Scotland awarded 2019 Solheim Cup

Gleneagles will play host to the 2019 Solheim Cup ©Getty Images

Scotland’s Gleneagles Hotel will host the 2019 Solheim Cup, it has been announced today, another major sporting boost for the country.

They saw off competition from Sweden, who had planned to stage the event at Bro Hof Slott Golf Club, located around 50 kilometres from capital city Stockholm.

The course at Gleneagles in Perthshire also held last year’s Ryder Cup and recently won the rights to the brand-new European Golf Team Championships, due to take place as part of the inaugural European Sports Championships in 2018.

The 2019 edition of the event, the women’s equivalent of the Ryder Cup which pits Europe against the United States, will be the third to have taken place in Scotland after Dalmahoy Country Club in 1992 and Loch Lomond in 2000.

“This is tremendous news, not only for golf tourism and events in Scotland but for Scotland as a whole,” Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said.

“As a nation we take a huge amount of pride in welcoming major events to our country and in women's golf they don't come any bigger than the Solheim Cup.

“The outstanding success of 2014 still looms large in the memory and I am delighted that Gleneagles and Scotland will once again play host to a major international team golf event.

“It will help cement Scotland's reputation as the home of golf and the perfect stage for major golf events and help inspire a new generation of children to take up the game invented in their home country.”

Scotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has hailed the announcement as tremendous news ©Getty Images

The announcement marks another significant step in the development of Scottish sport after Glasgow hosted the 2014 Commonwealth Games.

It is currently staging the 2015 Artistic Gymnastics World Championships here and the Tollcross International Swimming Centre was the venue for the recent International Paralympic Committee Swimming World Championships.

Other notable sporting events due to be held in Scotland include the World Men's Curling Championships in five years' time, while Hampden Park in Glasgow is scheduled to host matches at UEFA Euro 2020.

The most recent Solheim Cup event was won by the United States at Golf Club St Leon-Rot in Germany but was marred by controversy surrounding Europe’s player Suzann Pettersen, who was forced to apologise for her actions during the fourballs matches on the final day following the concession of a hole by her team.

Pettersen and England’s Charley Hull were level with the American duo of Alison Lee and Brittany Lincicome heading onto the 17th hole, where Lee picked up her ball after believing that the Europeans had conceded after Hull had walked away.

Pettersen contested that they had not conceded, resulting in the European pairing being awarded the hole and eventually beating their opponents 2 up.

The United States had the last laugh, however, as they denied Europe a third-straight title thanks to a 14½-13½ victory.

The 2017 tournament is scheduled to take place in Des Moines in Iowa.