Who Runs The Solheim Cup?

A player hits off the 1st tee at the 2023 Solheim Cup

(Image credit: Getty Images)

last updated 5 September 2024

The Solheim Cup is the premier event in women's golf that sees USA's top 12 players face off against the 12 best from Europe.

The match is similar in make-up to the Ryder Cup, and just like the men's equivalent, the event is co-run by two separate organizations.

The LPGA Tour and Ladies European Tour run the match, which was originally established by Ping co-founder Karsten Solheim in 1990.

The LPGA solely run the event when it's on home soil, with the Ladies European Tour running the European editions along with agency IMG, which helps with strategic planning and delivery. IMG is on board to assist with the 2026, 2030, 2034 and 2038 editions in Europe.

The first Solheim Cup took place at Lake Nona in Florida and saw Kathy Whitworth's USA side win 11.5 to 4.5 over Mickey Walker's Europeans.

Ping still has a strong relationship with the Solheim Cup to this day, with members of the Solheim family always on-site and often handing out the trophy to the winning captain at the end of play.

Ping CEO John Solheim hands Suzann Pettersen the Solheim Cup in 2023

The LPGA and LET are responsible for selecting their teams, with each side featuring a points system to qualify.

The US team has its own system based off of world ranking points, where ultimately nine players automatically qualify and the remaining three players are picked by the captain at their discretion regardless of points standings.

For Team Europe, the top two on the Ladies European Tour points list are combined with the top six in the world rankings to go with four captain's picks.

The Solheim Cup format sees three days of play, with days one and two featuring two sessions of doubles before 12 singles matches on the final day.

The match takes place every two years, with the host team picking the course. This year's Solheim Cup takes place at Robert Trent Jones Golf Club in Virginia, with the 2026 Solheim Cup heading to Bernardus Golf and The Netherlands for the first time.

The 2028 Solheim Cup venue has been confirmed already, with former Ryder Cup course Valhalla set to host.

The 2024 match will be the 19th edition, with the USA winning 10, Europe 8 and one tie.

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Elliott Heath is our News Editor and has been with Golf Monthly since early 2016 after graduating with a degree in Sports Journalism. He manages the Golf Monthly news team as well as our large Facebook, Twitter and Instagram pages. He covered the 2022 Masters from Augusta National as well as five Open Championships on-site including the 150th at St Andrews. His first Open was in 2017 at Royal Birkdale, when he walked inside the ropes with Jordan Spieth during the Texan's memorable Claret Jug triumph. He has played 35 of our Top 100 golf courses, with his favourites being both Sunningdales, Woodhall Spa, Western Gailes, Old Head and Turnberry. He has been obsessed with the sport since the age of 8 and currently plays off of a six handicap. His golfing highlights are making albatross on the 9th hole on the Hotchkin Course at Woodhall Spa, shooting an under-par round, playing in the Aramco Team Series on the Ladies European Tour and making his one and only hole-in-one at the age of 15 - a long time ago now!

Elliott is currently playing:

Driver: Titleist TSR4

3 wood: Titleist TSi2

Hybrids: Titleist 816 H1

Irons: Mizuno MP5 5-PW

Wedges: Cleveland RTX ZipCore 50, 54, 58

Putter: Odyssey White Hot OG #5

Ball: Srixon Z Star XV

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