With the women having completed their major season and the men’s tour concluding with the FedEx Championship, September is reserved for team events and first to kick off is the Solheim Cup.
The women’s equivalent of the Ryder Cup, the Solheim Cup see’s the best of Europe take on their American counterparts.
Similarly to the Ryder Cup the Solheim Cup takes place over three days and sees a mixture of formats played. The winners are the first team to reach 14.5 points, however the defending team only needs 14 to ensure that they retain the trophy.
Having started in 1990, the Solheim Cup is getting bigger every time it is played and the 2024 edition of this famous tournament looks set to be the biggest in its history.
With the tournament starting in just a few weeks, the teams are now set and attention is now focused on the competition starting. With the build up set to ramp up over the next few weeks, here is everything that you need to know.
How is the Solheim Cup structured?
When the Solheim Cup was first created back in 1990, the organisers had the perfect blueprint to follow in the Ryder Cup.
Like the men’s competition, each team has twelve players and the competition will last for three days and is split over five sessions in the following formats.
Fourballs
Fourballs is where each of the four players competing in a match will play their own ball. In order to win a hole, the best score from each of the two teams will be counted, with the lowest score from the two best being enough to win the hole.
If scores are matched, the hole will be halved.
Foursomes
Foursomes is where the two players in a team will alternate their shots and only one ball is in play. Considered the hardest of the formats, the lowest score will win the hole. Due to its alternate nature, players will choose whether they tee off on the even numbered or odd numbered holes.
Friday
4 x Foursomes matches
4 x Fourball matches
Saturday
4 x Foursome matches
4 x Fourball matches
Sunday
12 x Singles
For each session on Friday and Saturday the team captain will have to nominate eight different players to play. There are no set rules as to who they can choose to play, there will be some players across the Solheim weekend that will play in all five sessions, whereas there will be others who may not play until the Sunday singles.
Although four players will miss out in each session, the Sunday singles will ensure that every player from the two teams goes out to play.
What does a team need to do in order to win?
Every match within a session will see a point being played for. If a team wins their match, they will contribute a point towards their teams overall total. If a match is tied after 18 holes, the match will be halved and each team will receive half a point.
Across the three days of action, 28 points will be up for grabs and in order to win the Solheim Cup a team needs to win 14.5 points. However, the match can be drawn and the defending winners have an advantage in knowing that winning 14 points will be enough to retain the trophy.
What do the two teams look like?
Upon the conclusion of the Women’s Open, the qualifying period for the teams had come to an end. Players could make the team in one of two ways.
Firstly, players could qualify automatically. With each LPGA tournament offering qualifying points, the top eight European players and top nine American players qualified for the event outright.
For those that missed out on automatic selection, they could still work their way into the Solheim lineup courtesy of a Captain’s selection. Europe awarded their captain Suzanne Peterson four picks, whilst the Americans only had three.
This is how the European team looks;
Qualified players
Charley Hull
Esther Henseleit
Celine Boutier
Maja Stark
Linn Grant
Leona Maguire
Carlota Ciganda
Madelene Sagstrom
Captain’s picks
Georgia Hall
Anna Nordqvist
Albane Valenzuela
Emily Pedersen
The Americans will line up as follows;
Qualified players
Nelly Korda
Lillia Vu
Lauren Coughlin
Ally Ewing
Allisen Corpuz
Megan Khang
Andrea Lee
Rose Zhang
Alison Lee
Captain’s picks
Sarah Schmelzel
Jennifer Kupcho
Lexi Thompson
Who are the team captains?
For the Europeans Suzanne Peterson returns as the Solheim Cup captain, having captained the side in the 2023 edition.
One of the best female players that Europe has ever produced, Peterson was a fiery competitor and had brought all that grit and determination to the European locker room.
For the American’s it is also the case of a returning captain as Stacey Lewis also returns after having come so close in 2023. With thirteen LPGA wins which includes two majors, Lewis is a fine player and will hope to win the Solheim Cup back to America for the first time in almost a decade.
Who are the defending champions?
Heading into this year’s Solheim Cup as the defending champions are the Europeans. However when the Solheim Cup was last played in 2023, the match ended in a tie which ensured that Europe would head into this year’s contest still with the cup in their possession.
Europe has a good recent record at the Solheim Cup having not been defeated in the last three renewals.
Where is this year’s Solheim Cup being held?
As in the Ryder Cup, the two teams take turns in hosting where the event will be played and this year the Solheim Cup returns to America.
Set to be played at the Robert Trent Jones Golf Club, the course has hosted charity events for Tiger Woods and numerous Presidents Cups.
Which team are the favourites?
As is often the case with the Solheim Cup it is the Americans who will start the competition off as the slim favourites.
From a rankings point of view they have the edge with the world's number one and two players in their ranks. However, below that the lineups are pretty even and the result often comes down to who wants it more on the day.
The Americans will be desperate to win the cup for the first time in eight years, never in the tournament’s history have they suffered such a drought and they will hope it ends in a few weeks time.
Jack Hartman
A keen golfer and huge fan of the game, Jack has been covering golf for the last five years. Bringing you all the latest coverage and news from the PGA, LIV, LPGA and DP World Tours, never before has golf been so popular and Jack can’t wait to bring all the excitement to his readers.
