Guest Author: Duncan Cumming ~ Duncan has been writing for over 5 years about a range of topics, including lifestyle, fashion, sports and technology. His love for golf however has fuelled his desire to write helpful, informative and interesting articles about the sport.

. . . . .

With the 2013 Solheim Cup scheduled to take place from August 13^th – 18^th in Colorado, let’s take a look at the form of the top five in the European team.

1. Currently ranked at first place and the youngest in the top five is Norway’s Suzann Pettersen. Since turning pro in 2000, Pettersen has played in 58 tournaments, winning five and finishing in the top ten 19 times. Her lowest round was 62. In 2010 and 2011, Pettersen played the majority of her season on the LPGA, finishing runner up at the Honda PTT LPGA in Thailand in 2010 and winning the Sybase Match Play Championship and the Safeway Classic in 2011. In 2012, she earned over $1 million dollars.
2. Spain’s Carlota Ciganda turned professional in 2011, was Rolex Rookie of The Year in 2012 – her first full season on the LET – in addition to being named player of the year. Ciganda has played in 19 tournaments; winning both the Deloitte Ladies Open and the China Suzhou Taihu Open, as well as a further ten top ten finishes. She finished the 2012 season with total earnings of 251,289.95 Euros and was ranked second on the European Solheim Cup points list.
3. In third place is Scotland’s Catriona Matthew. Older and perhaps wiser than Masson and Recari, her career highlights include securing 6^th position in 2007 and earning 177 thousand Euros to being ranked 2^nd two years later and earning over a quarter of a million Euros. In the same year, just eleven weeks after giving birth to her second daughter and three weeks before her 40^th birthday, Matthew won the Ricoh Women’s British Open. Two years after that she won her fourth LET victory at the Aberdeen Ladies Scottish Open. When she was a member for the sixth time of the winning European Solheim Cup Team at Killeen Castle, Matthew also earned a 2-0-2 record. She has played professionally on the LET since 1997.
4. Germany’s Caroline Masson is ranked 4^th. She’s played 49 tournaments, has finished in the top ten 17 times, and won the South African Women’s Open at Selborne Park. Hopefully her frustrations at frequently being tied – 10^th at the DeutscheBank Ladies Swiss Open, 9^th at the Raiffeisenbank Prague Masters and 5^th at the Ricoh Women’s British Open won’t stand in her way against the Americans this year in Colorado. Masson equals Recari with her lowest round also coming in at 64.
5. Ranking number 5 is Spain’s Beatriz Recari. Since turning pro in 2005 she’s played 67 tournaments, winning the Ladies European Tour title at the Finnair Masters in Helsinki in 2009.  In 2010 and 2011 Recari played most of her season on the LPGA, finishing 43^rd on the Money List with seasons earnings of $223,053. To date Recari has completed 203 rounds with her lowest round coming in at 64. Her stroke average is 73.43. Try and beat that the next time you’re ordering your golfclubs from an online golf store!

Let’s hope the might of Germany, Scotland, Spain and Norway plus all the other fantastic European female golfers can show America what they’re made of and bring home the Cup this time round!

. . . .