GAINESVILLE, Va. – There are only four rookies in this year’s Solheim Cup and they are all being thrown into the fire during the first session.
U.S. captain Stacy Lewis and European captain Suzann Pettersen revealed during the opening ceremony their Friday morning foursomes pairings, complete with two first-timers on each side.
“There’s no point for them to sit around and kind of wait and wonder what it’s going to be like. Let’s just send them out and let them kind of experience it,” Pettersen said.
“They’re kind of a bit of that sassy confidence between them, which I like.”
Those two are Switzerland’s Albane Valenzuela and Germany’s Esther Henseleit. On the American side, the rookies are Lauren Coughlin and Sarah Schmelzel.
Here’s a look at the opening alternate-shot matchups (all times ET):
- 7:05 a.m.: Charley Hull/Esther Henseleit (EUR) vs. Nelly Korda/Allisen Corpuz (U.S.)
- 7:17 a.m.: Albane Valenzuela/Celine Boutier (EUR) vs. Rose Zhang/Lauren Coughlin (U.S.)
- 7:29 a.m.: Maja Stark/Emily Pedersen (EUR) vs. Ally Ewing/Jennifer Kupcho (U.S.)
- 7:41 a.m.: Linn Grant/Carlota Ciganda (EUR) vs. Lilia Vu/Sarah Schmelzel (U.S.)
“They are ready to play,” Lewis said of her rookies, a statement that could stand for all team members. “They’ve been ready to play since Monday, so it’s just been kind of trying to calm them down and keep that energy level where it is.”
Those who will have to keep their emotions in check Friday morning as they were not included in the initial lineup are: Lexi Thompson, Megan Khang, Alison Lee and Andrea Lee for the U.S.; Georgia Hall, Leona Maguire, Madelene Sagstrom and Anna Nordqvist for Europe.
Maguire will be sitting for the first time in her Solheim Cup career, having played all five matches in each of the previous two editions. She and Nordqvist went 0-2 in foursomes at Finca Cortesin in ’23.
On the other hand, Thompson and Khang went 2-0 in the format. Lewis said Thursday that, despite that success, it’s unlikely they’ll be paired this time around. “It was just the [pairings] combinations and the way they worked out, and a little bit of golf course fit as well,” said Lewis, who added that trying to match players to each other’s golf balls has also been a task.
That wasn’t an issue last year, when the U.S. swept Europe, 4-0, in the opening foursomes. Lewis said she put in an inordinate amount of time focusing on the format, which the Euros had owned over the previous six cups.
But while the U.S. won six of the eight foursomes, Europe prevailed in fourballs, 6-2. They split singles, 6-6, allowing Europe to retain the cup, which it won in 2021 and 2019.
As the U.S. looks to win for the first time in seven years, here’s a breakdown of the first four matches of the 19th Solheim Cup.
Hull/Henseleit vs. Korda/Corpuz
The U.S. tandem went 2-0 together in alternate shot last year. Korda is 4-2-0 in the format while Khang is 2-2-1. As Henseleit is making her debut, Hull is competing in her seventh cup. She is 5-2-1 in foursomes. One of those losses came last year when she and Pedersen fell to Ewing and Cheyenne Knight, 5 and 4.
Valenzuela/Boutier vs. Zhang/Coughlin
Boutier seemed destined to have a longtime partnership with Hall, but after going 3-0 in 2019, they have since gone 0-2-1 together. That includes losing both foursomes matches in ’23. Captain Pettersen isn’t rolling the dice on a revival, instead pairing the Frenchwoman, who is making her fourth cup appearance, with the rookie. It will also be the first time for multiple tour winner Coughlin and, in a way, for Zhang as well. Zhang didn’t play foursomes in her ’23 debut.
Stark/Pedersen vs. Ewing/Kupcho
Pedersen played all four team sessions in ’23 with four different partners. One of those was Stark, with whom she halved a Day 1 fourball match. Ewing and Kupcho nearly won this year’s LPGA team event, finishing second. That performance – and this pairing – was one of the reason’s Kupcho was selected as a captain’s pick. This will be their first time as partners in a Solheim Cup.
Grant/Ciganda vs. Vu/Schmelzel
Pettersen is hoping Grant and Ciganda’s fourball success, in which they went 2-0 last year, will carry over to foursomes. Ciganda sat out the opening session in her home country and then won her next four matches. Grant played in all five matches as a rookie in Spain and went 1-1 in alternate shot. Vu was also a newbie in ’23 and went 0-1-0 in foursomes, a loss that included Ciganda on the other side. Schmelzel, a 30-year-old captain’s pick, will get an immediate opportunity to use that bundled energy to her team’s advantage.