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 June 11-15, 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, Colorado, on Tuesday August 13
and Wednesday August 14.
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, (February 27
– March 3) and then takes in the French International Lady Junior Championship
at St Cloud Golf Club (March 28 – April 1), the German Girls’ Open at GC St
Leon-Rot (June 7-9), the Ladies’ British Open Amateur Championship at Machynys
Peninsula G & CC (June 11 -15), the European Girls’ Team Championship
at Linköping, Sweden (July 9-13) and the
European Ladies’ Team Championship at Fulford GC, England (July 9-13) after
which the leading six players from the official Points Table will earn an
automatic place in the European side. (Tables indicating the number of points
available at each of the seven qualifying events are attached).
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 January 1, 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 match
series currently stands at 3-2-1 in favour of the Americans who 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
August 16-18 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.
For media enquiries,
please contact Colin Callander at Golf Marketing Services on +44 (0) 1438
718399. (colin@gmsgolf.co.uk)