A total of 24 players will compete in the Solheim Cup as 12 from Europe take on an equal number from the US at Finca Cortesin.
Each team has plenty of players with Solheim Cup experience, with Celine Boutier, Charley Hull and Anna Nordqvist among the senior stars on Suzann Pettersen’s Team Europe and players including Nelly Korda, Danielle Kang and Lexi Thompson bringing substantial know-how to Stacy Lewis’s Team USA.
However, a third of the players competing in the match will do so for the first time. Team Europe has three rookies, while Team USA has five. But who are the players preparing for their maiden Solheim Cup appearances?
Maja Stark
Maja Stark finished top of the LET points standings
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Maja Stark is one of five Swedes in the Team Europe line-up. She qualified automatically, too, thanks to her place in the LET standings, where only Celine Boutier finished ahead of her.
The 23-year-old has only been a professional for two years, but she has made an immediate impact, with six LET wins and victory in the tri-sanctioned ISPS Handa World Invitational in 2022.
Stark also finished T2 in January’s Hilton Garden Vacation Tournament of Champions on the LPGA Tour, while she achieved her first top-10 in a Major with a T9 in the US Women’s Open.
Although 2023 marks her Solheim Cup debut, Stark played in the Junior Solheim Cup six years ago, where the US won by 14.5 points to 9.5 points.
Linn Grant
Linn Grant’s world ranking ensured she qualified automatically
(Image credit: Getty Images)
Linn Grant beat Stark to last year’s Race to the Costa Del Sol on the LET and the 24-year-old’s career appears to be on a similar trajectory to her compatriot.
Since turning pro in 2021, Grant has five LET wins while she also claimed her maiden LPGA Tour victory in July’s Dana Open.
Like Stark, she also has a top-10 finish in a Major to her name following a T8 at the 2022 Amundi Evian Championship.
Grant qualified courtesy of her world ranking of 19th at the time, and she is now up to World No.15. It would likely be higher, too, but for a limited LPGA Tour schedule because of her vaccination status following the Covid-19 pandemic. However, with…
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