(Reuters) – Team Europe captain Catriona Matthew said a modified qualification criteria for next year’s Solheim Cup will see her picks increased from four to six.
The change to qualification follows the disruption of the Ladies European Tour (LET) calendar due to the novel coronavirus pandemic, leaving fewer opportunities for players to score points ahead of the biennial event at the Inverness Golf Club in Toledo, Ohio.
“We actually have changed our qualification for this year because of the kind of impact on the schedule,” Matthew said. “We’ve changed it to two from the LET points, four from the world rankings and then we have six picks.
“We felt that with the players not playing as much and with all the schedules being up in the air, it was just nice to change the selection process. It gives you more options on what you might do going forward next year.”
The European team was previously made up of three players from the LET points list, five from the world rankings and four captain’s picks.
The United States will stick with two captain’s picks but Pat Hurst is hoping for at least two more.
“I would love to have more. I think maybe we can propose that just because of what’s going on, but time will tell if it is going to change for us,” Hurst said.
Europe are the holders of the Solheim Cup, having defeated the U.S. 14.5-13.5 last year in a thrilling final at Gleneagles.
(Reporting by Arvind Sriram in Bengaluru; Editing by Robert Birsel)
