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Mark Schlabach, ESPN Senior Author
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, golf followers will get to observe the Solheim Cup in consecutive years.
The competitors between ladies’s groups from the U.S. and Europe historically occurs each different 12 months. However after the 2020 Ryder Cup was postponed a 12 months due to the pandemic, shifting the lads’s occasion to odd-numbered years, the Solheim Cup is being performed in consecutive years to get on an even-year schedule.
Which means the U.S. squad did not have to attend as lengthy to attempt to wrestle the Cup away from the Europeans, who retained the trophy with a 14-14 tie in Finca Cortesin, Spain, final 12 months.
“We acquired some unfinished enterprise,” world No. 1 golfer Nelly Korda mentioned this week.
Though the U.S. has received 10 of the 18 competitions, it hasn’t come out on prime since a 16½-11½ victory at Des Moines Golf & Nation Membership in Iowa in 2017.
“Some individuals have requested me what one phrase can be to explain Group USA this 12 months, and I am simply going to say ‘hungry,’ as a result of Nelly and I clearly being on the identical quantity of Solheim Cups and never essentially getting the job achieved final 12 months, type of leaves not essentially one of the best style in your mouth,” Megan Khang mentioned. “Fortunately, we did not have to attend two years. We have now this 12 months to type of get again at it, and I can let you know now we’re extra hungry than ever.”
Listed here are among the largest storylines on the Solheim Cup, which tees off Friday at Robert Trent Jones Golf Membership in Gainesville, Virginia:
Soar forward:
Group Europe
Group U.S.
Our prediction
Europe
Why they’re going to win
The Europeans have been in possession of the Solheim Cup for a lot of the previous 5 years. After falling in back-to-back matches in 2015 and 2017, the Europeans received 14½-13½ at Gleneagles in Scotland in 2019 and 15-13 at Inverness Membership in Toledo, Ohio in 2021. After final 12 months’s tie in Spain, the European squad celebrated as if it had received.
Eight golfers from final 12 months’s European workforce certified to run it again this week, and Suzann Pettersen used two of her three captain’s picks to convey again two extra — Sweden’s Anna Nordqvist and Denmark’s Emily Kristine Pedersen. Rookies Esther Henseleit (Germany) and Albane Valenzuela (Switzerland) are the one newcomers.
The Europeans can be in search of their third victory previously 4 Solheim Cups held within the U.S.
“I believe taking part in away, you are at all times an underdog,” Pettersen mentioned. “I believe that is how we have at all times checked out it. Yeah, should you take a look at the earlier three Solheims, we have come out on the excessive aspect, and we will attempt to hold that going for positive. On the similar time, being away, I am very completely satisfied to type of depart the strain [on] the Individuals to say they’re the house favorites.”
All however two of the European workforce’s 12 members have profitable data on the Solheim Cup.
England’s Charley Hull (12-7-3), Eire’s Leona Maguire (7-2-1) and Spain’s Carlota Ciganda (11-8-4) have been the hardest outs within the workforce competitors. It is an skilled squad with a mixed 77-55-16 document in Solheim Cup matches and 79 factors earned. Seven golfers on the European roster can be competing in at the least their fourth Solheim Cup.
Weaknesses
The American workforce would appear to have a bonus taking part in at dwelling with a extra gifted roster from prime to backside. Sweden’s Linn Grant and Maguire had been the one European workforce members who received a Girls European Tour occasion this season. Hull, ranked twelfth on the earth, hasn’t received since October 2022 however had 4 top-25s at majors this season.
Boutier, the highest-ranked European golfer at No. 10 within the Rolex Girls’s World Golf Rating, received 4 instances final 12 months, together with her first main championship on the Evian Championship in her native France. This season, nonetheless, she did not end greater than a tie for nineteenth within the 5 majors.
In truth, eight of the highest 12 European golfers failed to complete within the prime 10 at a significant this season. Stark was runner-up on the Chevron, and Grant tied for ninth on the Girls’s PGA Championship and tenth on the AIG Girls’s Open.
