Sunday night. The AIG Women’s Open has ended and, therefore, the qualification process for the Solheim Cup has also closed. Eight players have qualified directly: Charley Hull, Esther Henseleit, Celine Boutier, Linn Grant, Maja Stark, Carlota Ciganda and Madelene Sagstrom. The captain Suzann Pettersen has already decided her four picks: Georgia Hall, Anna Nordqvist, Emily Pedersen and the debutante Albane Valenzuela.
Last night, the Norwegian has already notified the four of the good news and the whole team gathers for a conjuring dinner. The captain’s idea is none other than to bond from the first moment. The team knows each other very well, in fact there are only two new faces compared to Finca Cortesín, Henseleit and Valenzuela.
The challenge they have ahead is huge, to win the Solheim Cup for the fourth consecutive time something that has never happened in the history of the tournament since it was established back in 1990. The United States has won three times in a row on two different occasions (1994, 1996, 1998 and 2005, 2007, 2009) and Europe has three consecutive victories (2017, 2019, 2021, 2023. The challenge of the unknown. In addition, no team has won twice in a row away from home. Nothing like a good dinner to align objectives.
The captain knows how complicated the task is and that’s why she wanted to keep the structure of the champion team. In fact, three vice-captains repeat: Anna Nordqvist, Laura Davies, Caroline Martens and adds to the team as vice-captain Mel Reid who could not be present last year for extracurricular reasons.
It’s a strong team, although it must be said, none have shone especially in 2024. So much so that none of the twelve players have added any victory this year on the LPGA. Only Linn Grant in Sweden, in the tournament co-sanctioned between the LET and the DP World Tour and Leona Maguire in the Aramco Team Series in London have tasted victory this season.
It’s not the best record, but we already know how these competitors behave when they come together to play for Europe. They fight like lionesses and defend the colours with tooth and nail. You just have to see how they were able to come back from the initial 0-4 a year ago. In Virginia they will have to be very attentive from the first moment as coming back from such an adverse start with the public so against it seems more than a chimera.
Playing a bit of fiction and with the numbers that the golfers handle in the last editions, what could be a solid start for the European team in the always complicated Robert Trent Jones Golf Club?.
Of all the possibilities and calculations, what seems clear is that the pair Linn Grant – Carlota Ciganda will play together in the fourball format at some point in the week, if not both days. Last year they already played together both Friday and Saturday and were unbeatable with two key victories. The question is, will we also see them in foursome? They played together in the Dow Championship and in foursome they didn’t shine especially. In that format the Swedish duo along with Maja Stark seems consolidated. At Finca Cortesín they took one point out of two possible. It wouldn’t be strange to see that foursome start on the first day. Having said that, with how well Linn and the Spaniard understand each other, this possibility cannot be ruled out.
On the other hand, it would not be strange at all to see Carlota together with Emily Pedersen in foursome. The two know each other well, have total Solheim spirit and won together last year in that format against Lilia Vu and Jennifer Kupcho. Not bad at all.
If there is a golfer who is an absolute value in the European team, that is Leona Maguire. In two participations she has played the ten possible matches adding a whopping seven and a half points. A barbarity. A fourball that could occur naturally is the Irishwoman with Georgia Hall. Two matches, two victories in two different editions. It seems a safe bet. What seems clear is the foursomes pair that we will NOT see in United States. The two only defeats of Maguire in the Solheim have been given next to Anna Nordqvist in that format. It’s true that the Swede arrived last year in a delicate moment, but it would be strange if that pair repeated again. The Irishwoman will look for a pair like the one she made with Mel Reid in 2019 winning the two foursomes they played.
Georgia Hall, the wildcard girl, could re-edit with Anna Nordqvist the successful foursome duo of 2017 or with Celine Boutier, with whom she also adds two victories and a draw, but it’s true that the two defeats of last year still weigh heavily. Why not dream of a Hall-Nordqvist start? Everything will depend on how the gala Boutier fits the decisions and if she allows that pair to break. Pettersen has work to do if she wants to break that pair.
And Charley Hull? The strong character British has only competed with two players in the last two editions. Four matches with Emily Pedersen, who teams up like no one else, and one with Leona Maguire in fourball format. The Englishwoman last year was touched and could not perform at 100%. She played three matches and scored a single point, precisely with Maguire in fourball.
It would not be surprising if the Pedersen-Hull duo opens the tournament in foursome, but is it too much to dream of a match of the Englishwoman with the Irishwoman in that format? A hitter like Charley with an iron player like the Irishwoman… probably won’t happen, but let’s not say we didn’t predict it.
In fourball it is very safe to venture the pair Hull and Hall. They are very good friends and this year they played together in the Dow Championship. They shone especially in this system and were close to winning the tournament.
Madelene Sagstrom has only played one foursome in her three appearances in the tournament. Last year she stayed unpublished in the format. Will the same thing happen for the second consecutive year?
As always it is difficult to venture how the debutantes Henseleit and Valenzuela will fit into the tournament, but without a doubt in the coming weeks the captain will be plucking the daisy to make the final decision on how to start the tournament.
Record of the twelve European players in the Solheim Cup:
- Anna Nordqvist: Eight participations (2009 2011, 2013, 2015, 2017, 2019, 2021 and 2023) I 31 matches I 15-13-3 I 16.5 points
- Carlota Ciganda: Six participations (2013, 2015, 2017, 2019, 2021, 2023) I 23 matches I 11-8-4 I 13 points
- Charley Hull: Six participations (2013, 2015, 2017, 2019, 2021, 2023) I 22 matches I 12-7-3 I 13.5 points
- Georgia Hall: Four participations (2017, 2019, 2021, 2023) I 17 matches I 8-7-2 I 9 points.
- Celine Boutier: Three participations (2019, 2021, 2023) I 10 matches I 5-4-1 I 5.5 points
- Emily Kristine Pedersen: Three participations (2019, 2021, 2023) I 10 matches I 5-4-1 I 5.5 points
- Madelene Sagstrom: Three participations (2019, 2021, 2023) I 9 matches I 3-5-1 I 3.5 points
- Leona Maguire: Two participations (2021 and 2023) I 10 matches! I 7-2-1 I 7.5 points
- Linn Grant: One participation (2023) I 5 matches I 3-2-0 I 3 points
- Maja Stark: One participation (2023) I 4 matches I 2-1-1 I 2.5 points
- Esther Henseleit: debut
- Albane Valenzuela: debut
