2023 Solheim Cup
 | |||||
| Dates | 22–24 September 2023 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Venue | Finca Cortesin | ||||
| Location | Casares, Málaga, Andalusia, Spain | ||||
| Captains |
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| Europe retains the Solheim Cup | |||||
| Location map | |||||
The 2023 Solheim Cup was the 18th edition of the Solheim Cup matches, held 22–24 September in southern Spain at the Finca Cortesin in Casares, Andalusia. The Solheim Cup is a biennial team competition between the top women professional golfers from Europe and the United States. Stacy Lewis captained the U.S. team for the first time and Suzann Pettersen captained the European team for the first time. The par-72 course was set at 6,312 metres (6,903 yd).[1]
The previous competition in 2021 was won by Europe, 15 points to 13.[2] The 2023 competition resulted in a draw, with each team scoring 14 points. As the Cup can only change hands on a victory by either side, Europe retained it.
The Solheim Cup will return to even-numbered years in 2024, the first time since 2002; the Ryder Cup returned to an odd-year schedule after the 2020 competition was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Format
[edit]The competition was a three-day match play event between teams of 12 players with a similar format to the Ryder Cup, with each match worth one point. The format is as follows:[3]
- Day 1 (Friday): Four foursomes (alternate shot) matches in a morning session and four fourball (better ball) matches in an afternoon session. A total of eight players from each team participate in each session.
- Day 2 (Saturday): Four foursomes matches in a morning session and four fourball matches in an afternoon session. A total of eight players from each team participate in each session.
- Day 3 (Sunday): 12 singles matches. All 12 players from each team participate.
With a total of 28 points, 141⁄2 points are required to win the Cup, and 14 points are required for the defending champion to retain the Cup.[3] All matches are played to a maximum of 18 holes. If the score is even after 18 holes, each team earns one-half point.[4]
Team qualification and selection
[edit]Team Europe
[edit]In order to be eligible to be a member of the European team, players were required to:
- be current members of the Ladies European Tour in any category or membership;
- have played in eight Ranking Events (excluding the Excluded Championships) during the Qualifying Period as a member of the LET, unless the relevant player has been selected by the appointed captain for the 2023 European Team;
- be a "European national". To be a "European national", the player must satisfy the criteria set out in the "Nationality Policy" issued by the International Golf Federation.[5]
Team Europe was made up of eight automatic qualifiers – the top two players from the LET Solheim Cup standings, followed by the top six LET members on the Women's World Golf Rankings who were not already qualified via the Solheim Cup standings – and four captain's selections.
Team USA
[edit]In order to be eligible to be a member of the United States team, players were required to be current members of the LPGA Tour and meet one of these three citizenship criteria:
- U.S. citizens by birth, regardless of their birthplace.
- Those who were naturalized as U.S. citizens before age 18.
