Defeat would be disastrous for USA as Europe seek more Solheim Cup dominance

Europe’s Solheim Cup side has really enjoyed itself for the last five years.

Not only has the blue and gold of the continent remained unbeaten for three consecutive renewals of the matches against the USA, but they have done so in dramatic fashion each time.

Locked together after two days at 8-8 at Gleneagles in 2019, the moment fell upon Suzann Pettersen who edged Marina Alex to win Europe the trophy by one point. The final three matches of the Sunday Singles swung in Europe’s favour with Bronte Law and Anna Nordqvist also doing the business.

Matilda Castren showed great nerve to overcome Lizette Salas to ensure Europe’s second victory on away soil at Inverness Club in 2021, and then, of course, it fell upon Carlota Ciganda, at Finca Cortesin in Spain, to make sure Europe retained the cup by beating Nelly Korda.

We can’t say what the Solheim Cup at Robert Trent Jones Golf Club will have in store, but you’ll need some gloves before the action starts to protect your fingernails.

This Virginia venue established itself as the perfect host of elite team matches only three years into its existence. It hosted the inaugural Presidents Cup in 1994 and hosted again in 1996, 2000, and 2005.

Robert Trent Jones Golf Club is a par 72 designed by the man himself 30 miles from Washington D.C on Lake Manassas. Jones first saw the land during a flyover visit with a view to building a golf course somewhere else and wrote to its owner in 1973 about his interest.

“The terrain is aesthetically perfect. I don’t think we could have done anything better anywhere,” he said, the man who created Spyglass Hill, Bellerive and Congressional. The lake is integral to the experience of the back nine, with the par-3 11^th hole asking players to hit across the lake.

What the recent history of the Solheim Cup has shown is there is nothing between the sides, full of immense talent and experience. Europe has been blessed with the consistency of Celine Boutier, Georgia Hall and Charley Hull in recent years, while Team USA are becoming accustomed to seeing Nelly Korda, Lilia Vu and Rose Zhang painted in red, white and blue

The same pair of captains will face each other again, not seen since the days of Kathy Whitworth and Micky Walker has this been the case. Although Europe kept the trophy after the 14-14 draw last year, the score between captains Suzann Pettersen and Stacey Lewis is 0-0.

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Solheim Cup 2024 preview: Which team does the 2023 stalemate favour?

With the 19^th edition of the Solheim Cup placed just one year after the 18^th, the players and captains that circulate the stately home clubhouse of RTJ Golf Club have the chance for both redemption and reassurance.

Pettersen and Lewis haven’t beaten one another yet, which makes for a mouthwatering September weekend in this first even year of the contest since 2002. Both are two-time major champions and have a wealth of Solheim Cup knowledge. They accumulated 13 appearances between them, but neither has led their side to victory.

Who does the 2023 stalemate favour? Lewis felt out her players in Andalucia and believes she is now on to something with her foursomes and fourball pairings this time around.  “We now have some pairings actually going forward. There’s no trial-and-error again going into 2024,” Lewis said in the aftermath of the 2023 Solheim Cup.

“We’ll go to the drawing board again,” she added, “Come up with some new ideas to make it a little bit different behind the scenes, continue to make it fun, but the process of the pairings and how we went about putting players together, what order they put in, I don’t see a whole lot of that changing because it worked. It works, and we’re moving in the right direction, and I’m really excited about the future of this US Team.”

Like in several team sports, a draw on away soil shouldn’t be sniffed at. A debut win on the continent for Lewis would’ve been some effort. Having attained the next best result, it could be time for the US to kick on and taste victory for the first time since the one-sided match at Des Moines Golf and Country Club in Iowa in 2017.

It took Europe seven attempts to win away from home in the Solheim Cup. From the event’s inception in 1990, it finally clicked in Colorado where Liselotte Neumann’s team won 18-10 which is still the largest margin of victory in the Solheim Cup’s history.

Europe erased the hoodoo of away inferiority at Colorado Golf Club and although they might not have won the Solheim Cup outright last year, they celebrated accordingly and took great confidence in stamping further authority on the event that the USA only lost three times in the first 11 times around.

To say Pettersen’s Europe could inflict such a defeat on Lewis’ America would be bold. Only two of the last seven Solheim Cup scorelines have been settled by more than a two-point deficit.

Where the Ryder Cup risks becoming a monotonous spiral where the home side can’t lose, the Solheim Cup is peppered with unpredictability where the home side is always on the precipice.

Nothing would please Team Europe more if they could defend the trophy in the Netherlands two years from now, but Lewis’ side of US stars are tired of leaving the course empty-handed.

We have a gigantic melting pot of jeopardy in Gainesville in another Solheim Cup that is too close to call.

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