Everything is ready to live for the first time in Spain one of the most important sporting events in the world. The prestigious golf resort Finca Cortesin will host from 22 to 24 the Solheim Cup, the event that every two years confronts the best players from the United States and Europe in a duel that, like its male counterpart Ryder Cup, raises great passions. More than 80,000 spectators will be counted at the renowned Costa del Sol course during the week of the tournament.
The record of the competition may seem unbalanced (ten victories for the United States to seven for Europe), but in the recent history of the Solheim Cup the team from the Old Continent has taken the lead and has really become the fierce rival to beat.
With four victories in the last six editions, including a memorable and thrilling victory by one point in the Solheim Cup played in 2019 in Gleneagles (Scotland), the European team has been able to combine experience and youth to face its powerful American counterpart, always well guided by players who have made history on the Ladies European Tour (LET). After the away victory of the European team by 15-13 in the last edition, played in 2021 in Ohio, the locals will try to get their third consecutive victory against the Americans.
The responsibility for strategically guiding the European team falls to the captain, Norway’s Suzann Pettersen, who will be assisted by vice-captains Anna Nordqvist, Laura Davies and Caroline Martens.
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THE TEAMS
The Euoropa team members who qualified directly are France’s Celine Boutier and Sweden’s Maja Stark, who qualified thanks to LET Solheim Cup points, as well as England’s Charley Hull and Georgia Hall, Ireland’s Leona Maguire, Sweden’s Linn Grant and Anna Nordqvist and Spain’s Carlota Ciganda, who made the team through their positions in the Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings. The four players chosen by the captain are Sweden’s Madelene Sagström and Caroline Hedwall, Scotland’s Gemma Dryburgh and Denmark’s Emily Kristine Pedersen.
Meanwhile, world No. 1 Lilia Vu, a three-time LPGA Tour winner in 2023 with two majors included, tops the list of the seven players qualified for the U.S. team through the LPGA point standings.
She is joined (in order of ranking) by Nelly Korda, Allisen Corpuz, Megan Khang, Jennifer Kupcho, Danielle Kang and Andrea Lee. The latter tied for 13th in the CPKC Women’s Open, a spot she needed to move from eighth to seventh in the point standings and secure the final automatic qualifying spot.
To complete the Stars and Stripes team, the captain has selected Ally Ewing, Cheyenne Knight and Angel Yin.
Spain will once again have a player, as Carlota Ciganda will make her sixth consecutive appearance in this competition.
“The Solheim Cup is my favorite week of the year and to be able to play at home in Spain is a dream come true,” said Ciganda, who captured her seventh LET title earlier this season. “I love playing for the team,” she added, “and I’m very excited to be able to compete in front of my home crowd. I hope a lot of fans come to cheer us on and that we can inspire them for the next generation.”
France’s Celine Boutier leads the LET points standings with 264.57 points thanks in part to back-to-back victories at the Amundi Evian Championship and the Women’s Scottish Open.
Boutier, who made her Solheim Cup debut in 2019, has won 5.5 points in her seven matches in the previous two editions, both of which were victories for the European team.
The new Evian champion is accompanied by Sweden’s Maja Stark, who took second place in the Ladies European Tour ranking with 262.42 points. Stark, who turned professional in August 2021, has won six times on the LET in the last two years, including the 2022 edition of the co-sanctioned ISPS HANDA World Invitational, which secured her entry to the LPGA Tour.
The 23-year-old was part of the PING Junior Solheim Cup team in 2017, just six years ago, and will now play as a “rookie” in the 2023 Solheim Cup, which will take place September 18-24.
Six players have qualified for the European team through the Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings, with England’s Charley Hull leading the way.
This will be the sixth consecutive appearance for Hull, who made his debut as a 17-year-old and has won three times.
After an outstanding performance as a rookie in 2021, where she scored 4.5 points out of 5, Ireland’s Leona Maguire returns to the European squad.
England’s Georgia Hall qualified for her fourth Solheim Cup after making her debut in 2017 and emerging champion in the last two editions.
There will be another “rookie” on the team, as Linn Grant secured qualification for her first Solheim Cup at Finca Cortesin.
