Andy DevaneyLauren Crump and Annabel Peaford will represent Europe at the Junior Solheim Cup 2026, with the two England Golf youngsters named among the 12 players who will face the United States at Bernardus Golf in the Netherlands on 7 and 8 September.
This edition carries an additional wrinkle: for the first time, the junior contest will be played on the same course that hosts the Solheim Cup itself.
For two young golfers aged within the event’s 12-to-18 bracket, that rather upgrades the customary school-holiday itinerary.
Crump and Peaford join Europe’s 12-player team
Crump and Peaford have earned places among Europe’s leading female junior golfers for the biennial contest against the United States.
The Junior Solheim Cup follows the broad blueprint of its senior counterpart, bringing together 12 players from Europe and 12 from the USA for two days of team match play.
Its value extends beyond another international cap. The players will remain at Bernardus after their own contest to watch the Solheim Cup, which begins on Friday 11 September.
For teenagers still building their competitive careers, few educational excursions come with quite so many grandstands.
Bernardus creates a first for the Junior Solheim Cup
This will be the first Junior Solheim Cup staged on the same course as the Solheim Cup.
That gives the 2026 match a distinction previous editions have lacked. Crump, Peaford and their teammates will compete over the same ground prepared for the senior showdown that follows only days later.
It should also give the junior event a more obvious connection with the main spectacle. Rather than feeling like an accompanying competition taking place somewhere else, the two matches share the same stage.
For junior golf, visibility matters. Bernardus offers plenty of it.
How the Junior Solheim Cup format works
The competition begins on Monday 7 September with six foursomes and six fourball matches.
Tuesday brings the decisive singles session, with all 12 European players facing an American opponent.
That format leaves very little room for hiding. Pairings can absorb an uncertain spell on the first day; singles tend to remove such luxuries with impressive efficiency.
It also gives every member of the team a direct role in deciding the destination of the trophy.
Europe looking to respond after 2024 defeat
The 2026 contest will be the 14th playing of the Junior Solheim Cup.
Europe arrive having won two of the previous three editions. They were victorious in 2021 and again in 2023 before the United States responded with victory on home soil in 2024.
The match at Bernardus therefore offers Europe the opportunity to re-establish the momentum built during those back-to-back wins.
For Crump and Peaford, however, the immediate significance is more personal. Selection places them among a small group trusted to represent European junior golf in one of its most recognisable team competitions.
England’s pair get an unusually big stage
Junior international golf usually operates some distance from the glare trained on the professional game. Bernardus will narrow that gap.
Crump and Peaford will play for Europe, experience a full international team match and then remain on site as the senior Solheim Cup takes over the course three days later.
It is difficult to devise a more concentrated lesson in elite team golf without issuing everybody a notebook.
Europe will naturally want the trophy back after the 2024 defeat. Yet for its two English selections, Bernardus also represents something harder to quantify: the chance to discover how they respond when a junior event suddenly looks and feels considerably bigger than one.
And if Crump or Peaford should one day return to a Solheim Cup wearing the senior European colours, there will be no need to ask where they first learned the route around Bernardus.
