Newbie’s Information to the Format, Teams, and How to Watch

The Solheim Cup is underway this week within the Netherlands. For these unfamiliar with the competitors, here’s a plain-language information to what it’s and the way it works.

What is the Solheim Cup?

The Solheim Cup is girls’s golf’s premier crew competitors — broadly, the ladies’s equal of the Ryder Cup. It is contested between a 12-player crew representing Europe and a 12-player crew representing the United States, with gamers chosen via a mix of world rankings and captain’s picks. The occasion is held each two years. This yr’s version, the twentieth within the competitors’s historical past, runs September 11–13 at Bernardus Golf in Cromvoirt, Netherlands. Team Europe is captained by Anna Nordqvist; Angela Stanford leads Team USA.

The Cup was first held in 1990 and is called after Karsten Solheim, the Norwegian-American founding father of PING golf tools, whose firm stays the title sponsor of the junior competitors.

How does it work?

The Solheim Cup makes use of a match play format, which is totally different from the stroke play format most informal golf viewers are aware of. In stroke play, the winner is whoever takes the fewest complete photographs over a spherical. In match play, every particular person gap is its personal contest — you win a gap by finishing it in fewer photographs than your opponent, and the participant or crew who wins probably the most holes wins the match. Total shot rely throughout the spherical does not matter; it is gap by gap.

Over three days, the 2 groups compete throughout three kinds of matches:

Foursomes — Two gamers share a single ball and alternate hitting it, one taking the tee shot, the opposite the following shot, and so forth till the outlet is completed. It requires a excessive degree of coordination and is taken into account one of many more difficult codecs.

Fourballs — Both gamers on a crew play their very own ball for your complete gap. The higher of the 2 scores counts for the crew. It tends to supply extra aggressive play, since one accomplice can take dangers whereas the opposite performs safely.

Singles — One-on-one matches between particular person gamers from every crew, with every participant enjoying her personal ball.

Days one and two every characteristic a session of foursomes and a session of fourballs. Day three is reserved fully for singles, with all 12 gamers on all sides competing concurrently. There are 28 factors obtainable in complete — one level per match — and a crew wants 14½ factors to win the Cup outright.

For a deeper have a look at the historical past of the competitors and extra element on the scoring system, the official Solheim Cup FAQ is at solheimcup2026.golf/faqs.

The PING Junior Solheim Cup

Running alongside the principle occasion is the two-day PING Junior Solheim Cup, established in 2002, which follows the identical Europe vs. USA format. It is open to novice, non-collegiate ladies aged 12–18.

How to observe this week’s occasion

Tee occasions, pairings, and a stay radio broadcast hyperlink can be found on the official Solheim Cup web site.

For U.S. viewers, tv protection is on Golf Channel and NBC Sports/Peacock. Because the occasion is within the Netherlands, protection airs within the early morning ET: roughly 1:30 AM–1 PM on Friday and Saturday, and 5 AM–Noon on Sunday for the singles.

In the UK, the occasion is on Sky Sports Golf and Sky Sports Main Event, with highlights protection on BBC Two and free streaming on BBC iPlayer. In Australia, it airs on Fox Sports 503, with streaming obtainable via Kayo Sports. For viewers elsewhere in Europe and world wide, Golf Monthly’s worldwide broadcast information covers native choices by nation.