The Solheim Cup is a biennial golf tournament for professional women golfers contested by teams representing Europe and the United States. It is named after the Norwegian-Americangolf club manufacturer Karsten Solheim, who was a driving force behind its creation.
The inaugural Cup was held in 1990, and the event was first staged in even numbered years until 2002, alternating years with the Ryder Cup (the equivalent men's event). As part of the general reshuffling of team golf events after the one-year postponement of the 2001 Ryder Cup following the September 11 attacks, the Solheim Cup switched to odd numbered years beginning in 2003. Another reshuffle of team golf events took place in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the Solheim Cup will return to even numbered years from 2024 onwards.[1]
The United States teams have won the cup ten times, compared with eight for Europe. The current holders are Europe, who retained the cup with a 14–14 draw at Finca Cortesin in Málaga in 2023.
The cup
The trophy is a cut-glass Irish Waterford Crystal, designed in 1990 by one of Waterford's top designers, Billy Briggs. Weight: about 20 pounds. Height: 19 inches, including the mahogany base. Diameter of wooden base: 8 inches. Diameter at top: 4 inches.[2]
Format
The tournament is played over three days. Since 2002, there have been 28 matches—eight foursomes and eight four-balls played on days 1 and 2, and 12 singles on the final day. This format is also used in the Ryder Cup. Before 1996, and also in 2000, the Solheim Cup used a similar, but abbreviated format.
One point is awarded to the team that wins each match; in the event of a tie, both teams score half a point. After all matches are complete, the team with more points wins or retains the Cup. Any ties are broken in favor of the defending champion team.
In addition to the indicated number of players, each team includes one captain and a set number of assistant captains (three as of 2015), none of whom play in the matches.
Year
Day 1
Day 2
Day 3
Total Points
Players per team
Morning
Afternoon
Morning
Afternoon
1990
4 foursomes
4 fourballs
8 singles
16
8
1992
4 foursomes
4 fourballs
10 singles
18
10
1994
5 foursomes
5 fourballs
10 singles
20
10
1996–1998
4 foursomes
4 fourballs
4 foursomes
4 fourballs
12 singles
28
12
2000
4 foursomes
4 foursomes
6 fourballs
12 singles
26
12
2002– present
4 foursomes
4 fourballs
4 foursomes
4 fourballs
12 singles
28
12
or
or
4 fourballs
4 foursomes
4 fourballs
4 foursomes
Team qualification and selection
The U.S. team[3] is selected by a points system, with American players on the LPGA Tour receiving points for each top-twenty finish on tour.[4] Through the 2013 event, U.S. citizens born outside the country were ineligible for consideration; beginning in 2015, eligibility for Team USA was expanded to include many more categories of (female) U.S. citizens.[5][a] For the European team,[6] up to 2005, seven players were selected on a points system based on results on the Ladies European Tour (LET). This allowed top European players who competed mainly on the LPGA Tour to be selected to ensure that the European team was competitive. Since 2007, only the top five players from the LET qualify and another four are selected on the basis of the Women's World Golf Rankings. This reflects the increasing dominance of the LPGA Tour, where almost all top European players spend most of their time.[7] In addition, each team has a number of "captain's picks", players chosen at the discretion of the team captains, regardless of their point standings, though in practice the captain's picks are often the next ranking players.
Captains
Team captains are typically recently retired professional golfers with Solheim Cup playing experience, chosen for their experience playing on previous Cup teams and for their ability to lead a team.
^SolheimCup2019. "Solheim Cup Europe". solheimcup2019.com. Solheim Cup Europe. Retrieved 12 March 2019.((cite web)): CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
Europe
2023 Solheim Cup
