Can Europe continue recent Solheim Cup domination
Image – Solheim Cup
The Solheim Cup between the finest of Europe’s and America’s female golfers begins at Finca Cortesin in Andalucia in Spain this Friday with the European team looking to close the 10 -7 deficit record they have in the seventeen encounters between the two teams the event was first played in 1990.
The last few years however have seen a marked change in the outcome of the event, with Europe successful in four of the last six stagings, the last two in succession after the USA had won all but three of their first eleven battles.
In 2023 the teams are evenly matched in terms of world ranking with five of the European side inside the top 20 in the Rolex World ranking and four of the Americans in that category.
The leading ranked European is the recent Evian Championship winner, Celine Boutier, while for the Americans the recent AIG Women’s Open Champion heads their list just ahead of Nelly Korda.
It’s at the other end of the scale however where the Americans have a mathematical edge with none of their team outside the top 50 in the world while the Europeans have one ( Gemma Dryburgh) in 55th place and two (Caroline Hedwall and Emily Kristine Pedersen) outside the top 100.
Not that world standing counts for a great deal in these battles as the sort of disparity in ranking above has been a regular factor in the event prior top it getting underway but, increasingly, making little difference as the heat of the battle and local advantage plays its roll.
The format consist of 8 Fourball and 8 Foursome matches on both Friday and Saturday followed by 12 singles on Sunday resulting in 28 points being up for grabs. The first team to 14.5 points wins the encounter although for Europe they need only 14 to force a tie and retain the Cup.
Coming just a week ahead of the Ryder Cup between the men’s equivalents in Italy, the event promises to be a spicy encounter to get the juices of, especially, European golf fans flowing.