- Those who became U.S. citizens by adoption before age 13.[6]
Team USA was made up of nine automatic qualifiers – the leading seven players from the LPGA Solheim Cup points rankings and the top two players in the Women's World Golf Rankings not already qualified via the points rankings – and three chosen by the team captain. LPGA Solheim Cup points were earned for top-20 finishes on the LPGA Tour over a two-year period.[7]
Teams
[edit]Coaching staff: captain – Suzann Pettersen, vice-captains – Laura Davies, Caroline Martens, Anna Nordqvist (playing vice-captain).[8]
 Team Europe | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Player | Country | Age | Points rank[9] | Rolex ranking | Previous appearances | Matches | W–L–H | Winning percentage |
| Céline Boutier |  France | 29 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 7 | 5–1–1 | 78.57% |
| Maja Stark |  Sweden | 23 | 2 | 40 | 0 | Rookie | ||
| Linn Grant | Sweden | 24 | 3 | 19 | 0 | Rookie | ||
| Charley Hull |  England | 27 | 4 | 9 | 5 | 19 | 11–5–3 | 65.79% |
| Carlota Ciganda |  Spain | 33 | 5 | 33 | 5 | 19 | 7–8–4 | 47.37% |
| Georgia Hall | England | 27 | 8 | 16 | 3 | 13 | 7–5–1 | 57.69% |
| Anna Nordqvist | Sweden | 36 | 10 | 37 | 7 | 27 | 14–10–3 | 57.41% |
| Leona Maguire |  Ireland | 28 | 13 | 14 | 1 | 5 | 4–0–1 | 90.00% |
| Caroline Hedwall (P) | Sweden | 34 | 17 | 120 | 4 | 15 | 8–6–1 | 56.67% |
| Madelene Sagström (P) | Sweden | 30 | 28 | 42 | 2 | 6 | 2–4–0 | 33.33% |
| Gemma Dryburgh (P) |  Scotland | 30 | 42 | 48 | 0 | Rookie | ||
| Emily Kristine Pedersen (P) |  Denmark | 27 | 48 | 114 | 2 | 7 | 3–4–0 | 42.86% |
Coaching staff: captain – Stacy Lewis, assistant captains – Morgan Pressel, Natalie Gulbis, Angela Stanford[12][13][14]
 Team USA | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Player | Age | Points rank[15] | Rolex ranking | Previous appearances | Matches | W–L–H | Winning percentage |
| Lilia Vu | 25 | 1 | 1 | 0 | Rookie | ||
| Nelly Korda | 25 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 8 | 5–2–1 | 68.75% |
| Allisen Corpuz | 25 | 3 | 8 | 0 | Rookie | ||
| Megan Khang | 25 | 4 | 13 | 2 | 6 | 1–3–2 | 33.33% |
| Jennifer Kupcho | 26 | 5 | 28 | 1 | 4 | 2–1–1 | 62.50% |
| Danielle Kang | 30 | 6 | 31 | 3 | 12 | 5–7–0 | 41.67% |
| Andrea Lee | 25 | 7 | 43 | 0 | Rookie | ||
| Lexi Thompson | 28 | 8 | 26 | 5 | 19 | 6–6–7 | 50.00% |
| Rose Zhang | 20 | 17 | 30 | 0 | Rookie | ||
| Ally Ewing (P) | 30 | 9 | 33 | 2 | 8 | 2–5–1 | 31.25% |
| Cheyenne Knight (P) | 26 | 11 | 46 | 0 | Rookie | ||
| Angel Yin (P) | 24 | 12 | 32 | 2 | 6 | 3–2–1 | 58.33% |
Ages on first day of matches, 22 September; Rolex rankings at team selection. Captain's picks (P) shown in yellow.
Day one
[edit]Friday, 22 September 2023
Morning foursomes
[edit]| | Results | |
|---|---|---|
| Stark/Grant |  2 & 1 | Thompson/Khang |
| Boutier/Hall | 1 up | Kang/Lee |
| Maguire/Nordqvist | 1 up | Korda/Corpuz |
| Hull/Pedersen | 5 & 4 | Ewing/Knight |
| 0 | Session | 4 |
| 0 | Overall | 4 |
For the first time in Solheim Cup history, Team USA swept a foursomes session.[19]
Afternoon four-ball
[edit]| | Results | |
|---|---|---|
| Dryburgh/Sagström | halved | Zhang/Khang |
