Holders of the trophy since 2019, Team Europe will look to retain their title at the expense of Team USA in Toledo, Ohio, from Saturday September 4 to Monday September 6. Everything you need to know about the unmissable event for women’s golf.
The Solheim Cup
The Solheim Cup is a biennial team competition between the best professional female golfers in Europe and the United States. Created in 1990 by Karsten and Louise Solheim (founders of the equipment supplier Ping), the Solheim Cup is contested in the same format as the Ryder Cup for men.
Scheduled in even years from 1990 to 2002, it has been played in odd years since 2003. And therefore takes place this year in the United States, on the course of the Inverness Golf Club in Toledo, Ohio, from Saturday 4 to Monday, September 6.
This is the 17th edition of the Solheim Cup and Team Europe, which won the previous edition at Gleneagles (Scotland) in 2019, is defending its title.
The 18th edition will take place in Andalusia (Spain), on the course of the Finca Cortesin from September 18 to 24, 2023.
Awards
The European team has six Solheim Cup victories against ten wins for the American team. No draw has concluded a confrontation.
The host nation has won twelve of the previous 16 Solheim Cup matches, with the United States winning seven of the previous eight events at home. The European team’s only victory in the United States came with a record-breaking eight-point victory in 2013.
The 2021 match
The format is well known: it is a match-play spread over three days. The competition includes eight foursome matches, eight four-ball confrontations and twelve singles matches.
With a total of 28 points, 14½ points are needed to win the Cup, and 14 points are needed for the defending champion to retain the Cup.
Pat Hurst is captain of the US team for the first time while his European counterpart, Catriona Matthew, leads the team for the second time. The vice-captains are Angela Stanford, Michelle Wie and Stacy Lewis for the USA, Laura Davies, Catherine Imrie and Suzann Pettersen for the Europeans.
The teams
Nelly Korda, world No. 1 and recent Olympic champion in Tokyo, leads Team USA which also relies on Lexi Thompson, Jennifer Kupcho, Lizette Salas or Britanny Altomare to win. Note for the first time the presence of the young Yealimi Noh (19) in the group.
The English Charley Hull and the Spanish Carlota Cignada, present for the 5th time, will lead the European team behind the leader Anna Nordqvist (7th participation), recent winner of the AIG Women’s Open.
French Céline Boutier (27) is part of the European Solheim Cup team for the second time after being among the winning team in 2019.
On the television
The French channel Golf Channel will broadcast live and exclusively the entire Solheim Cup 2021 from Friday 3 (opening ceremony from 11:00 p.m. French time) to Monday 6, with more than thirty hours of live. The team of commentators is made up of Joanna Klatten, Guenaëlle Longy, Manu Biston, Emmanuel Darfour, Hervé Marques, Cyrille Cormier, Florence Le Jacques and Arnaud Degarne.
• Friday September 3 on Golf Channel at 11:00 p.m .: opening ceremony
• Saturday 4 on Channel golf, from 1:00 p.m. to 12:30 a.m.: Foursomes and Fourballs
• Sunday 5 on Golf Channel from 1:00 p.m. to 12:30 a.m.: Foursomes and Fourballs
• Monday 6 on Golf Channel from 5:30 p.m. to 12:30 a.m.: Singles
On the sidelines of the competition, Golf Channel will also offer a daily meeting: the Solheim Club. A magazine entirely devoted to the Solheim Cup to be found live at the start and end of each day of competition.
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