Three members of the Spanish National Teams—María Parra from Cádiz, Ana Peláez from Málaga, and Marta Pérez from Valencia—will compete on September 14th and 15th in the eighth edition of the Ping Junior Solheim Cup, one of the most prestigious continental team tournaments in the world. This event, which serves as a prelude to the Solheim Cup, brings together the best amateur female golfers on the planet at the St. Leon-Rot Golf Club in Germany.

These three golfers, members of the Blume National School in the 2014/15 academic year, have had a dream year, reaping the rewards of their hard work in previous years. For example, this summer María Parra won the European Individual Championship just weeks before Ana Peláez triumphed at the Annika Invitational and Marta Pérez reached the final of the British Girls Championship.

The three Spanish players, along with Norwegian Sandra Nordaas, French Agathe Laisne, and Danish Puk Lyng Thomson, earned their places on the team by finishing in the Top 6 of the PING Junior Solheim Cup European Ranking. Meanwhile, German Leonie Harm, Austrian Emma Spitz, Irish Olivia Mehaffey, Swedish Elin Esborn, Swiss Albane Valenzuela – champion of the 2015 Copa de SM La Reina – and French Mathilda Cappeliez were captain Iben Tinning's selections following the British Girls Championship last August.

This powerful European team will have to face an American squad that, like its rival, boasts almost all of its players in the world's Top 100 and is led by Sierra Brooks and Hannah O'Sullivan, world numbers 2 and 3, respectively. Alongside them are Angel Yin, Hailee Cooper, Nelly Korda, Mariel Galdiano, Mika Liu, Megan Khang, Kristen Gillman, Kaitlyn Papp, Haley Moore, and Andrea Lee.

The European team's mission will be to secure their third victory (they previously won in 2003 and 2007), bringing them closer to the four titles won by the United States (2002, 2005, 2009, and 2013). In the last edition, held at The Inverness Club (Denver, USA), the home team prevailed 14.5-9.5 in a match that included Cantabrian player Harang Lee on the European roster.

Strong Spanish presence at the Ping Junior Solheim Cup

The presence of Spanish players in the Ping Junior Solheim Cup has been a constant since 2002.

Thus, in 2002 up to seven Spanish women played – Azahara Muñoz, Carmen Alonso, María Recasens, Elisa Serramiá, Inés Díaz-Negrete, María Hernández and Emma Cabrera – while in 2003 five played: Azahara Muñoz, María Hernández, Adriana Zwanck, Belén Mozo and Emma Cabrera.

Subsequently, in 2005, five other Spanish women defended the colors of the European team – Azahara Muñoz, Belén Mozo, Beatriz Recari, Carlota Ciganda and Marta Silva – while in 2007 two did so, Carlota Ciganda and Marta Silva, a number that was repeated in 2009 – Ana Fernández de Mesa and Anna Arrese – and that was limited to the presence of Luna Sobrón in 2011 and Harang Lee in 2013.

The Ping Junior Solheim Cup has been held since 2002, and since then, players who have gone on to become successful professionals have participated in the event, such as Paula Creamer, Anna Nordqvist, Morgan Pressel, Brittany Lincicome, and Melissa Reid.

More information about the tournament can be found below in the Related Links section.