This Week in Golf: European stars seek to shine as Solheim Cup takes centre stage

The eyes of the golfing world will be on the ladies in Spain this week as Europe hosts the biennial tournament for professional women golfers, the Solheim Cup, which will be contested by teams representing Europe and the US.

The three-day match, which starts on Friday (Sept 22) with eight foursomes and eight fourballs being played on both Friday and Saturday and 12 singles on Sunday.

This year Sweden’s Suzann Pettersen will captain Team Europe and Stacy Lewis Team United States.

The inaugural Solheim Cup was played in 1990.

Team US have won the Cup 10 times and Europe seven times with Europe the double defending champions having won in 2019 at Gleneagles, Scotland (14½ - 13½) and in 2021 on US soil at Inverness Club, Ohio (15 – 13).

Meanwhile, LIV Golf returns to the calendar in Chicago where the 48 players will be playing for $25 million in the Team and Individual events.

Following this week, there are just two LIV Golf 2023 events remaining on the schedule – LIV Golf in Jeddah, Saudi, Oct 13 – 15 October at Royal Greens Golf & Country Club and the Team Championship in Miami, Florida, US, from October 20 – 22.

The DP World Tour hosts its 38th of 46 events this week on the 2023 – 2024 Race to Dubai at the Cazoo Open de France at Le Golf National.

Robert MacIntyre is one of the headliners in the field prior to next week’s Ryder Cup in Italy. Dubai based players Rafa Cabrera Bello, Nicolas Colsaerts who won here in 2019, as well as Thorbjorn Oleson are all playing.

Last week’s BMW PGA Championship winner Ryan Fox is in the field as are home favourites, Viktor Perez, Antoine Rozner, Matthieu Pavon, Julian Brun, Alexander Levy, Julien Guerrier in addition to 26 French stars.

Schedule

LPGA & Ladies European Tour

Solheim Cup

Friday 22 – Sunday 24 September, 2023

Venue: Finca Cortesin, Costa Del Sol, Spain

LIV Golf

LIV Golf Chicago

Friday 22 – Sunday 24 September, 2023

Venue: Rich Harvest Farms, Chicago, US

Purse: $25 million

DP World Tour

Purse: €250,000