THE Solheim Cup dream is still alive for many of the European players in the field at this week’s Jabra Ladies Open at Evian Resort Golf Club, where Scotland’s Carly Booth will be making a push for Team Europe qualification.
The top three players on the European points list in line for automatic qualification following last week’s La Reserva de Sotogrande Invitational are Anne Van Dam and Caroline Hedwall (with 114 points each) and Carlota Ciganda (100.88 points). The next five from the Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings – which will provide qualifiers four to eight – are Georgia Hall, Charley Hull, Azahara Muñoz, Anna Nordqvist and Caroline Masson.
This week’s Jabra Ladies Open is the European qualifier for the Evian Championship, where two women will earn their place in the major championship.
With 20 points available to the winner this week, Booth, currently 26th on the list with 24.5 points, would move within striking distance of the top three, boosting her chances of representing Europe in her home county of Perthshire.
Booth said: “I’m happy to be back here at the beautiful Evian Resort and I’m feeling positive and good about my game. I think this golf course requires lots of course management, so I’ve got to play to my strengths and hopefully make a few birdies. As they have made the course longer, at championship length, I think that suits me better.
“The Solheim Cup is definitely one of my main goals and I think to make the team or get that invite spot, I really need to win between now and the Solheim. There are a few European girls playing well this year so it will be tough, but you’ve just got to keep grinding it out and hopefully I’ll do well this week, get into Evian and play well over the next couple of months.”
Germany’s Esther Henseleit, who is seventh on the Solheim Cup points list, Meghan MacLaren, who is eighth and Norwegian Marianne Skarpnord, in 10th, could also move closer to qualification by earning points with a top 10 finish this week.
Henseleit, who has posted six top 10 finishes in her first seven starts in her rookie year, recorded a second consecutive runner-up spot last week in Spain and feels close to a breakthrough victory.
“Last week it was the third time I was in the leading group in the last round and I’m getting used to it and getting better,” said Henseleit, who was a captain’s pick for Team Europe in the 2017 PING Junior Solheim Cup in Des Moines.
“I think the Solheim Cup is the biggest event for women in golf and I really want to compete in it one day. It’s an amazing feeling to play for Europe, but I’m not really thinking about the Solheim Cup at the moment, because to achieve that in your rookie year would be practically impossible.”
Fellow Germans Olivia Cowan, Karolin Lampert, Camille Chevalier from France, Austrian Christine Wolf, Becky Morgan from Wales, England’s Felicity Johnson, Swedes Lynn Carlsson and Lina Boqvist, Spain’s Luna Sobron and Scotland’s Michele Thomson are also all theoretically within striking distance of qualification and looking for a strong finish at the Jabra Ladies Open in Evian-les-Bains this week.
After this tournament there are four more Ladies European Tour events that count towards qualification for the European team to take on the United States in September’s Solheim Cup, which is being held at Gleneagles in Scotland.
They are the Ladies European Thailand Championship from June 20-23, the Evian Championship (July 25-28), the AIG Women’s British Open (August 1-4) and the Aberdeen Standard Investments Ladies Scottish Open (August 8-11).
