Sweden’s Amanda Linnér shot a solid 71 on the final round of the ANNIKA Invitational Europe, at Halmstad GK, which took her into a play-off against emerging British star, Annabell Fuller. Amanda birdied the third play-off hole to claim victory, with the win taking her back to first position on the European PING Junior Solheim Cup ranking. Full leaderboard below.

Commenting on the victory, Linnér said: “I am so happy with this win, as it takes me one step closer to representing Team Europe at the PING Junior Solheim Cup. It was also great to meet both Annika Sorenstam and Alison Nicholas at the event and learn from their life and golf experiences. I took a huge amount from the information they shared about playing in team and matchplay events.” 

With less than four weeks to go until the European team selection is finalised, national teams from across Europe are getting ready to represent their countries in the European Girls’ Team Champtionship, played in Finland on July 11^th – 15^th, or at the European Ladies’ Team Championship in Portugal, which is being played on the same date. When asked about Team Sweden, Linnér said: “We have a very strong team this year. We support each other in good and bad times and we have a lot of fun together. It is really inspiring to be part of this group and I hope we can do Sweden proud at the Team Championships.”

The Team Championship events are the final qualifying events to the PING Junior Solheim Cup. At the end of the qualifying process, the top-six junior girls will earn automatic places on the European team, with the other six players coming from Captain Nicholas’ wildcard picks. 

To qualify for the European team, participants must be girls aged 12-18 years old (born 1999, or later), whom have not reached their 18^th birthdays prior to January 1^st 2017. Prospective team members must be amateurs and cannot be members of a competitive collegiate golf programme. In addition, they must also be European citizens.    

The 2017 event in Des Moines, Iowa, on August 15^th-16^th, marks the ninth time the European PING Junior Solheim Cup team will battle against the US Team, which currently lead the series with five wins, two losses and one tie.

For more information about the PING Junior Solheim Cup, please visit www.solheimcupeurope.com or contact pjsc@ladieseuropeantour.com.

Photo: Göran Söderqvist