The Swedish star has won five times on the LET in the last two seasons, including the Race To Costa del Sol, and the 2022 Scandinavian Mixed, where she became the first woman to win a DP World Tour event, and recently claimed her first LPGA Tour victory.
For her part, Anna Nordqvist will be a player, and vice-captain in Spain, after she secured her spot with the last automatic qualifying spot through the Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings.
The Swede will be making her eighth consecutive appearance in the competition having earned 15.5 points in the 27 matches she has played.
Speaking about her team, captain Suzann Pettersen said: “Right now I am very happy with my team for the 2023 Solheim Cup. Congratulations to the eight players who have qualified automatically, we have a lot of experience in the squad and it’s great to have our rookies Maja and Linn representing Europe for the first time.”
“We have never had such a strong group of players in terms of world rankings. The European players have played very well this year and put in great performances across the board.”
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U.S. DOMINANCE
Under such historic players as Kathy Withworth, JoAnne Carner, Judy Rankin, Patty Sheehan, Nancy Lopez, Betsy King, Beth Daniel and Juli Inkster, the team defending the U.S. flag in the Solheim Cup has traditionally dominated the most important competition in women’s golf.
In the sixteen editions played to date, the Americans have won ten times and have turned their home into a fortress where they have only won twice.
With Lexi Thompson, the Korda sisters, Danielle Kang or Marina Alex as strongholds, the renewed U.S. team has a magnificent framework for the future and is a formidable opponent for the next editions of the Solheim Cup.
On this occasion, the composition of the matches will be the responsibility of Stacy Lewis, who will be assisted by Natalie Gulbis, Morgan Pressel and Angela Stanford.
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SUZANN PETTERSEN: A TRUE NORWEGIAN LEGEND
The Norwegian boasts an impressive track record that includes, among other successes, two majors and fifteen victories on the LPGA Tour. Born in Oslo 42 years ago, she is an icon of the Solheim Cup: she has represented Europe nine times as a player and twice as vice-captain. In the European ranks she has participated in five victories, including the last two victories, at Gleneagles (Scotland) and Inverness Club (Ohio).
As a player, Pettersen made her debut at the 2002 Solheim Cup. She played the next seven editions, assisting in European victories in 2003, 2011 and 2013, before playing a starring role in 2019 by holing the winning putt, which she herself considers the best of her entire career.
Pettersen, once ranked No. 2 in the world, has amassed 21 professional titles on the LET and LPGA Tour, including the 2007 McDonald’s LPGA Championship and 2013 Evian Championship majors.
He was the protagonist of one of the most emotional retirements. In the 2019 Solheim Cup, after putting the decisive putt on the last hole, she announced her retirement, as she assured that she could no longer improve on it. But in the 2021 Solheim Cup Pettersen was vice-captain of Catriona Matthew, and the transfer of power to a former player who knows the competition and the current players of the circuit perfectly, seemed the most logical thing to do, as it was.
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STACY LEWIS: AMAZING AMERICAN
Born in Toledo, Ohio, 38 years ago, Stacy Lewis is linked to the world of golf in a truly surprising way, given that she was forced to undergo scoliosis surgery before dedicating herself professionally to the sport that made her great. However, and despite the fact that the deviation in her spine could have made her give up the game, her story ended with a totally opposite ending.
As a player on the LPGA Tour, Stacy Lewis is now known for having won two majors and having participated in up to four editions of the tournament in which she will captain the American team in 2023. Lewis won her first major in 2011, Kraft Nabisco, and her second in 2013, British Open. He was world number one for more than 20 weeks between 2013 and 2014. She has 13 LPGA Tour championships to her credit. The 2023 Solheim Cup will not be her first representation of the United States on the green.
In the 2016 Olympic Games she already did so, as well as in previous editions of the Solheim Cup, as a player in four, two of them in some of her best years (2011 and 2013), when she won the majors. In addition, she played those of 2015 and 2017, and in 2019 she participated only as assistant to the American captain. Of her four participations as a player in this great event, Lewis won only half of them. The United States won the 2015 and 2017 editions, losing to Europe in 2011 and 2013.
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