2011 Solheim Cup Explained

Solheim Cup
Year:	2011
Venue:	Killeen Castle
Location:	County Meath, Ireland
Dates:	23–25 September 2011
Logowidth:	100px
Home:	Europe
Away:	USA
Homecaptain:	Alison Nicholas
Awaycaptain:	Rosie Jones
Homescore:	15
Awayscore:	13
Result:	Europe wins

The 2011 Solheim Cup was the 12th Solheim Cup matches, held 23–25 September in Ireland at Killeen Castle in County Meath, northwest of Dublin. 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 2003 in Sweden.

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.^{[1] [2] [3]} It was Europe's fourth win, all won on home soil.

Format

The Solheim Cup is a match play 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:^[4]

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 members on the Women's World Golf Rankings 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 over a two-year period. Points were earned beginning with the 2009 Safeway Classic and concluding with the 2011 Women's British Open. 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

Team Europe
Name	Age^1	Residence or Hometown^2	LET ranking	Rolex ranking	Solheim experience
Alison Nicholas Non-playing captain	49	Birmingham, England			1990, 1992, 1994, 1996, 1998, 2000, 2005, 2009-Captain
Joanne Morley Non-playing assistant captain	44	Cheshire, England			1996, 2009-Asst. captain
Annika Sörenstam Non-playing assistant captain	40	Stockholm, Sweden			1994, 1996, 1998, 2000, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2005, 2007
Melissa Reid	24	Derby, England	1	38	Rookie
Laura Davies	47	Coventry, England	2	78	1990, 1992, 1994, 1996, 1998, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2005, 2007, 2009
Suzann Pettersen	30	Oslo, Norway	3	2	2002, 2003, 2005, 2007, 2009
Christel Boeljon	24	Beverwijk, Netherlands	4	54	Rookie
Maria Hjorth	35	Falun, Sweden	16	19	2002, 2005, 2007, 2009
Anna Nordqvist	24	Eskilstuna, Sweden	9	28	2009
Catriona Matthew	42	North Berwick, Scotland	19	30	1998, 2003, 2005, 2007, 2009
Sophie Gustafson	37	Varberg, Sweden	14	37	1998, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2005, 2007, 2009
Azahara Muñoz Captain's pick	23	Málaga, Spain	20	42	Rookie
Caroline Hedwall Captain's pick	22	Täby, Sweden	8	48	Rookie
Karen Stupples Captain's pick	38	Dover, Kent, England	32	22	2005
Sandra Gal Captain's pick	26	Düsseldorf, Germany	72	43	Rookie

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.

Team USA
Name	Age^1	From^2	Points rank	Points	Rolex ranking	Solheim experience
Rosie Jones Non-playing captain	51	Georgia				1990, 1996, 1998, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2005
Juli Inkster Playing assistant captain	51	California	9	188.5	45	1992, 1998, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2005, 2007, 2009
Sherri Steinhauer Non-playing assistant captain	48	Wisconsin				1994, 1998, 2000, 2007
Cristie Kerr	33	Florida	1	750.0	2	2002, 2003, 2005, 2007, 2009
Stacy Lewis	26	Texas	2	467.5	11	Rookie
Morgan Pressel	23	Florida	3	447.5	12	2007, 2009
Angela Stanford	33	Texas	4	438.5	18	2003, 2007, 2009
Paula Creamer	25	California	5	434.5	9	2005, 2007, 2009
Michelle Wie	21	Hawaii	6	358.0	14	2009
Brittany Lincicome	26	Florida	7	356.5	15	2007, 2009
Brittany Lang	26	Texas	8	293.0	33	2009
Christina Kim	27	California	10	150.5	75	2005, 2009
Vicky Hurst Captain's pick	21	Florida	11	138.0	76	Rookie
Ryann O'Toole Captain's pick	24	California	18	64.5	125	Rookie

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^{[5] [6]}

Morning foursomes

	Results
Hjorth/Nordqvist	2 & 1	Wie/Kerr
Stupples/Reid	1 up	Creamer/Lincicome
Matthew/Muñoz	3 & 2	Lewis/Stanford
Pettersen/Gustafson	1 up	Lang/Inkster
2	Session	2
2	Overall	2

Afternoon fourball

	Results
Davies/Reid	1 up	Creamer/Pressel
Matthew/Gal	halved	Kim/O'Toole
Gustafson/Hedwall	5 & 4	Hurst/Lincicome
Pettersen/Nordqvist	2 up	Wie/Kerr
2	Session	1
4	Overall	3

Day two

Saturday, 24 September 2011^{[7] [8]}

Morning foursomes

	Results
Hedwall/Gustafson	6 & 5	Stanford/Lewis
Stupples/Boeljon	3 & 2	Pressel/O'Toole
Hjorth/Nordqvist	3 & 2	Lang/Inkster
Matthew/Muñoz	halved	Kerr/Creamer
2	Session	1
7	Overall	5

Afternoon fourball

By winning her match Laura Davies became the leading points scorer in the Solheim Cup with 24.5, passing Annika Sörenstam's record of 24.

