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Ireland’s Olivia Mehaffey is the latest player to make a major move up the PING Junior Soheim Ranking.

The 17 year-old from Royal Co. Down Ladies‘ reached the semi-final of last week’s Ladies‘ British Open Amateur Championship at Portstewart and it was a result which saw her climb into second place on the European Ranking and give her a great chance of clinching a place in the European team for the match at St. Leon-Rot Golf Club on September 14-15.

The top six players on the European Ranking at the end of the qualification process all earn places in Iben Tinning’s team and Mehaffey earned 40 points for her performance at Portstewart which catapulted her into a share of second place in the Ranking alongside Sweden’s Elin Esborn and Germany’s Leonie Harm.

Esborn collected ten points at Portstewart after advancing to the third round before losing to Mehaffey’s countrywoman Paula Grant.

Mehaffey’s great run at Portstewart came to an end when she lost by 5 & 4 to future Arizona State team-mate and former PING Junior Solheim Cup player Linnea Ström from Sweden.

“I think I’ll look back and I’ll be really happy,” said the Irish teenager who has won the Irish Girls Under 18, the Scottish Strokeplay and the Welsh Strokeplay titles already this year and plans to go to college in the States in the Fall of 2016. “Right now I am disappointed because I was so close. She (Ström) was at a different standard really.”

The top spot on the Ranking is currently held by France’s Agathe Laisne who moved into first place by reaching the final of this year’s French International Lady Juniors Championship at St. Cloud and then consolidated her position by finishing third behind Harm in the Allianz German Boys and Girls‘ Open at St. Leon-Rot Golf Club.

The Ladies‘ British Open Amateur Championship was the fourth qualifying event for this year’s PING Junior Solheim Cup. Next up is  the European Girls’ Team Championship at Golf Resort Kaskada Brno, Czech Republic and the European Ladies’ Team Championship at Helsingør GC, Denmark (July 7-11) followed by the ANNIKA Invitational Europe at Bro-Bålsta GK, Sweden (August 4-6) before the qualification process is completed at the Girls’ British Open Championship at West Kilbride GC, Scotland, on August 10-14, 2015.