Solheim Cup 2030: England has never hosted – is it time?

Any bid will require government funding and staging the Solheim Cup sits on the UK sports’ major events hosting target list which also includes the Fifa Women’s World Cup in 2035.

Only last month the outgoing chair of UK Sport, Dame Katherine Grainger expressed frustration that Britain is not staging more major events over the coming decade.

“We don’t want fallow years,” she told BBC Sport. “After 2028, we don’t really have anything named. That is quite a big gap.

“There are plenty of events that still are there for the taking. It’s quite obvious why these mega-events are so important to the country, and yet maybe we haven’t made the case clear.”

It will be at least a decade before the Ryder Cup could be staged in England – Bolton is staging an audacious bid to hold the 2035 match – so the time would appear ripe for Solheim Cup to come to England for the first time.

More immediately Reid – surely a compelling candidate for the 2030 captaincy – and Sweden’s Caroline Hedwall have been announced as vice-captains to Nordqvist for the 2026 contest at Bernardus Golf in the Netherlands.

“If the Solheim Cup is happening, I want to be there for Europe in whatever way I can contribute,” said the 37-year-old Englishwoman, who is a seven-time winner on the Ladies European Tour and LPGA.

“Some of my fondest core memories have been during a Solheim Cup week and in that European team room. I am honoured that Anna asked me to be one of her vice-captains.

“I know she is going to be an amazing captain, and I am so happy that I will be there to support her and the team and to help in any way to make Anna and the team successful.”

Golfing attention this week is firmly on the women’s game with the first major of the year, the Chevron Championship, being held at The Club at Carlton Woods in the Woodlands near Houston in Texas.

Charley Hull spearheads the British challenge. The 29-year-old Englishwoman has banked three top-11 finishes already this year.

Ranked 10 in the world, the Kettering star is chasing her first major title in an event where world number one Nelly Korda will begin her title defence on Thursday.