The Solheim Cup starts tomorrow, the week before the Ryder Cup.

Ordinarily, the Solheim Cup and Ryder Cup would be held in alternate years. The reason this year’s competitions are so close to each other on the calendar is a hangover from the Covid pandemic: the 2020 Ryder Cup was postponed until 2021, meaning that for two editions (2021 and 2023) it has been in the same year as the Solheim Cup.

In order to return the tournaments to alternate years, after the 2023 edition of the Solheim Cup, the next tournament will be held just one year later, in 2024. The next Ryder Cup will be in 2025.

At the opening ceremony, Team US captain Stacy Lewis sprung a surprise when she left world number two Lilia Vu, who has won two majors this season, out of the opening session.

When is the Solheim Cup?

This year’s Solheim Cup begins on Friday, Sept 22, with the final day on Sunday, Sept 24.

The competition lasts three days, and comes after the major LPGA tournaments of the summer.

Where is it being held?

This year’s Solheim Cup is being held in Spain, the first time the country has hosted the competition.

The cup is going to take place at Finca Cortesin in Casares, a small town in Andalucia. The golf course is regarded as one of the best in Spain.

Carlota Ciganda is the only player from Team Europe to be playing on home soil this year.

How can I watch it on TV?

Sky Sports will be showing the competition live. The day’s matches will get under way at 8.10am local time (7.10am BST) on the Friday and Saturday, whilst the singles matches will commence at 11.10am local time (10.10am BST) on Sunday, Sept 24.

What is the Solheim Cup?

The Solheim Cup is a team matchplay competition in women’s professional golf that happens once every two years and involves Europe and the United States.

The competition derives its name from Karsten Solheim, a Norwegian-American golf club manufacturer who pioneered the idea in women’s golf. The format of the competition mirrors the men’s Ryder Cup, which starts a week after the Solheim Cup.

Team Europe are looking to achieve their first three-peat in Solheim Cup history after Catriona Matthew of Scotland led the team to victories over the Americans in 2019 and 2021.

The Solheim Cup was first held in 1990 in Florida and the US have won 10 of the 17 competitions to date.

Who are the Solheim Cup captains?

Team Europe will be led by Suzann Pettersen (Norway), flanked by vice-captains Anna Nordqvist (Sweden), Laura Davies (England) and Caroline Martens (Norway).

Team US will be led by Stacy Lewis. Her vice-captains are Morgan Pressel, Natalie Gulbis and Angela Stanford.

Who are the players?

Team Europe
Celine Boutier (France) and Maja Stark (Sweden) qualified automatically via the LET Solheim Cup points list while Anna Nordqvist (a playing vice-captain), Charley Hull (England), Leona Maguire (Ireland), Linn Grant (Sweden), Georgia Hall (England) and Carlota Ciganda (Spain) secured their spots via the world rankings.

Suzann Pettersen’s four captain’s picks are: Gemma Dryburgh (Scotland), Caroline Hedwall (Sweden), Emily Kristine Pedersen (Denmark) and Madelene Sagstrom (Sweden).

Pettersen sees no reason to be shy about the quality of her team.

“I don’t think there’s anything to hide under a chair that if you look on paper, we have the strongest team that I’ve ever been a part of, and that’s based on great performances over the last few years from all the players,” said Pettersen, the Norwegian LPGA veteran serving as captain for the first time.

Team USA
The automatic qualifiers via the world rankings are Lexi Thompson and Rose Zhang while Allisen Corpuz, Danielle Kang, Megan Khang, Nelly Korda, Jennifer Kupcho, Andrea Lee and Lilia Vu came through on the Solheim Cup points list.

Ally Ewing, Cheyenne Knight and Angel Yin are the captain’s picks for Stacy Lewis.

What is the Solheim Cup format?

Over three days, 28 matches are played with those matches falling into three categories: foursomes, fourballs and singles.

There are 12 players on each team, and they compete as pairs or individuals.

Four foursomes and four fourballs matches will be played on both Friday and Saturday. Each of these matches will see one pair from Europe compete with a pair from team USA.

