edition of the biennial competition.
“This is a wonderful honor. When I got the call from John Solheim, I was very flattered,” Amy Alcott said. “I have always believed that junior golf is the lifeblood of the game. I grew up chipping and putting into soup cans in my front yard in Southern California and competed in junior tournaments from the age of 9 to 17.”
The Old Course at La Zagaleta, located in southern Spain, is set to host the all-girls event, September 18 – 19, 2023.
Modeled after the Solheim Cup, the PING Junior Solheim Cup biennially features the 12 best female junior golfers (ages 12-18) from the United States against their counterparts from Europe. The team match play event includes foursomes, four-ball and singles matches played over two days and rotates between U.S. and European host sites coinciding with the Solheim Cup. The event includes both teams watching the final days of the Solheim Cup matches at Finca Cortesin, September 18-24, 2023.
Amy Alcott is a highly celebrated icon of women’s golf. Before her illustrious professional career which earned her a place in the LPGA and World Golf Hall of Fame in 1999, Alcott won the 1973 U.S. Girls Junior. Alcott won the event in commanding fashion at Somerset Hills Country Club in New Jersey. It was that same year that she set the course record for women at Pebble Beach at the time.
Alcott turned professional in 1975 at the age of 18 and earned LPGA Rookie of the Year honors that year. Over the course of her 27-year professional career, Alcott won 32 individual titles that included 29 LPGA victories and five major championships. She was a three-time champion of the now Chevron Championship and made tradition the now famous jump into Poppies Pond at Mission Hills Country Club with her win in 1988.
“I went out on the [LPGA] tour at 18 years old. I always thought the early years of getting involved in a sport and gravitating towards it – it is a period in your life when you play golf that you have the most acuity to learn. You realize early on that it is journey and not a destination. That’s what I hope to share my joy and knowledge with these 12 young juniors, I am sure they will have a lot to teach me,” Alcott says.
After her storied playing career Alcott has gone into the business of golf. Along with TV commentating, Alcott also moved into golf course design. She had a hand in designing the host course for the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil.
Alcott says, “Having the opportunity to do this late in my career is very uplifting. I hope to pass along my go for a pin style and my knowledge about the game on to these young gals.”
The United States leads the all-time PING Junior Solheim Cup Series 7-3-1 and had won six consecutive matches prior to their loss in 2021. The US last won, 13-11, when the event was hosted in Scotland in 2019.
“We are very excited to have Amy Alcott as the 2023 Junior Solheim Cup US Team Captain,” John Solheim, PING Chairman and CEO said. “With Amy turning pro at age 18 and eventually going on to be a LPGA Tour Hall of Famer, she knows what it takes to be an incredibly successful golfer. With her 29 LPGA Tour wins & 5 Major Titles, she will be a fantastic mentor and coach for the US Junior Team.”