“Clearly, if you look on paper, the U.S. workforce may be very robust, and I do not assume it is dangerous going into this week figuring out that now we have to surrender like an excellent struggle to maintain the Cup,” Grant mentioned. “So I believe we’re all very excited to exit and be aggressive from the beginning this time. We had been gradual final 12 months. And simply give it our all.”
Rookie evaluation
Henseleit was one of many European squad’s higher performers this season with two prime 10s in majors — she was solo seventh on the Chevron Championship and tied for seventh on the Evian Championship. She additionally was the silver medalist on the Olympics in Paris, carding a 6-under 66 within the closing spherical to complete two strokes behind gold medalist Lydia Ko of New Zealand. Then Henseleit was runner-up within the Scottish Open final month.
The 2019 LET Rookie of the 12 months and Order of Benefit champion began this previous season ranked 111th on the earth however climbed to thirtieth with one of the best marketing campaign of her profession. Her fiancée, Reece Phillips, works as her caddie and swing coach. Her enchancment on the greens after working with Scottish placing coach David Orr helped spark her breakthrough.
“It has been quite a lot of enjoyable,” Henseleit mentioned. “I felt like my arduous work over the previous few years type of paid off and all the things got here collectively a bit bit. It has been nice to see some good outcomes coming in. It undoubtedly helps my confidence.”
Valenzuela, 26, was born in New York to a Mexican father and French mom. She turned a Swiss native at age 14 and performed faculty golf at Stanford. Valenzuela was a two-time runner-up within the U.S. Girls’s Novice in 2017 and 2019. She represented Switzerland 3 times on the Olympics and is the primary Swiss golfer to compete within the Ryder Cup or Solheim Cup.
In 17 begins on the LPGA Tour this season, Valenzuela had six top-25 finishes and two prime 10s. She was runner-up on the Honda LPGA Thailand in February.
Golfers who ought to play all 5 matches
Pettersen relied closely on three gamers in Spain: Grant, Maguire and Pedersen, who every performed in all 5 matches. Grant and Maguire went 3-2, whereas Pedersen went 2-2-1. They had been a mixed 5-0-1 in four-ball matches, whereas Maguire was the one one who received her singles match, carding 5 birdies and an eagle to take down Rose Zhang 4 & 3 on Sunday.
Grant and Maguire had distinctive type at instances this season. On June 9, Grant captured the Volvo Automobiles Scandinavian Blended, which additionally included rivals from the DP World Tour. Maguire turned the primary Irish lady to assert an LET occasion when she received the Aramco Group Collection match in London on July 5.
Maguire is one among solely 5 European gamers who received at the least seven of their first 10 matches on the Solheim Cup, in response to the Elias Sports activities Bureau.
“She’s fiery on the golf course,” European workforce vice captain Mel Reid mentioned of Maguire. “I believe you see that. She’s very passionate. She loves match play. She loves [the] Solheim Cup. She loves wanting her competitor within the face saying, ‘I’ll beat you,’ and he or she wears that extraordinarily effectively within the workforce.
“She by no means offers up. She has a lot grit and willpower. It is precisely the type of participant you need in your workforce. And he or she’s not a protracted participant, and I believe that is what frustrates the rivals as effectively, is that she simply will get it achieved [without] hitting it very far.”
Hero decide
Can Ciganda ship for the Europeans once more? The 34-year-old was the one Spanish golfer who competed at Finca Cortesin final 12 months, and he or she delivered with a 4-0 document. In Sunday singles, she received the sixteenth and seventeenth gap to knock off Korda 2 & 1 for the 14th level that retained the Solheim Cup for the European workforce.
This week, Ciganda can be trying to change into the primary golfer to win at the least 5 straight matches on the Solheim Cup since Caroline Hedwall and Hull received six straight in 2013 and 2015. Her finest finishes this 12 months had been a tie for third on the Ford Championship and solo sixth on the Chevron Championship.
Dangerous decide
For the second Solheim Cup in a row, the European workforce roster is loaded with Swedish golfers. Pettersen used one among her three captain’s picks on Nordqvist, who’s competing in her ninth consecutive Solheim Cup. She’s competing as a vice captain this week.
In keeping with Elias Sports activities Bureau, solely two different golfers appeared within the competitors 9 or extra instances in a row: Europe’s Laura Davies performed in 12 straight from 1990 to 2011 and Cristie Kerr was on each U.S. squad from 2002 to 2017.
