France’s Agathe Laisne has moved into the top spot in the race to earn a place in the European team at this year’s PING Junior Solheim Cup at Golf Club St Leon-Rot, Germany.
The 16 year-old from RCF La Boulie earned 50 ranking points after reaching the final of the French International Lady Juniors Championship at St Cloud and now holds a 20 point advantage over Sweden’s Elin Esborn and Spanish duo, Ana Pelaez and Maria Parra, at the top of the European Ranking.
Laisne carded rounds of 72 and 76 to qualify in 26th place for the match play stage at St Cloud and then displayed the sort of form she showed while winning last year’s Belgian International girls title by beating Spain’s Natalia Escuriola and Luna Sobron, compatriot Marion Veysseyre and Esborn before losing 4/2 to the highly rated former Spanish international champion, Nuria Iturrios, in the 36 hole final match.
Esborn and Palaez both earned 30 points for reaching the semi-finals at St Cloud while two other PING Junior Solheim Cup hopefuls, France’s Mathilda Cappeliez and Sweden’s Julia Engström, confirmed they have the talent to battle their way up the European Ranking by reaching the final of the second flight competition for the Cartier Trophy.
Cappeliez went on to lift that trophy after beating Engström by 8/7 in the final also played over 36 holes. The victory came just one week after the 17 year-old from the Paris Country Club had finished tied 27th in the Lalla Meryem Cup on the Ladies European Tour.
The French International Lady Juniors Championship was the second of eight counting events on this year’s PING Junior Solheim Cup European Ranking with the first six players on the Ranking at the end of the qualification process all earning an automatic place on the European team for the match at GC St. Leon-Rot on September 14-15. The team will be completed with six Captain’s picks.
The third counting event is the the German Girls’ Open at GC St. Leon-Rot, Germany (June 5-7). It is followed by the Ladies’ British Open Amateur Championship at Portstewart GC, Northern Ireland (June 9-13), the European Girls’ Team Championship at Golf Resort Kaskada Brno, Czech Republic (July 7-11), the European Ladies’ Team Championship at Helsingør GC, Denmark (July 7-11) and the ANNIKA Invitational Europe at Bro-Bålsta GK, Sweden (August 4-6) before the qualification process is completed at the Girls’ British Open Championship at West Kilbride GC, Scotland, on August 10-14, 2015.
ABOUT THE PING JUNIOR SOLHEIM CUP
The PING Junior Solheim Cup 2015 is to be played at Golf Club St. Leon-Rot on September 14-15 immediately ahead of The Solheim Cup, which is staged at the same German golf club on September 18-20. It is the first time the same venue has been used for both matches.
The PING Junior Solheim Cup is a team match play competition between Europe and the United States, each team featuring the best 12 female golfers 18 years of age and younger.
The competition consist of 24 matches – six foursome matches, six fourball matches and 12 single matches.
The aim of the competition is to give juniors the opportunity to further their golfing careers by playing matchplay at a high level and also for the competitors to meet, learn and be inspired by the professional players playing in The Solheim Cup.
The 2015 event marks the eighth time the PING Junior Solheim Cup team will be contested with the US Team currently leading the series 4-2-1.
The PING Junior Solheim Cup was established by PING CEO and Chairman, John Solheim, back in 2002 and since has developed a deserved reputation for showcasing the talents of the world’s best female junior players with Azahara Munoz, Anna Nordqvist, Carlota Ciganda, Beatriz Recari, Melissa Reid, Charley Hull, Caroline Masson, Caroline Hedwall, Paula Creamer, Vicky Hurst, Brittany Lang, Brittany Lincicome, Morgan Pressel, Jessica Korda, and Lexi Thompson all playing in the match before graduating to The Solheim Cup.
For more information about the PING Junior Solheim Cup please visit www.solheimcup.com or contact Eva-Lotta Sternmarker at the Ladies European Tour by email on [email protected]
