Aideen Rogers may not have even crossed Dale Reid's mind when it came to naming her wild card picks for next month's Solheim Cup match with the United States, but Ireland's only full-time touring professional will nevertheless get a taste of big-time team competition in next week's inaugural Women's World Cup.
Yesterday, Rogers and Lynn McCool were named as the Irish representatives in the two-player teams to take part in the 54-holes strokeplay competition which will take place at Adare Manor.
Unfortunately, neither world number one Karrie Webb, of Australia, nor Sweden's Annika Sorenstam, the number two player in the world rankings, will be participating. Webb has an previous engagement, carrying the Olympic torch en route to the lighting of the flame in Sydney, while Sorenstam is unavailable.
However, England will field an all-Solheim Cup pairing in their attempt to win the first ever World Cup. Laura Davies and Trish Johnson have been named as England's standard-bearers while the Scottish team will consist of Kathryn Marshall and Catriona Matthews, while Karen Davies and Helen Wadsworth will play for Wales.
Although Rogers is enjoying her best-ever season on the Women's European Tour - she is currently in 48th position in the moneylist with €22,391, compared to a final position of 107th on last year's order of merit - the dream of a Solheim Cup place proved out of her reach. In fact, she finished in tied-55th place in the final Solheim Cup rankings table.
And, not surprisingly, Europe's captain Dale Reid has looked to higher ranked players in nominating her five wild cards for next month's contest in Loch Lomond. Reid has called in fellow-Scot Janice Moodie along with four Swedish players - Liselotte Neumann, Helen Alfredson, Carin Koch and Catrin Nilsmark - to complete the team.
Neumann and Alfredsson join Laura Davies, Alison Nicholas and Trish Johnson as ever-presents in the sixth staging of the contest while the team is completed by Sorenstam, British Open and Irish Open champion Sophie Gustafson, Patricia Meunier Lebouc, from France, who is also a previous winner of the Irish Open, and Spain's Raquel Carriedo. Moodie, Koch, Carriedo and Lebouc are all newcomers to the side.
The American team, captained by Pat Bradley, won't be finalised until September 24th. Ten members of the US team qualify on points, with the captain selecting the remaining two. However, Juli Inkster, Meg Mallon, Rosie Jones, Dottie Pepper, Sherri Steinhauer, Kelly Robbins and Pat Hurst are all guaranteed their places.
