BATON ROUGE – Two star LSU women’s golfers will represent their home continent of Europe beginning on Wednesday when the Patsy Hankins Trophy is contested for at the Al Hamra Golf Club in Dubai.
The 12-player team will represent Europe against a team representing Asia-Pacific for the three-day Ryder-Cup style matches that run Wednesday through Friday.
Freshman Rocio Tejedo of Spain and senior Aine Donegan of Ireland will represent LSU and Europe in the matches.
Tejedo stands 32nd in the World Amateur Golf Rankings, after three top five finishes in her first semester of college golf. In the past two years she has five wins and 15 top 10 finishes in her golf career in this country and internationally.
Donegan, who played for the victorious Great Britain and Ireland team in the Curtis Cup matches at the end of the summer, has moved up to her all-time best world ranking of 56th entering the play this week. She has posted nine top 10 finishes in the past two years, including a strong fourth place effort in the NCAA Championships this past May.
The team will be captained by Myrte Eikenaar of the Netherlands, who led the side to its first victory in the last edition of the match in Spain in 2023. A two-time European Mid-Amateur Ladies’ Champion, Eikenaar has also captained the Continent of Europe Junior Vagliano Trophy team for the last five years.
Named after the respected late New Zealand golfing administrator Patsy Hankins, the first two editions of the Patsy Hankins Trophy were won by the Asia-Pacific in 2016 and 2018. Europe won for the first time last year in Spain.
The match takes place over three days. Five foursomes matches in the morning and five fourball matches in the afternoon are played on both of the first two days. On the final day, all 12 players complete in singles matches.
With 32 total points on offer (1 for a win, 0.5 for a half and 0 for a loss), 16.5 points are needed to secure victory. The format mirrors the Solheim Cup, with one additional match in each of the four sessions over the first two days.