Amy Alcott, who grew up in the Los Angeles suburb of Brentwood and went on to become a member of the World Golf Hall of Fame in St. Augustine, Fla., has been named Captain of the United States team for the 2023 Junior Solheim Cup.
The event will take place on the Old Course at La Zagaleta in Benahavis, Spain, overlooking the Alboran Sea, Africa and Gibraltar on Sept. 18-19.
“This is a wonderful honor,” said Alcott, who won 29 times on the LPGA Tour among 33 victories as a professional, including five major championships. “When I got the call from John Solheim, I was very flattered. I have always believed that junior golf is the lifeblood of the game.
“I grew up chipping and putting into soup cans in my front yard in Southern California and competed in junior tournaments from the age of 9 to 17.”
The 66-yeat-old Alcott, who turned pro when she graduated from Palisades High in Pacific Palisades in 1975, won the Orange Blossom Classic for her first pro victory that year and was named LPGA Tour Rookie of the Year.
Alcott’s five major titles include the 1979 Peter Jackson Classic (now the Women’s Canadian Open) at Richelieu Valley Golf Club in Sainte-Julie, Quebec, Canada, the 1980 U.S. Open at Pine Needles Resort and Golf Club in Southern Pines, N.C., the Nabisco Dinah Shore in 1983, 1988 and 1991 on the Dinah Shore Stadium Course at Mission Hills Country Club in Rancho Mirage. The 1991 victory was the last of her career.
In addition, Alcott coached the girls’ golf team at Harvard-Westlake High in Los Angeles for a few years beginning in 2007 and was on the design team with Gil Hanse that created The Olympic Course in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, which hosted golf in the 2016 Olympic Games.
“We are very excited to have Amy Alcott as the 2023 Junior Solheim Cup U.S. Team Captain,” John Solheim, Ping’s Chairman and Chief Executive Officer said. “With Amy turning pro at age 18 and eventually going on to be a LPGA Tour Hall of Famer, she knows what it takes to be an incredibly successful golfer. With her 29 LPGA Tour wins and five major titles, she will be a fantastic mentor and coach for the U.S. Junior Team.”
The Ping Junior Solheim Cup, which is contested every two years, is modeled after the Solheim Cup and features the 12 best female junior golfers (ages 12-18) from the United States against those from Europe.
The match play event includes foursomes, four-ball and singles matches, and rotates between U.S. and European sites. When they are finished with their two-day event, the Junior teams will watch the final days of the 18th Solheim Cup, which will be played Sept. 18-24 at Finca Cortesin Hotel and Golf Resort in Malaga, Spain.
The U.S. leads the all-time Ping Junior Solheim Cup Series, 7-3-1, and didn’t lose in six consecutive matches before Europe claimed a 13-11 victory last year at Sylvania Country Club in Sylvania, Ohio, led by Captain Annika Sorenstam of Sweden.
That came two years after the Americans finished off a 5-0-1 run, also by a score of 13-11 behind Captain Mary Bea Porter-King on the King’s Course at Gleneagles Hotel in Auchterarder, Scotland, in 2019.
