Three Top 10 players head to Solheim Cup competition

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla., Aug. 12 (UPI) -- Three Top 10 players, including world No. 2 Stacy Lewis, are set for this week's 2013 Solheim Cup, pitting a U.S. team against a team of European golfers.

The women's golf rankings are dominated by South Korean. Starting with No. 1-ranked Inbee Park, there are five South Koreans in the Top 10.

That includes Jiyai Shin and I.K. Kim, who trade places in the rankings this week -- Shin moves to ninth and Kim slips to 10th -- in the only change in the Top 10. They are both narrowly behind eighth-ranked Catriona Matthew.

The Solheim Cup takes place this year in Parker, Colo. The United States has won eight of the previous 12 competitions and has never lost on a U.S. course. The Europeans, however, won in 2011 by a score of 15-13.

Lewis leads the U.S. team with No. 11-ranked Paula Creamer also on the Meg Mallon captained team.

The Europeans will be led by Norway's Suzann Pettersen, who is third in the world rankings, and Matthew. The team captain is Liselotte Neumann.

The Solheim Cup uses a format similar to the men's Ryder Cup with a total of 28 matches. They play with eight foursomes and eight four-ball matches on the first two days and 12 singles matches on the final day. The challenging team needs a majority of the points -- 14 1/2 -- to win the cup.

The women's world golf rankings, listing player's name, home country and ranking points:

1. Inbee Park, South Korea, 12.77

2. Stacy Lewis, United States, 9.61

3. Suzann Pettersen, Norway, 8.15

4. Cho Ne-yeon, South Korea, 7.81

5. Ryu So-yeon, South Korea, 7.07

6. Karrie Webb, Australia, 6.13

7. Feng Shanshan, China, 5.99

8. Catriona Matthew, Scotland, 5.53

9. Jiyai Shin, South Korea, 5.52

10. I.K. Kim, South Korea, 5.50