In a foursome match, each team will alternate between shots and will use one ball between two players. In a fourballs match, each competitor will get to use their own ball.

Points are awarded to the team that scores the lowest on each hole. The match is won when the advantage one team has is bigger than the number of holes left to play on the course. If the result is drawn by the end of the match, the match is halved.

The first of the foursome matches will begin at 8.10am local time (7.10am BST) on both Friday and Saturday. Fourballs matches will be played on Friday and Saturday afternoon, getting underway at 1.40pm local time (12.40pm BST).

On Sunday, all of the 24 competitors will get the chance to play in singles matches, with the first of these matches being played at 11.10am local time (10.10am BST).

There are 28 matches in total across the weekend, meaning 28 points are up for grabs. The team that reaches the 14-and-a-half point marker first will be victorious. Europe will retain the cup if the tournament ends in a draw.

What is the Solheim Cup schedule?

Friday, Sept 22 - Morning foursomes
7.10am: L Thompson & M Khang v L Grant & M Stark (Swe)
7.22am: D Kang & A Lee v C Boutier (Fr)  & G Hall (Eng)
7.34am: N Korda & A Corpus v L Maguire (Irl)  & A Nordqvist (Swe)
7.46am: A Ewing & C Knight v C Hull (Eng) & E Pedersen (Den

Afternoon fourballs - TBC

Saturday, Sept 23: Four foursomes matches in morning, four fourballs matches in afternoon.

Sunday, Sept 24: 12 singles matches before closing ceremony.

How can I buy tickets?

General admission tickets are still available for all three days of the Solheim Cup, via the official website.

Access to all three days of the tournament will cost around £210 while individual day tickets are available from £70 for the Friday, £82 for the Saturday and £103 for the Sunday.

Latest news

Europe will begin their quest for an historic third Solheim Cup in succession here on Friday morning with one of the more unusual match-ups teeing off the foursomes session.

If it was surprising to see home captain Suzann Pettersen putting out two rookies - Swede’s Lin Grant and Maja Stark - in the first game, then even more eyebrows disappeared under visors when Lexi Thompson was named alongside Megan Khang in the crunch opener.

Stacy Lewis, the United States captain, has placed her faith in Thompson leading off her team’s bid for a first Solheim in six years, despite the former world No coming into this Spanish clash in woeful form. Thompson, 28, has played in nine LPGA Tour events in 2023 and missed seven cuts, with her best result a tie for 19th.

She scraped into the US team because of her world ranking - which has dipped to 26th - and because of the wretched state of her results sheet, many hypothesised that she would not have been granted a wildcard otherwise.

However, Lewis has been talking up the worth of Thompson’s experience - she boasts the most appearances in the visitors’ locker room with five - but nevertheless stunned the sport by placing her in such an exposed role. Yet Lewis denies it is a gamble.

“We started the week and I had a couple people, within our team,  come up and say, ‘she’s hitting it really good’,” Lewis said. “And then every day there’s been more and more people telling me this. And I actually have their strokes-gained [stats] from the practice over the last two days and she’s off the charts.

“She’s been working really hard the last two months, and I think it was just a matter of time. The  driver’s looked great, I mean, just the ball striking looks better than it has in a long time.”

What makes Thompson’s involvement straight out of the blocks more curious is that Lilia Vu is on the bench for the first session. Vu is the world No 2 and has won two majors this season, including last month’s Women’s Open at Walton Heath where she stared down Charley Hull.

The Englishwoman is in the bottom match with Emily Pedersen as they take on Ally Ewing and Cheyenne Knight. Hull’s pairing with the Dane is no shock after they won two out of three points together in the 2021 victory in Toledo. But few expected Pettersen to start the mission with two debutants, no matter how close and adept Grant and Stark happen to be.

“We can call them ‘rookies’ this week, but in my eyes, they’re not rookies,” Pettersen said. “I mean, they’ve all won and some are major winners. I’m super impressed with both Maja and Linn. Very different personalities, but sometimes the opposite attracts.”

What are the best of the odds?

• Europe: 21/20

• USA: 11/10

• Draw: 12/1