The 2011 Solheim Cup was the 12th

Solheim Cup The Solheim Cup is a biennial golf tournament for professional women golfers contested by teams representing Europe and the United States. It is named after the Norwegian-American golf club manufacturer Karsten Solheim, who was a driving force beh ...

matches, held 23–25 September in

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

at Killeen Castle in

County Meath County Meath (; gle, Contae na Mí or simply ) is a county in the Eastern and Midland Region of Ireland, within the province of Leinster. It is bordered by Dublin to the southeast, Louth to the northeast, Kildare to the south, Offaly to the sou ...

, northwest of

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. The biennial matches are a three-day contest for professional female golfers, between teams of 12 top players from the United States and Europe. Entering the 2011 matches, the U.S. had won the three recent competitions, with Europe's last victory coming eight years earlier in

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Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

. After the first two days of team play, the competition was tied at 8-all. Europe went 7–5 in singles on Sunday and regained the Cup, 15–13. It was Europe's fourth win, all won on home soil.

Format

The

is a

match play Match play is a scoring system for golf in which a player, or team, earns a point for each hole in which they have bested their opponents; as opposed to stroke play, in which the total number of strokes is counted over one or more rounds of 18 h ...

event, with each match worth one point. The format is as follows *Day 1 (Friday): Four foursome (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. *Day 2 (Saturday): Four foursome matches in a morning session and four fourball matches in an afternoon session. A total of eight players from each team participate. *Day 3 (Sunday): 12 singles matches. All 12 players from each team participate. With a total of 28 points, 14 points are required to win the Cup, and 14 points are required for the defending champion to retain the Cup. All matches are played to a maximum of 18 holes. If the score is even after 18 holes, each team earns one-half-point.

Teams

Eligibility criteria

The European and United States teams have different eligibility criteria. Members of the European Tour must be current members of the Ladies European Tour and must be "a European national," defined by Solheim Cup rules as someone:Solheim Cup
Solheim Cup Team Info
Retrieved 25 August 2011.

Either:
(i) born in a European country; and
(ii) holds a current passport of that European country;
Or:
(i) has been naturalised as a citizen of a European country;
(ii) has held a current passport of that European country for the immediately preceding four (4) consecutive years;
(iii) has resided in that European country for the immediately preceding four (4) consecutive years.

A European country is a nation situated in the continent of Europe and is recognised as an independent state by the United Nations.

Any player who holds dual nationality (of which one shall be the nationality of a European country) shall elect on joining the Ladies European Tour in each of 2010 and 2011 whether she wishes to be eligible for selection for the 2011 European Solheim Cup Team.

Members of the United States team must be current members of the LPGA Tour and be born in the United States.

Team selection

The European and United States teams are selected by different methods. Team Europe was selected by taking the top four players from the LET Solheim Cup standings, followed by the top four

Ladies European Tour The Ladies European Tour is a professional golf tour for women which was founded in 1978. It is based at Buckinghamshire Golf Club near London in England. Like many UK-based sports organisations it is a company limited by guarantee, a legal stru ...

members on the

Women's World Golf Rankings The Women's World Golf Rankings, also known for sponsorship reasons as the Rolex Rankings, were introduced in February 2006. They are sanctioned by eight women's golf tours and the organisations behind them: Ladies Professional Golf Association (L ...

as if 29 August 2011, were not already qualified via the Solheim Cup standings, and four captain's selections. Qualifying points for Team Europe were awarded weekly to the top-10 finishers at official LET events. Team USA qualified by earning points for wins and for top-20 finishes on the

LPGA Tour The Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) is an American organization for female golfers. The organization is headquartered at the LPGA International in Daytona Beach, Florida, and is best known for running the LPGA Tour, a series of weekl ...

over a two-year period. Points were earned beginning with the 2009 Safeway Classic and concluding with the 2011

Women's British Open The Women's Open (originally known as the Women's British Open, and still widely referred to by that name outside the UK) is a women's major golf championships, major championship in Professional golf tours#Women's tours, women's professional go ...

. Points were increased in 2011 and doubled in the four major tournaments. The ten players with the highest points were automatically selected for Team USA. Two additional players were selected by captain Rosie Jones before the start of the Matches.

Team Europe

¹Age at the start of the 2011 Solheim Cup matches on 23 September 2011.
²Residence/Hometown according to official Solheim Cup designation.
LET rankings as of 20 August 2011
Rolex rankings as of 29 August 2011

Team USA

Juli Inkster was a player and assistant captain, the first time in Solheim Cup history that an assistant captain was also a player. ¹Age at the start of the 2011 Solheim Cup matches on 23 September 2011.
²Residence/Hometown according to official 2011 Solheim Cup designation.
Rolex rankings as of 21 August 2011. Rolex ranking does not factor into US Team selection. Shown for comparison purposes only.

Day one

''Friday, 23 September 2011''LPGA.com
Friday Foursomes Results
23 September 2011.LPGA.com
Friday Fourball Results
23 September 2011.

Morning foursomes

Afternoon fourball

Day two

''Saturday, 24 September 2011''LPGA.com
Saturday Foursomes Results
24 September 2011.LPGA.com
Saturday Fourball Results
24 September 2011.

Morning foursomes

Afternoon fourball

By winning her match Laura Davies became the leading points scorer in the Solheim Cup with 24.5, passing

Annika Sörenstam Annika Charlotta Sörenstam (; born 9 October 1970) is a Swedish professional golfer. She is regarded as one of the best female golfers in history. Before stepping away from competitive golf at the end of the 2008 season, she had won 90 inter ...

's record of 24.

Day three

''Sunday, 25 September 2011''LPGA.com
Sunday Singles Results
25 September 2011.

Singles

¹ Kerr conceded the match at its start, because of injury. Following Solheim Cup rules, this was a 10 and 8 win for Europe.

Individual player records

Each entry refers to the win–loss–half record of the player.

Europe

United States

References

External links

Solheim Cup
– official site

{{coord, 53.535, -6.594, type:event, display=title Solheim Cup Golf tournaments in the Republic of Ireland Golf in Leinster Sport in County Meath