Solheim cup returns to Scotland

The Solheim family and the ELPGA announced the venue of the 2000 Solheim Cup is being moved from Sunningdale, England to Loch Lomond Golf Club in Scotland.

The tournament will be played Oct. 6-8, 2000. The Solheim Cup, a biennial team Matchplay event between Europe's top-12 women professionals and their American counterparts from the LPGA, returns to Scotland after 8 years. The match was first played in 1990 and the Americans now hold a 4-1 lead, the European ladies only win was at Dalmahoy, Edinburgh in 1992.

"Given the commercial realities of the tour, the option to stage the event at Loch Lomond emerged as the most attractive option open to us," said Tim Howland, chief executive of the ELPGA.

"However, we are more than grateful to Sunningdale for all the support it has given the event to date and we look forward to continuing our relationship with the Club and staging another championship there in the future."

The Loch Lomond course, designed by former Open champion Tom Weiskopf, has received plaudits from many of the world's top golfers including Thomas Bjørn, who is quoted as saying the course is "a design as close to flawless as a golf course gets."

"The ELPGA is going through a very important transition, and we give our support to the decision to take the Solheim Cup to Loch Lomond which is recognised world-wide as one of Scotland's premier golf courses," said John Solheim, president of Ping. "It also offers excellent facilities and amenities in keeping with the profile of the event."

TRW