KENT'S Karen Stupples put up a brave defence of the Weetabix Women's British Open at Royal Birkdale - but it was not quite good enough to boost her hopes of gaining automatic qualification for the European Solheim Cup team.
The 32-year-old, who plays most of her golf on the LPGA Tour in America, is on a five-week European swing and her mission is to climb into the top seven in the rankings and make sure of a place for the team to defend the cup at Crooked Stick in Indiana next month.
The top 10 gain Solheim points - and Stupples finished an agonising joint 11th at Birkdale on seven under par, nine shots behind the South Korean winner, Jeong Jang, pictured left.
Fifth in the English Open last month, she now has just two more tournaments - the Scandinavian TPC hosted by Annika Sorenstam starting in Sweden on Thursday and the Wales Ladies' Championship of Europe the following week at Machynys Peninsula in Llanelli - to pick up some vital points.
Otherwise, she will have to rely on one of the five wild card selections from European Captain, Catrin Nilsmark.
"I would love to make sure of my place by right," said Stupples, who is at number 10 on the list.
"That was one of the reasons I came back to play in the string of tournaments.
"I would love to get the chance to play in the Solheim and, hopefully, Catrin will pick me.
