Sylvania, Ohio - The 10th anniversary of the PING Junior Solheim Cup will be hosted at Sylvania Country Club on September 1-2, 2021.
Modeled after the Solheim Cup, the PING Junior Solheim Cup biennially features the 12 best female junior golfers (ages 12-18) from the United States against the 12 best junior girls from Europe.
Event Format
The team event includes foursomes, four-ball and singles matches played over two days and rotates between U.S. and European host sites coinciding with the Solheim Cup. The PING Junior Solheim Cup will be hosted immediately prior to the 17th edition of the Solheim Cup at Inverness Club in Toledo, Ohio, September 4-6, 2021.
The 11th edition of the junior event officially begins on Wednesday, Sept. 1, with morning Four-Ball Matches teeing off from 8 - 9 a.m. Play continues with foursome matches in the afternoon from 1:30 - 2:20 p.m.
Four-Ball match pairings will be updated after Opening Ceremonies on Tuesday, August 31.
On Thursday, September 2, the event concludes with singles matches and Closing Ceremonies.
Returning Players
Of the 24 players selected to compete, just three have prior PING Junior Solheim Cup experience.
Alexa Pano of Lake Worth, Florida, made the trip to Scotland in 2019 to help Team USA win its sixth consecutive Junior Solheim Cup at Gleneagles - King's Course.
From Team Europe, Amalie Leth-Nissen of Copenhagen, Denmark, and Paula Schulz-Hanssen of Frankfurt, Germany, are two-time PING Junior Solheim Cup participants.
Schulz-Hanssen and Pano were paired against each other with respective teammates of Arizona freshman Lilas Pinthier and Duke sophomore Phoebe Brinker in a Four-Ball match in 2019 and halved the match. Leth-Nissen defeated Team USA players Zoe Campos (UCLA) and Brianna Navarrosa (USC) with her partner Anne Normann (University of Houston) in their Four-Ball match to earn a point for Team Europe.
In singles matches, Pano fell to Ladies European Tour player Lucie Malchirand of Team Europe 1-up and Schulz-Hanssen lost 3&2 to Team USA and Christine Wang (USC). Nissen defeated Team USA and Sadie Englemann (Stanford) 2&1.
PING Junior Solheim Cup History
Since 2002, the PING Junior Solheim Cup has brought together the next generation of women's golfers in a Team USA vs. Team Europe match play tournament.
In addition to featuring some of the world's best female junior golfers, the PING Junior Solheim Cup is known for its iconic host venues.
The United States leads the all-time PING Junior Solheim Cup series 7-2-1 and has won six consecutive matches. Team Europe last won, 14-10, when the event was hosted in Sweden in 2007. The 2015 United States Team was the first team to win on foreign soil, 13-11, at Golf Club St. Leon-Rot in St. Leon-Rot, Germany, setting the stage for the 2019 United States’ team’s 13-11 win at Gleneagles.
AJGA alumnae who have graduated from PING Junior Solheim Cup to the Solheim Cup on Team USA include: Paula Creamer, Jessica Korda, Nelly Korda, Brittany Lang, Alison Lee, Yealimi Noh, Angel Yin, Brittany Lincicome, Morgan Pressel, and Lexi Thompson.
About Sylvania Country Club
The AJGA and Sylvania Country Club in Toledo, Ohio, share a history in the Buckeye state. Each year since 2019, Sylvania Country Club has hosted one of the most successful events on the AJGA schedule, the AJGA Dana Incorporated Junior Open. In 2021, the AJGA Dana Incorporated Junior Open took place six weeks prior to the PING Junior Solheim Cup. The event has received numerous awards in just its three-year history, including the 2019 Newcomer of the Year and 2020 Open Tournament of the Year titles.
The event also has raised more than $170,000 in charitable proceeds for both the Special Olympics and the AJGA's ACE Grant program with sponsorship support from Dana Incorporated.
Established in 1916, Sylvania Country Club was designed by British amateur champion Willie Park Jr. The historical 18-hole championship course is 6,837 yards with a par of 72. Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus met for the first time on the driving range at Sylvania Country Club for the 1954 Ohio State Amateur.
Toledo and the Toledo community have long supported a mission of growing the game through its support of junior and women's golf. Toledo has been part of the LPGA schedule since 1954, hosting the Inverness Four-Ball. Home to the Marathon Classic since 1984, it is the second-longest running non-major tournament host on the LPGA Tour schedule.
About the PING Junior Solheim Cup
The PING Junior Solheim Cup is owned and hosted by PING and will be operated by the American Junior Golf Association with assistance from the Ladies Professional Golf Association and the Ladies European Tour.
Founded by Karsten and Louise Solheim, the Karsten Manufacturing Corporation is a long-time sponsor of the LPGA and AJGA. As the makers of PING golf equipment, the Solheim family continues to ensure the same superior workmanship today that they built into their original clubs more than 46 years ago. Now under the direction of John Solheim, Karsten and Louise’s youngest son, the company continues in its efforts to manufacture the highest quality golf equipment. The PING name is known world over. Besides its presence in the United States, PING markets custom-fit and custom-built equipment to more than 70 countries.
About PING
The tournament owner and title partner, PING, designs, manufactures, and markets a complete line of golf equipment including metal woods, irons, putters, and golf bags. The family-owned company was founded in 1959 by the late Karsten Solheim. Solheim is the only person to be inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame as a golf club manufacturer. Today, the Phoenix-based company is under the direction of Solheim's youngest son, John A. Solheim. PING game-improvement products can be found in more than 70 countries. For more information, visit ping.com
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