| Maguire/Hall |  1 up | Thompson/Vu |
| Pedersen/Stark | halved | Kupcho/Corpuz |
| Ciganda/Grant | 4 & 2 | Yin/Ewing |
| 3 | Session | 1 |
| 3 | Overall | 5 |
Emily Kristine Pedersen made the second hole-in-one in Solheim Cup history on the 12th hole in the afternoon four-ball.[20]
Day two
[edit]Saturday, 23 September 2023
Morning foursomes
[edit]| | Results | |
|---|---|---|
| Pedersen/Ciganda | 2 & 1 | Vu/Kupcho |
| Maguire/Nordqvist | 1 up | Thompson/Khang |
| Boutier/Hall | 5 & 3 | Korda/Corpuz |
| Stark/Grant | 1 up | Kang/Lee |
| 2 | Session | 2 |
| 5 | Overall | 7 |
Afternoon four-ball
[edit]| | Results | |
|---|---|---|
| Hull/Maguire | 4 & 3 | Korda/Ewing |
| Nordqvist/Hedwall | 2 up | Knight/Yin |
| Sagström/Pedersen | 2 & 1 | Zhang/Lee |
| Ciganda/Grant | 2 & 1 | Kang/Vu |
| 3 | Session | 1 |
| 8 | Overall | 8 |
Day three
[edit]Sunday, 24 September 2023
Singles
[edit]| | Results | |
|---|---|---|
| Linn Grant | 1 up | Megan Khang |
| Leona Maguire | 4 & 3 | Rose Zhang |
| Charley Hull | 4 & 2 | Danielle Kang |
| Anna Nordqvist | 2 & 1 | Jennifer Kupcho |
| Georgia Hall | halved | Andrea Lee |
| Gemma Dryburgh | halved | Cheyenne Knight |
| Céline Boutier | 2 & 1 | Angel Yin |
| Caroline Hedwall | 2 up | Ally Ewing |
| Madelene Sagström | 4 & 3 | Lilia Vu |
| Maja Stark | 2 & 1 | Allisen Corpuz |
| Carlota Ciganda | 2 & 1 | Nelly Korda |
| Emily Kristine Pedersen | 2 & 1 | Lexi Thompson |
| 6 | Session | 6 |
| 14 | Overall | 14 |
Individual player records
[edit]Each entry refers to the win–loss–half record of the player.
Europe
[edit]| Player | Points | Overall | Singles | Foursomes | Fourballs |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Céline Boutier | 0 | 0–3–0 | 0–1-0 | 0–2–0 | 0–0–0 |
| Carlota Ciganda | 4 | 4–0–0 | 1–0–0 | 1–0–0 | 2–0–0 |
| Gemma Dryburgh | 1 | 0–0–2 | 0–0–1 | 0–0–0 | 0–0–1 |
| Linn Grant | 3 | 3–2–0 | 0–1–0 | 1–1–0 | 2–0–0 |
| Georgia Hall | 1.5 | 1–2–1 | 0–0–1 | 0–2–0 | 1–0–0 |
| Caroline Hedwall | 1 | 1–1–0 | 1–0–0 | 0–0–0 | 0–1–0 |
| Charley Hull | 1 | 1–2–0 | 0–1–0 | 0–1–0 | 1–0–0 |
| Leona Maguire | 3 | 3–2–0 | 1–0–0 | 0–2–0 | 2–0–0 |
| Anna Nordqvist | 1 | 1–3–0 | 1–0–0 | 0–2–0 | 0–1–0 |
| Emily Kristine Pedersen | 2.5 | 2–2–1 | 0–1–0 | 1–1–0 | 1–0–1 |
| Madelene Sagström | 1.5 | 1–1–1 | 0–1–0 | 0–0–0 | 1–0–1 |
| Maja Stark | 2.5 | 2–1–1 | 1–0–0 | 1–1–0 | 0–0–1 |
United States
[edit]| Player | Points | Overall | Singles | Foursomes | Fourballs |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Allisen Corpuz | 2.5 | 2–1–1 | 0–1–0 | 2–0–0 | 0–0–1 |
| Ally Ewing | 1 | 1–3–0 | 0–1–0 | 1–0–0 | 0–2–0 |
| Danielle Kang | 2 | 2–2–0 | 1–0–0 | 1–1–0 | 0–1–0 |
| Megan Khang | 3.5 | 3–0–1 | 1–0–0 | 2–0–0 | 0–0–1 |
| Cheyenne Knight | 2.5 | 2–0–1 | 0–0–1 | 1–0–0 | 1–0–0 |
| Nelly Korda | 2 | 2–2–0 | 0–1–0 | 2–0–0 | 0–1–0 |
| Jennifer Kupcho | 0.5 | 0–2–1 | 0–1–0 | 0–1–0 | 0–0–1 |
| Andrea Lee | 1.5 | 1–2–1 | 0–0–1 | 1–1–0 | 0–1–0 |
| Lexi Thompson | 3 | 3–1–0 | 1–0–0 | 2–0–0 | 0–1–0 |
| Lilia Vu | 1 | 1–3–0 | 1–0–0 | 0–1–0 | 0–2–0 |
| Angel Yin | 2 | 2–1–0 | 1–0–0 | 0–0–0 | 1–1–0 |
| Rose Zhang | 0.5 | 0–2–1 | 0–1–0 | 0–0–0 | 0–1–1 |
References
[edit]- ^ "The Course". Solheim Cup 2023. Retrieved 7 April 2022.
