8am Round-Up: Annika Sorenstam set for Solheim Cup captaincy

Former world No 1 Annika Sorenstam is expected to be named today as Europe's captain for the 2017 Solheim Cup.

An announcement is being made by the Ladies European Tour at 7pm during a live press conference at the ANA Inspiration in California.

Sorenstam revealed earlier this year that she’d tossed her hat into the ring for the next instalment in the biennial contest in Iowa next year.

With 22 wins in the event spread across eight matches, the 45-year-old shares the record with Laura Davies for Europe.

Sorenstam is set to become the sixth Swede to hold the captaincy after Pia Nilsson, Catrin Nilsmark, Helen Alfredsson, Liselotte Neumann and Carin Koch.

Catriona Matthew has said she’d be keen to lead Europe into battle when the 2019 contest is staged at Gleneagles.

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Lee Westwood wants the chance to captain Europe at the 2020 Ryder Cup at Whistling Straits after saying he has only another two to three years left as a player.

Westwood has played in nine Ryder Cups and is fourth on Europe’s all-time list of points scorers in the event, only two points behind Nick Faldo.

Though he has never won a major, finishing in the top three eight times, the 42-year-old Westwood only sees himself competing as a player for a few more years before putting his name forward for the captaincy.

“I’d like to go on a little longer,” Westwood said in several national newspapers. “Two or three years, then think about the Ryder Cup captaincy.

“If I put my name in for the captaincy in four years’ time then I can think about joining the Seniors Tour after that.”

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Scots amateur duo Hannah McCook and Gabrielle Macdonald will further their experience by teeing up in two LET Access Series events.

To aid their progress, Grantown-on-Spey’s McCook, 22, and Macdonald, 23, from Craigelaw will play on the LET’s development circuit.

All female professional golfers and amateurs aged 18 years of age with a handicap of two or better are eligible for membership of the Access Series, thus giving elite amateurs the opportunity to play at the top level against professionals on a week by week basis.

McCook, who recently also played in the World Ladies Championship in China thanks to an invite to the Ladies European Tour event, and Macdonald will first compete in Terre Blanche Ladies Open starting tomorrow in France.

The pair will then contest the PGA Halmstad Ladies Open by Haverdal in Sweden in May.