We check out who options in Suzann Pettersen’s Crew Europe aspect on the 2024 Solheim Cup.
Europe are in quest of historical past and hoping to maintain the trophy for the fourth consecutive version, having gained in 2019 and 2021 earlier than retaining the trophy with a dramatic 14-14 tie in Spain final September.
Pettersen could have 10 of the final line-up at her disposal and two rookies for this yr’s contest at Robert Trent Jones Golf Membership in Virginia, stay from September 13-15 on Sky Sports activities, with Switzerland’s Albane Valenzuela and Germany Esther Henseleit the 2 debutants.
Henseleit certified by way of the European Solheim Cup factors record, becoming a member of Charley Hull, whereas Celine Boutier, Leona Maguire, Carlota Ciganda, Maja Stark, Linn Grant and Madelene Sagström all secured their spots by way of the Rolex Ladies’s World Golf Rankings.
Valenzuela was then joined by Emily Kristine Pedersen, Georgia Corridor and Anna Nordqvist because the 4 captain’s picks to finish Europe’s line-up, introduced the Monday after the AIG Ladies’s Open. We take a better take a look at the European gamers chasing one other victory on American soil..
Charley Hull (England – European Factors Record)
Age 28. Caps 6. Majors 0.
Solheim Cup file: 12-7-3
England’s Charley Hull topped the LET Solheim Cup Factors record with 203.50 factors after recording seven top-five finishes on the LET in 2023 and 2024.
Hull, who made her Solheim Cup debut again in 2013, will probably be making her seventh look within the prestigious occasion and has gained 13.5 factors from her 22 matches
Esther Henseleit (Germany – European Factors Record)
Age 25. Caps 0. Majors 0.
Solheim Cup file: N/A
Henseleit moved into the second automated qualifying spot for the Solheim Cup after firing seven birdies throughout the ultimate spherical to card a six-under 66 and clinch silver on the 2024 Paris Olympics.
She adopted up by ending second behind Lauren Coughlin on the ISPS Handa Ladies’s Scottish Open, plus claimed top-15 finishes in three of the 5 ladies’s majors this yr.
Celine Boutier (France – Rolex Ladies’s Golf World Rankings)
Age 30. Caps 3. Majors 1.
Solheim Cup file: 5-4-1
Boutier loved an excellent 2023 marketing campaign as she produced eight top-finishes, inside which got here victories on the Maybank Championship, the Ladies’s Scottish Open, the Evian Championship and the LPGA Drive On Championship.
Her high-quality kind additionally included a tied-fifth end on the BMW Girls Championship, tied third on the Dow Nice Lakes Bay Invitational and tied fourth on the Honda LPGA Thailand. Her kind in 2024 has been much less emphatic, although Boutier did place second on the HSBC Ladies’s World Championship.
Maja Stark (Sweden – Rolex Ladies’s Golf World Rankings)
Age 24. Caps 1. Majors 0.
Solheim Cup file: 2-1-1
Maja Stark, together with fellow Swede Linn Grant (we’ll get to her shortly), added an actual youthful spark to Europe’s Solheim Cup squad final yr. The pair had been defeated within the opening foursomes however returned to finest Danielle Kang and Andrea Lee the next morning, whereas Stark beat Allisen Corpuz 2&1 within the Sunday singles.
Stark pushed Nelly Korda all the way in which on the Chevron Championship this yr, her runner-up end the 24-year-old’s finest at a serious up to now and coming within the midst of three top-three finishes within the area of 4 LPGA Tour tournaments.
Linn Grant (Sweden – Rolex Ladies’s Golf World Rankings)
Age 25. Caps 1. Majors 0.
Solheim Cup file: 3-2-0
Grant arrives as one other of the automated qualifiers and simply completed tied for tenth on the AIG Ladies’s Open, having shared third on the latest Dana Open and positioned tied-ninth on the Ladies’s PGA Championship in June.
The Swede’s final win on tour got here in July 2023 when she was victorious on the Dana Open, after which she went on to put tied-sixth on the Canadian Open and tied-seventh on the Portland Basic. She performed all 5 classes in final yr’s Solheim Cup and can play an essential half as soon as once more.
Leona Maguire (Eire – Rolex Ladies’s Golf World Rankings)
Age 29. Caps 2. Majors 0.