- ^ "Europe retain Solheim Cup after thrilling victory over USA". The Guardian. 6 September 2021. Retrieved 8 September 2021.
- ^ a b Berhow, Josh (16 August 2017). "What to know and how to watch the 2017 Solheim Cup". Golf Magazine. Retrieved 30 January 2019.
- ^ "Solheim Cup format, terminology". ESPN. 9 September 2003. Retrieved 30 January 2019.
- ^ "The 2023 Solheim Cup European Team Qualification" (PDF). Solheim Cup 2023. Retrieved 7 April 2022.
- ^ "Solheim eligibility criteria changing for U.S. team". Golf Channel. Retrieved 16 August 2013.
- ^ "Solheim Cup". LPGA. Retrieved 7 April 2022.
- ^ "Anna Nordqvist, Laura Davies, and Caroline Martens named vice-captains for the 2023 European Solheim Cup Team". Solheim Cup 2023. 16 August 2022. Retrieved 20 August 2022.
- ^ "2023 Solheim Cup Team Europe Standings". Ladies European Tour. Retrieved 7 April 2022.
- ^ "Pettersen Confirms Line Up for 2023 European Solheim Cup Team". Ladies European Tour. 22 August 2023. Retrieved 22 August 2023.
- ^ "World Rankings on 21 August 2023". Rolex World Rankings. 21 August 2023. Retrieved 29 August 2023.
- ^ "Morgan Pressel Named Assistant Captain for 2023 USA Solheim Cup Team". Solheim Cup 2023. 23 March 2022. Retrieved 1 August 2022.
- ^ "Natalie Gulbis Named Assistant Captain for 2023 USA Solheim Cup Team". Solheim Cup 2023. 10 June 2022. Retrieved 1 August 2022.
- ^ "Angela Stanford Named Assistant Captain for 2023 U.S. Solheim Cup Team". Solheim Cup 2023. 27 September 2022. Retrieved 27 September 2022.
- ^ "2023 Solheim Cup Team USA Standings". U.S. Solheim Cup. Retrieved 7 April 2022.
- ^ "US Solheim Cup team begins to come into focus, with only one qualifying position remaining". Golf Digest Middle East. 28 August 2023. Retrieved 28 August 2023.
- ^ "2023 Solheim Cup: Meet the United States Team". LPGA. 28 August 2023. Retrieved 28 August 2023.
- ^ "World Rankings on 28 August 2023". Rolex World Rankings. 28 August 2023. Retrieved 29 August 2023.
- ^ Nichols, Beth Ann (22 September 2023). "Stacy's sweep: Team USA shuts out Europe in foursomes for the first time in Solheim Cup history". Golfweek. Retrieved 22 September 2023.
- ^ @LPGA (22 September 2023). "Solheim Cup Ace" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
- ^ "Solheim Cup 2023 Leaderboard". LPGA. 23 September 2023. Retrieved 23 September 2023.
- ^ Murray, Scott (24 September 2023). "Solheim Cup: USA take narrow lead over Europe on final day - live". The Guardian. Retrieved 24 September 2023.
External links
[edit]