The Ladies’ British Open Amateur Championship is one of six leading European amateur tournaments to be selected as official qualifying events for places in the European team at the 2013 PING Junior Solheim Cup.
The Championship, to be played at Machynys Peninsula, Wales, on 11-15 June, 2013, is included on the qualification rota alongside five other top events in Spain, France, Germany, Sweden and England as Europe’s leading amateur girl golfers bid for the six automatic places in the European team to face the Americans at the 2013 PING Junior Solheim Cup, to be staged at The Inverness Golf Club in Denver on 13 and 14 August.
The six qualifiers will be joined by a further six Captain’s Picks in a European team bidding to wrest the trophy back from an American side which retained the trophy after halving the 2011 match 12-12 at Knightsbrook Hotel Spa and Golf Resort in Ireland.
The qualification process for places in the European team at the 2013 PING Junior Solheim Cup starts at the Spanish International Ladies’ Amateur Championship at Pula Golf, Mallorca, and then takes in the French International Lady Junior Championship at St Cloud Golf Club, the German Girls’ Open at GC St Leon-Rot, the Ladies’ British Open Amateur Championship at Machynys Peninsula G & CC, the European Girls’ Team Championship at Linköping, Sweden and the European Ladies’ Team Championship at Fulford GC, England, after which the leading six players from the official Points Table will earn an automatic place in the European side.
Officials have also confirmed the qualification criteria for next year’s match in Colorado.
- All 12 members of the European team must be 12-18 years old (born 1995 or later) and must not have reached their 18th birthday prior to 1st January 2013.
- Participants must be amateurs and not be members of a competitive collegiate golf programme.
- They must also be European citizens.
The PING Junior Solheim Cup was inaugurated back in 2002 when the American team emerged victorious at Oak Ridge,Minnesota. They also won in 2005 and 2009, with the Europeans claiming the trophy at Bokskogens GK, Sweden, in 2003, and Båstad GK, Sweden, in 2007. The Americans have never lost on home soil.
PING is the founder, owner and title sponsor of the PING Junior Solheim Cup and the event will be operated by the American Junior Golf Association (AJGA) with assistance from the Ladies European Tour (LET) and the Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA).
“We are very confident the new criteria for the selection of the 2013 European PING Junior Solheim Cup team will provide an extremely talented group of young women to continue in the tradition set by the likes of Anna Nordqvist, Melissa Reid and Marianne Skarpnord,” said John A. Solheim, Chairman and CEO of PING. “It has been very exciting watching women like these who have played in earlier PING Junior Solheim Cup matches continue with successful careers in Professional Golf.”
The PING Junior Solheim Cup always takes place immediately ahead of The Solheim Cup, this year due to be played on 16-18 August at Colorado Golf Club, just 20 minutes away from The Inverness Golf Club.
It was announced recently that Scot, Janice Moodie, will be captain of the 2013 European PING Junior Solheim Cup team. The three-time Solheim Cup player replaces Lotta Neumann, the captain two years ago in Ireland, who will be captain of Europe’s Solheim Cup team bidding to retain the trophy at Colorado Golf Club.
Kathy Whitworth, Captain of the first two US Solheim Cup teams and an LPGA Hall of Famer, will lead the 2013 United States PING Junior Solheim Cup team.
For more information about both the PING Junior Solheim Cup and The Solheim Cup please visit www.solheimcupeurope.com and www.ladieseuropeantour.com