The Solheim Cup is a biennial

golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standardized playing area, and coping wi ...

tournament for professional women golfers contested by teams representing

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

and the

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. It is named after the

Norwegian Norwegian, Norwayan, or Norsk may refer to: *Something of, from, or related to Norway, a country in northwestern Europe * Norwegians, both a nation and an ethnic group native to Norway * Demographics of Norway *The Norwegian language, including ...

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manufacturer

Karsten Solheim Karsten Solheim (September 15, 1911 – February 16, 2000) was an American golf club designer and businessman. He founded Karsten Manufacturing, a golf club maker better known by the name of PING, and the Solheim Cup, the premier international t ...

, who was a driving force behind its creation. The inaugural Cup was held in 1990, and the event was first staged in even numbered years until 2002, alternating years with the

Ryder Cup The Ryder Cup is a biennial men's golf competition between teams from Europe and the United States. The competition is contested every two years with the venue alternating between courses in the United States and Europe. The Ryder Cup is named af ...

(the equivalent men's event). As part of the general reshuffling of team golf events after the one-year postponement of the 2001 Ryder Cup following the

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, the Solheim Cup switched to odd numbered years beginning in 2003. Another reshuffle of team golf events took place in 2020 due to the

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and the Solheim Cup will return to even numbered years from 2024. The United States teams have won the cup 10 times, compared with seven for Europe. The current holders are Europe, who won at the Inverness Club in

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, in 2021.

Format

The tournament is played over three days. Since 2002, there have been 28 matches—eight

foursomes Foursomes, also known as alternate shot, is a pairs playing format in the sport of golf. Golfers compete in teams of two, using only one ball per team, and taking alternate shots until the hole is completed. Team members take turns in teeing off o ...

and eight four-balls played on days 1 and 2, and 12 singles on the final day. This format is also used in the

. Before 1996, and also in 2000, the Solheim Cup used a similar, but abbreviated format. One point is awarded to the team that wins each match; in the event of a tie, both teams score half a point. After all matches are complete, the team with more points wins or retains the Cup. Any ties are broken in favor of the defending champion team. In addition to the indicated number of players, each team includes one captain and a set number of assistant captains (three as of 2015), none of whom play in the matches.

Team qualification and selection

The U.S. team is selected by a points system, with American players on the

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receiving points for each top-twenty finish on tour. Through the 2013 event, U.S. citizens born outside the country were ineligible for consideration; beginning in 2015, eligibility for Team USA was expanded to include many more categories of (female) U.S. citizens. For the European team, up to 2005, seven players were selected on a points system based on results on the Ladies European Tour (LET). This allowed top European players who competed mainly on the LPGA Tour to be selected to ensure that the European team was competitive. Since 2007, only the top five players from the LET qualify and another four are selected on the basis of the

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. This reflects the increasing dominance of the LPGA Tour, where almost all top European players spend most of their time. In addition, each team has a number of "captain's picks", players chosen at the discretion of the team captains, regardless of their point standings, though in practice the captain's picks are often the next ranking players.

Captains

Team captains are typically recently retired

professional golfer A professional golfer is somebody who receives payments or financial rewards in the sport of golf that are directly related to their skill or reputation. A person who earns money by teaching or playing golf is traditionally considered a "golf pr ...

s with Solheim Cup playing experience, chosen for their experience playing on previous Cup teams and for their ability to lead a team.

Results

In the 17 competitions through 2021, the United States leads the series 10 to 7.

Future venues

2023 Events Predicted and scheduled events * January 1 ** In the United States, books, films, and other works published in 1927 will enter the public domain, assuming there are no changes made to copyright law. ** Croatia will adopt the eu ...

: Finca Cortesín Golf Club in

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near

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; it has previously hosted three

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s. *2024:

Robert Trent Jones Golf Club Robert Trent Jones Golf Club (RTJ) is a private golf club located in Gainesville, Virginia, a suburb southwest of Washington D.C. Opened for play in 1991, the par 72 course plays between . Founding and premises RTJ was founded by the legendar ...

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; it has previously hosted four

Presidents Cup The Presidents Cup is a series of men's golf matches between a team representing the United States and an International Team representing the rest of the world minus Europe. Europe competes against the United States in a similar but considerably ...

matches. *2026: Bernardus Golf in

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; it has previously hosted two editions (2021, 2022) of the Dutch Open.

Records

*Most appearances: 12
°

Laura Davies Dame Laura Jane Davies, (born 5 October 1963) is an English female professional golfer. She has achieved the status of her nation's most accomplished female golfer of modern times, being the first non-American to finish at the top of the LPGA ...

(Eur), 1990–2011 *Most points: 25
°

(Eur) (22–18–6 record) *Most singles points won: 7
°

Juli Inkster Juli Inkster (born Juli Simpson; June 24, 1960) is an American professional golfer who plays on the LPGA Tour. With a professional career spanning 29 years to date, Inkster's 31 wins rank her second in wins among all active players on the LPGA ...

(USA) (6–1–2 record) *Most foursome points won: 11
°

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 intern ...

(Eur) (11–3–1 record) *Most fourball points won: 11
° Cristie Kerr (USA) (11–5–1 record) *Top point percentage (Minimum of 3 Solheim Cup Matches)
°

Janice Moodie Janice C. Moodie (born 31 May 1973) is a Scottish professional golfer who plays mainly on the U.S.-based LPGA Tour but is also a member of the Ladies European Tour. Amateur career Moodie was born in Glasgow. At age 11, she was taught to play ...

(Eur) (7–2–2)
°

Carin Koch Anna Carin Pernilla Hjalmarsson Koch (née Hjalmarsson; born 23 February 1971) is a Swedish professional golfer who previously played on the Ladies European Tour and on the U.S.-based LPGA Tour. She was captain of the 2015 European Solheim Cup te ...

(Eur) (10–3–3)
°

Dottie Pepper Dottie Pepper (born August 17, 1965) is an American professional golfer and television golf broadcaster. From 1988 to 1995 she competed as Dottie Mochrie, which was her married name before a divorce. She won two major championships and 17 LPGA T ...

(USA) (13–5–2)
°

Christina Kim Christina Kim (born March 15, 1984) is an American professional golfer currently playing on the LPGA Tour and on the Ladies European Tour (LET). She is known for her animated style of play, flamboyant dress, and outgoing personality. Kim compet ...

(USA) (6–2–2) *Most points in a single contest: 5
°

Caroline Hedwall Caroline Ingrid Hedwall (born 13 May 1989) is a Swedish professional golfer who plays on the Ladies European Tour (LET) and the LPGA Tour. In 2013 she became the first player to win five matches in a single Solheim Cup event. As an amateur she ...

(Eur) 2013 *Youngest player:
° Charley Hull (Eur) 2013 *Oldest player:
°

(USA) 2011 SourcesThe Solheim Cup - Match history & records
/ref>

Notes

References

External links

* {{Golf Team golf tournaments Women's golf tournaments Ladies European Tour events LPGA Tour events Women's golf tournaments in the United States Recurring sporting events established in 1990