Nordqvist, ranked 72nd on the earth, had a 1-3 document in Spain final 12 months, going 0-2 in foursomes and 0-1 in a four-ball match. She defeated Jennifer Kupcho 2 & 1 in a singles match.
Nordqvist has a 15-13-3 document within the Solheim Cup, however she missed the reduce in 4 of her previous seven begins on the LPGA Tour.
United States
Why they’re going to win
Historical past would appear to be on the American workforce’s aspect — neither aspect has received or retained the Solheim Cup 4 straight instances since its inception in 1990. The U.S. workforce received 3 times in a row from 1994 to 1998 and 2005 to 2009. And the Individuals may have the group on its aspect in northern Virginia.
Once more, on the floor, the U.S. workforce would appear to be much more gifted and achieved than its opponent. There are three American golfers ranked within the prime 10 of the world rating: Korda (No. 1), Lilia Vu (No. 2) and Rose Zhang (No. 9). Three different golfers on the U.S. workforce — No. 14 Laura Coughlin, No. 18 Ally Ewing and No. 21 Megan Khang — are ranked within the prime 25.
The typical world rating for the 12 golfers on the U.S. workforce is 25.8 in comparison with 42 for the European squad. Seven of the golfers on the U.S. squad had at the least one top-10 end in a significant — Ewing had probably the most with three.
Korda was one of the best ladies’s golfer on the earth in 2024, profitable six instances in a seven-start stretch earlier this season, together with her second main championship on the Chevron Championship. Vu returned from a again harm and picked up her fifth LPGA victory on the Meijer LPGA Basic on June 16. The 2-time main champion tied for second on the Girls’s PGA Championship and Girls’s British Open.
Weaknesses
The one American golfers who’ve tasted victory within the Solheim Cup are Thompson, who was on profitable groups in 2015 and 2017, and Alison Lee, who was on the 2015 squad. Korda, Ewing and Khang had been a part of the previous three groups that got here up quick towards the Europeans.
“It was a priority final 12 months,” U.S. workforce captain Stacy Lewis mentioned. “That is the one factor now we have going towards us, however in some unspecified time in the future they’ll win one and in some unspecified time in the future they’ll recover from the hump, simply the chances of it.”
Lewis has relied on information greater than Pettersen, who appears to go along with her intestine in making many selections. Final 12 months, the U.S. workforce blitzed the Europeans 4-0 within the Friday morning foursomes. The Individuals went 6-2 within the alternate shot matches, the primary time since 2007 that that they had a profitable mark in that format.
The Europeans have flipped the script within the four-ball matches. In 2017 and 2019, the U.S. workforce had a seven-point benefit in four-ball. Europe has been 5 factors higher within the final two Solheim Cups, together with a 6-2 document final 12 months.
“We put quite a lot of emphasis final 12 months on alternate shot, which you guys noticed within the end result,” Lewis mentioned. “Wanting again, was it possibly an excessive amount of? In all probability. So we’re looking for that steadiness this 12 months of making these nice alternate shot pairings, but in addition ensuring now we have some nice finest ball pairings as effectively. So simply looking for that steadiness.”
Rookie evaluation
Just like the European workforce, there are solely two rookies on the U.S. squad — Coughlin and Sarah Schmelzel.
Coughlin, 31, loved a breakthrough in her seventh season on the PGA Tour. She claimed her first two victories on the CPKC Girls’s Open on July 28 and the ISPS Handa Scottish Girls’s Open on Aug. 18. She tied for third on the Chevron Championship and was solo fourth on the Evian Championship.
The previous Virginia All-American needs to be a crowd favourite at Robert Trent Jones Golf Membership this week. She leads the LPGA with 269 birdies and is fourth in greens in regulation (74%).
Schmelzel, 30, grew up in Arizona and performed faculty golf at South Carolina. She employed a brand new swing coach and placing coach earlier than the season, and the modifications paid off. She had seven prime 10s in 21 begins on tour this season, together with her first runner-up on the Blue Bay LPGA on March 7. She’s one of many higher ball strikers on tour and avoids bogeys (15% of holes performed).
