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Team Europe made it back-to-back wins at the PING Junior Solheim Cup 2023 and defended their crown for the first time in history after defeating USA 15-9 at the Old Course of La Zagaleta, Spain.

The aim of the PING Junior Solheim Cup is to give junior golfers from both sides of the Atlantic the opportunity to gain international match play experience as well as the chance to meet, learn and be inspired by the professional players playing in The Solheim Cup.

Karsten and Louise Solheim were the visionaries behind the introduction of The Solheim Cup in 1990. The idea of staging a prestigious transatlantic competition for girls, similar to The Solheim Cup, was first proposed by John Solheim, PING’s current Chairman and CEO, who was determined to provide talented young girl golfers with a platform on which they could forward their careers by competing at the highest level against their peers from the other side of the Atlantic.

Ten of the 12 professional golfers playing in The European Solheim Cup team and six from the U.S. Team have all played in the PING Junior Solheim Cup.  They were promising youngsters at the time, who have now become great stars of world golf, and now write the history of the Solheim Cup, becoming an essential focus of attention. Thanks to all of them, this biennial event occupies a well-deserved place among the best junior sports competitions in the world.


The home side, Team Europe, led by captain Gwladys Nocera and vice-captain Nora Angehrn, had stormed to a convincing five point lead on day one thanks to some formidable foursomes golf in the morning.

Returning on Tuesday for an exciting day of singles, the European U18 side completed the job winning five matches and drawing one to hoist the trophy once again.

Captain Nocera said: “Being a captain is easy when you have a team like this! We really loved the course but I think it was due to a really good preparation. These girls know how to do it and they work really hard. I have to congratulate them for all the work they have put in during the season and over these two days of completion.”

With 12.5 points the target on day two, USA came out fighting as Jasmine Koo defeated Andrea Revuelta (Spain) 2&1 in the opening match.

In match two, Francesca Fiorellini (Italy) made it three wins from three as she beat Anna Davis 5&3 thanks to some incredible iron play.

Team Europe added another shortly after as Nora Sundberg (Sweden) won 4&2 against Gianna Clemente.

Despite needing just two more points to defend their title, a wave of red soon emerged on the scoreboard – Yana Wilson defeated Yana Beeli (Switzerland) on the final hole, Kathryn Ha came from three down to edge past Anna Canado (Spain) with a birdie on the last, and Leigh Chien beat Josefin Widal (Sweden) 3&2.

But with Savannah De Bock (Belgium) continuing her fine form to win 4&3 against Megan Meng, - and finally Cloe Amion (Spain) – 1UP on Elizabeth Rudisill coming down the last – was able to two putt for victory to seal the 2023 PING Junior Solheim Cup.

“This is a dream come true,” Amion said.
“Just being here is great but to win is amazing. I didn’t know Savannah had won her match so didn’t realise it was the winning putt! But just getting it in brought so much satisfaction and happiness.”

In the concluding matches, Meja Örtengren found her best form to beat Irene Kim 4&3. Denisa Vodickova lost her first match of the week falling 2&1 to Anna Song.

Helen Briem (Germany) was narrowly defeated by Ryleigh Knaub 1UP, while Rocio Tojedo, the star of yesterday’s foursomes, halved her match against Asterisk Talley.

A winner in 2021, Briem said: “The first time was special because it was in America, but this one was way better. To win two times in a row is indescribable.

“I think it’s just so cool because we’re all so different. We’re from different countries but fight together. We have so many personalities which is so cool. We were really focused the last few days and the fun part is still to come. I’m really looking forward to the Solheim Cup. It’s going to be a really cool four days.”

While Sundberg added: “I can’t describe this week. It’s been so much fun. It’s unbelievable how good this team is and how good all the people are personality wise. It’s been an incredible experience. We were thinking about jumping into the pool with our clothes on so we’ll see!”

And jump in the pool they did, making history as the first European side to win the PING Junior Solheim Cup in back-to-back editions.


More information: https://solheimcup2023.eu/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/PJSC-2023-Information-including-results_compressed.pdf