(Tytherington, Cheshire – August 9, 2005) Sweden’s Annika Sorenstam leads the “Volvo Cross Country Challenge” after her exciting victory last week at The Scandinavian TPC Hosted by Annika.
The “Volvo Cross Country Challenge” (VXCC) is a dedicated Order-of Merit where points are awarded to the top 15 finishing players at each LET event in the Nordic region.
The next qualifying event will be The Ladies Finnish Masters, from August 26th-28th at Helsinki GC, Finland.
Carin Koch from Sweden, Patricia Meunier Lebouc and Gwladys Nocera from France currently share second position on the VXCC.
Nocera, who is currently fourth on the automatic Solheim Cup standings, is close to making The 2005 Solheim Cup team, where there are seven automatic places available. A highly placed finish in Finland, which is the final qualifying event for The 2005 Solheim Cup, will be high on Nocera’s agenda.
Members of the Robe di Kappa Ladies European Tour (LET) must compete in a minimum of two events to qualify for the VXCC, where a US$100,000 bonus pool will be awarded to the top ten players at the close of the final event in Denmark.
Norway’s Suzann Pettersen is in fifth position and Swedes Helen Alfreddson and Maria Hjorth share sixth position. Liselotte Neumann, from Sweden, and Scotland’s Catriona Matthew, are tied for eighth place. Minea Blomqvist, who will be playing at home for the next event in Finland, is currently tenth on the VXCC.
Qualifying events for the VXCC are: the Scandinavian TPC Hosted by Annika, August 4-7 in Sweden, the Ladies Finnish Masters, August 26-28 in Finland and the Nykredit Masters, September 1-4, in Denmark. In addition to the prize money, at the close of the final event the overall winner will receive a car courtesy of Volvo Cars Nordic.