Golfers who ought to play all 5 matches
The U.S. squad did not have a single participant compete in 5 matches in Spain final 12 months. Khang was the highest performer with 3½ factors, going 3-0-1 over three days. She paired with Thompson to win two foursomes matches, then set the tone in singles by taking down Grant 1 up within the opening match on Sunday.
There have been 5 rookies on final 12 months’s workforce — Vu, Allisen Corpuz, Andrea Lee, Zhang and Cheyenne Knight — and Lewis leaned on her extra skilled golfers. Vu, Lee and Zhang struggled of their first Solheim Cup, going a mixed 2-7-2.
Hero decide
Thompson was a dangerous decide a 12 months in the past, when Lewis selected her throughout one of many worst seasons of her LPGA profession. Thompson missed the reduce in eight of her 11 begins on tour in 2023, however Lewis confirmed a ton of confidence when she rolled her out with Khang within the opening match.
Thompson responded by selecting up three factors with a 3-1 document. She held off Pedersen 2 & 1 within the closing singles match on Sunday.
It is going to most likely be Thompson’s closing Solheim Cup. A 15-time winner all over the world, Thompson has a 9-7-7 document within the occasion.
Thompson has been in higher type this season with 4 prime 10s in 14 begins, together with a tie for ninth on the PGA Girls’s Championship. She ranks thirteenth on tour in strokes gained: placing (.730) and has been exceptionally good inside 20 toes.
“Lexi has undoubtedly modified ladies’s golf,” U.S. workforce vice captain Paula Creamer mentioned. “You’ll be able to inform she’s so completely satisfied proper now. I believe that making that call earlier this 12 months [to retire] has undoubtedly helped her get pleasure from these moments and luxuriate in being on a workforce proper now. She has undoubtedly made a huge effect on the sport of golf for the juniors and all the things.
“She’ll undoubtedly be missed, however she’ll at all times be there, that is for positive. I do not assume she’s going too far-off from the sport, simply not out right here.”
Dangerous decide
Alison Lee earned her approach again on the U.S. workforce by means of her world rating, which is a redemption story in itself after she misplaced her LPGA card earlier in her profession. Final 12 months, she received a second Aramco Group Collection occasion in Riyadh and misplaced in a playoff to Minjee Lee on the BMW Girls Championship.
The previous UCLA star climbed to No. 14 on the earth earlier this season — after she had slipped to 353rd 5 years in the past.
It is Lee’s first Solheim Cup in 9 years. She has loads of scar tissue from her solely different look. As a 20-year-old rookie in St. Leon-Rot, Germany in 2015, Lee and Brittany Lincicome had been taking part in Pettersen and Charley Hull in a fourballs match.
With the American squad trailing by 4 factors, Lee had a birdie putt to go 1 up within the match with one gap to play. She missed and scooped up her ball, which stopped lower than 2 toes from the outlet.
Instantly, Pettersen protested that the European duo hadn’t conceded the putt. An official agreed. The Europeans received the following gap for a 2-up victory, leaving Lee and Lincicome in tears.
The U.S. workforce rallied to win 8½ factors in singles for a 14½-13½ victory, the largest comeback in Solheim Cup historical past.
Pettersen was closely criticized for not conceding the putt. She apologized the Monday after the match.
“I am not going to lie, I do not give it some thought too typically,” Lee mentioned Tuesday. “It was a really very long time in the past. I’d say within the second it was robust. I used to be very intimidated on the time, like I mentioned. I used to be a rookie on tour. I did not actually know any of the ladies on my workforce both. I wasn’t actually good mates with them.
“I simply felt just like the beginner, younger woman, who type of made it on the workforce, and everybody fortunately simply rallied behind me and had been so heat and welcoming and did all the things they may to assist me.”
Lee, 29, mentioned she has by no means talked to Pettersen concerning the incident.
“I imply, I am not going to lie, I have not actually talked to her in any respect since then,” she mentioned.
Prediction
The Individuals do certainly have unfinished enterprise on the Solheim Cup, they usually’ll finish their drought with a 15-13 victory. Thompson will safe the profitable level in Sunday singles in her closing look within the occasion.