	Results
Davies/Reid	4 & 3	Wie/Lang
Pettersen/Hedwall	1 up	Pressel/Kerr
Gal/Boeljon	2 & 1	Lewis/O'Toole
Hjorth/Muñoz	3 & 1	Creamer/Lincicome
1	Session	3
8	Overall	8

Day three

Sunday, 25 September 2011^[9]

Singles

	Results
Catriona Matthew	6 & 5	Paula Creamer
Sophie Gustafson	2 up	Stacy Lewis
Anna Nordqvist	2 & 1	Morgan Pressel
Laura Davies	halved	Juli Inkster
Melissa Reid	2 up	Vicky Hurst
Christel Boeljon	2 up	Brittany Lincicome
Sandra Gal	6 & 5	Brittany Lang
Maria Hjorth	4 & 2	Christina Kim
Suzann Pettersen	1 up	Michelle Wie
Caroline Hedwall	halved	Ryann O'Toole
Azahara Muñoz	1 up	Angela Stanford
Karen Stupples	10 & 8 ^1	Cristie Kerr
7	Session	5
15	Overall	13

¹ Kerr conceded the match at its start, because of injury.^[10] 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

Player	Points	Overall	Singles	Foursomes	Fourballs
	1	1–2–0	1–0–0	0–1–0	0–1–0
	1.5	1–1–1	0–0–1	0–0–0	1–1–0
	0.5	0–2–1	0–1–0	0–0–0	0–1–1
	4	4–0–0	1–0–0	2–0–0	1–0–0
	2.5	2–1–1	0–0–1	1–0–0	1–1–0
	1	1–3–0	0–1–0	1–1–0	0–1–0
	3	2–0–2	1–0–0	1–0–1	0–0–1
	2.5	2–1–1	1–0–0	1–0–1	0–1–0
	2	2–2–0	0–1–0	1–1–0	1–0–0
	3	3–1–0	1–0–0	1–0–0	1–1–0
	1	1–3–0	0–1–0	0–1–0	1–1–0
	1	1–2–0	1–0–0	0–2–0	0–0–0

United States

Player	Points	Overall	Singles	Foursomes	Fourballs
	3.5	3–1–1	0–1–0	1–0–1	2–0–0
	1	1–1–0	1–0–0	0–0–0	0–1–0
	0.5	0–2–1	0–0–1	0–2–0	0–0–0
	2.5	2–2–1	0–1–0	1–0–1	1–1–0
	1.5	1–0–1	1–0–0	0–0–0	0–0–1
	1	1–3–0	1–0–0	0–2–0	0–1–0
	1	1–3–0	0–1–0	0–2–0	1–0–0
	2	2–2–0	0–1–0	1–0–0	1–1–0
	3	2–0–2	0–0–1	1–0–0	1–0–1
	4	4–0–0	1–0–0	1–0–0	2–0–0
	0	0–3–0	0–1–0	0–2–0	0–0–0
	1	1–3–0	0–1–0	1–0–0	0–2–0

External links

• Solheim Cup  - official site
• GolfCompendium.com: 2011 Solheim Cup

53.535°N -6.594°W

Notes and References

1. Web site: Europe seal dramatic Solheim Cup win over United States . 25 September 2011 . BBC Sport . 26 September 2011.
2. Web site: Europe hold their nerve to defeat the United States in a nerve-racking finish . 25 September 2011 . The Daily Telegraph. 26 September 2011.
3. Web site: Europe secure dramatic Solheim Cup victory over America . 25 September 2011 . The Guardian. 26 September 2011.
4. Solheim Cup, Solheim Cup Team Info Retrieved 25 August 2011.
5. LPGA.com, Friday Foursomes Results 23 September 2011.
6. LPGA.com, Friday Fourball Results 23 September 2011.
7. LPGA.com, Saturday Foursomes Results 24 September 2011.
8. LPGA.com, Saturday Fourball Results 24 September 2011.
9. LPGA.com, Sunday Singles Results 25 September 2011.
10. Web site: Rosie Jones defends Cristie Kerr choice . ESPN . Associated Press . 25 September 2011 . 8 August 2013.