Europe’s top girl golfers will be heading to Spain next February for the start of the qualification process for the 2015 PING Junior Solheim Cup.
The Spanish International Ladies Amateur Championship, to be played at Real Club Pineda de Sevilla, Spain, on February 25 – March 1, 2015, is the first of eight events offering ranking points for the biennial match, to be played at GC St. Leon-Rot, Germany on September 14-15 next year.
At the end of the qualification process the first six players on the Ranking will earn an automatic place on the European team for the match in Germany with the team being completed with six Captain’s picks. All amateur events and the Ladies European Amateur Ranking will be taken into consideration when deciding the Captain’s Picks.
The qualification process starts in Spain and then continues at the French International Lady Junior Championship at GC St Cloud, France (April 2-6), the German Girls’ Open at GC St. Leon-Rot Germany (June 5-7), the Ladies’ British Open Amateur Championship at Portstewart GC, Northern Ireland (June 9-13), the European Girls’ Team Championship at Golf Resort Kaskada Brno, Czech Republic (July 7-11), the European Ladies’ Team Championship at Helsingør, Denmark (July 7-11) and the ANNIKA Invitational Europe at Bro-Bålsta, Sweden (August 4-6) before being completed at the Girls’ British Open Championship at West Kilbride, Scotland, on August 10-14, 2015.
The idea of staging a prestigious transatlantic competition for girls, similar to The Solheim Cup, was first mooted by John Solheim, PING’s current Chairman and CEO who was determined to provide talented young girl golfers with a platform on which they could forward their careers by competing at the highest level against their peers from the other side of the Atlantic.
The inaugural PING Junior Solheim Cup was staged in 2002 at Oak Ridge Country Club in Hopkins, Minnesota, and it has developed into an important stepping stone for many of the leading players in the women’s game.
Next year the match takes on added significance because for the first time ever it is to be played at the same venue as The Solheim Cup itself.
“We decided to play the PING Junior Solheim Cup and The Solheim Cup back-to-back at the same venue in order to enhance the profile of the junior event and to give it the status we always believed it should have,” said John Solheim.
“It promises to be a magnificent week and one that will help to enhance the profile of women’s amateur and professional golf all over the world.”
The PING Junior Solheim Cup has earned a deserved reputation as a rich breeding ground for stars of the future. The likes of Charley Hull, Anna Nordqvist, Lexi Thompson, Paula Creamer, Azahara Munoz, and Caroline Masson have all played in the PING Junior Solheim Cup with the event spawning no less than five major champions.
Details of the ranking points available at each of the eight qualifying events are attached. To qualify for the European team at the 2015 PING Junior Solheim Cup, team participants must be 12-18 years old (born 1997 or later) and must not have reached their 18th birthday prior to January 1st, 2015. Prospective team members must be amateurs and cannot be members of a competitive collegiate golf programme. They must also be European citizens.
PING Junior Solheim Cup www.solheimcup.com