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Can Europe make it three in a row?

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solheim cup, women's golf, september 2015Europe’s and America’s best golfers battle it out again in September.

One of the great events still to come this year is golf’s ultimate team tournament, the Solheim Cup.

The Solheim Cup is a biennial golf tournament for professional women golfers contested by teams representing Europe and the United States. It is named after the Norwegian-American golf club manufacturer Karsten Solheim, who was a driving force behind its creation in 1990.

After winning in Ireland in 2011 and for the first time on American soil in 2013, Europe will be trying to make it three wins in a row when the two teams meet at the Golf Club St. Leon-Rot in Heidelberg from 18-20 September.

It will be hard to top the record 18-10 win recorded at the Colorado Golf Club, but Europe should be confident.

European Team captain, Carin Koch, has already chosen her vice-captains for the tournament; Annika Sörenstam, Sophie Gustafson and Maria McBride.  This vastly experienced threesome have played in 21 Solheim Cups between them.

The team looks as if it will be truly European, with seven nations currently providing the top eight ranked players.  On top of this there will also be the four captain’s picks. England’s own golfing star, Charley Hull, stands second in the rankings and is surely a cert for the team.

The Americans come into the tournament as underdogs, something they are not used to, but which could play to their advantage.

Captain Juli Inkster has announced that her vice-captains are Pat Hurst and three-time Solheim Cup participant Wendy Ward.

Stacy Lewis and Michelle Wie currently stand top of America’s rankings and would both be important members of the team. Paula Creamer, veteran of five Solheim Cups lies in 7th.  There are still a number of points to be won, and if Creamer didn’t make the team automatically, it would be hard to see Inkster not including her as a Captain’s pick.

In an intensely individual sport, the Solheim Cup, and its male counterpart, the Ryder Cup, are beacons of team spirit.

I personally am not a great golf fan, but nothing beats it for three days of powerful sporting drama.

Full coverage will be on Sky Sports with plenty of updates on BBC Radio 5 Live.

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