Solheim Cup file: 7-2-1
A little bit of a Solheim Cup fan favorite, Maguire burst on the scene as a rookie when she gained 4 of her 5 match-ups within the 2021 triumph – her 4.5 factors nonetheless an all-time file for a Solheim Cup or Ryder Cup debutant. She then gained each her fourball matches final yr and likewise prevailed within the Sunday singles.
Her summer season kind for the reason that LET Aramco Crew Sequence win in London in July might not be one of the best, ending no larger than thirty seventh in her subsequent 5 occasions, though she additionally has a runner-up end to Nelly Korda on the T-Cellular Match Play amongst her standouts from 2024.
Carlota Ciganda (Spain)
Age 34. Caps 6. Majors 0.
Solheim Cup file: 11-8-4
Ciganda options having performed a pivotal function in serving to Crew Europe retain their Solheim Cup trophy final yr when she went unbeaten whereas securing the essential level to make sure they’d retain the trophy, with the Spaniard now returning for a seventh Solheim Cup outing.
The Spaniard’s finest efficiency of 2024 up to now got here again in March when she tied for third on the Ford Championship, after which she went on to put sixth on the Chevron Championship, though she is and not using a worldwide top-10 within the six months since.
Madelene Sagstrom (Sweden)
Age 31. Caps 3. Majors 0.
Solheim Cup file: 3-5-1
Sagstrom was the final participant to qualify by way of the Rolex Ladies’s World Golf Rankings and can make her third look on America soil and fourth for Crew Europe general.
She is and not using a win since her breakthrough LPGA Tour success on the 2020 Gainbridge LPGA however did come second on the Founders Cup earlier this yr, with Sagstrom additionally having a robust week on the Evian Championship earlier than lacking the minimize on the AIG Ladies’s Open.
Georgia Corridor (England)
Age 28. Caps 4. Majors 1.
Solheim Cup file: 8-7-2
Corridor has been an automated qualifier for Europe’s final 4 Solheim Cup groups, however the former AIG Ladies’s Open champion required a captain’s decide after narrowly lacking out on shifting above Sagstrom on the planet rankings.
The Englishwoman has endured blended fortunes in 2024 having managed only one worldwide top-10 end in 17 begins to drop exterior the world’s high yr, having started the yr within the high 20, though had a strong week on the AIG Ladies’s Open and a string of top-25 finishes over the summer season.
Anna Nordqvist (Sweden)
Age 37. Caps 8. Majors 3.
Solheim Cup file: 15-13-3
Nordqvist is not any stranger to the Solheim Cup stage as she prepares to make her ninth look, making her the most-capped Swede within the competitors’s historical past, with the three-time main winner set to function vice-captain for the second straight yr.
A stalwart of the ladies’s recreation, the 37-year-old is chasing a primary win since her 2021 AIG Ladies’s Open and stays in quest of her first top-10 end in 2024, together with her finest consequence being tied for twelfth at each the LPGA Basic and Founders Cup.
Emily Pedersen (Denmark – captain’s decide)
Age 28. Caps 3. Majors 0.
Solheim Cup file: 5-6-1
Pedersen printed her title in Solheim Cup historical past final yr when she recorded simply the second hole-in-one within the competitors’s historical past, together with her newest look seeing her equal Iben Tinning because the most-capped Dane for Crew Europe.
The 28-year-old has dropped out of the world’s high 100 after lacking the minimize in 4 of the 5 majors this yr, though has registered 4 worldwide top-10s in 2024 and contended on either side of the Atlantic.
Albane Valenzuela (Switzerland – captain’s decide)
Age 26. Caps 0. Majors 0
Solheim Cup file: Debutant
Valenzuela will probably be making historical past in September as she turns into the primary participant from Switzerland to characterize Europe within the Solheim Cup. The 26-year-old went to LET Q-College in December 2022 with the intention of gaining LET membership to have the ability to qualify for Crew Europe, together with her dream made a actuality in lower than two years.
She was born in America to a Mexican father and French mom however is eligible for Crew Europe since shifting to Switzerland as a baby, with a tied-Twentieth at St Andrews persevering with a constant summer season that noticed her additionally characteristic on the Olympics.
Who will win the 2024 Solheim Cup? Watch Crew Europe tackle Crew USA stay from September 13-15 on Sky Sports activities. Stream the LPGA Tour, Girls European Tour and extra sport with NOW.