Solheim Cup teams name captains for 2024 matches
Europe and the USA will have familiar faces at the helm as the competition reverts to even-numbered years in 18 months’ time
Suzann Pettersen will lead Europe into battle at the 2024 Solheim Cup at Robert Trent Jones Golf Club after serving as captain for this year’s renewal as well.
Pettersen will captain Europe at Finca Cortesin in Spain in September and keep her role for the 19th edition to be played in Gainesville, Virginia.
The two-time major champion has represented Europe on nine Solheim Cup sides and she famously holed the winning putt for the blue and white of Europe at Gleneagles in 2019.
She holds a record of 18-12-6 in her playing career against America, earning 21 points in a total of 36 matches. She served as an assistant captain to Annika Sorenstam in 2017 and under Catriona Matthew in 2021.
Team USA has adopted the same strategy with 2023 captain Stacy Lewis. Lewis will lead America in 2024 at a venue that has hosted four Presidents Cups as well as the 2015 Quicken Loans National on the PGA Tour.
Europe has won the last two Solheim Cups in Ohio, USA and Scotland and Pettersen could be on the brink of completing three consecutive victories which Europe has never achieved since the event’s inception in 1999.
“I love the Solheim Cup and it’s such a unique honour to be asked to captain Team Europe again in 2024,” said Pettersen.
“Being offered the role for a second time before the 2023 matches have even been played is a little different to usual, as we usually play the competition every two years and announce the next captain after the competition, but because of the changes to the schedule and having back-to-back Solheim Cups in consecutive years, it makes perfect sense.
“So far, my 2023 captaincy has been a pure joy so to be able to lead the team in Europe this year and then again next year in the US, near the nation’s capital, will be a great honour.”
Pettersen made her debut at the Solheim Cup in 2002 under the leadership of Dale Reid. Europe lost on this occasion to USA at Interlachen Country Club in Minnesota.
The fortunes of Team Europe have certainly changed since losing three Solheim Cups on the spin starting in 2005, but since 2011, the continent has enjoyed victory four times in six renewals and the tide has now turned a very dark shade of blue.
The 41-year-old appointed Dame Laura Davies, Anna Nordqvist and Caroline Martens as her assistant captains for this year’s matches and she intends to keep it this way in the States next year.
Maja Stark and Linn Grant currently lead the way on the Ladies European Tour Solheim Cup points list, followed by Leona Maguire and Celine Boutier who have been two of Europe’s top performers in the last two events.
While the Ryder Cup could be entering a realm of American dominance, the opposite appears in the women’s game and Pettersen hopes the talent on the LET will show in seven months’ time in Andalucia.
“You never really know kind of what the future brings. I think you can just look at the potential and the talent that you see on the Ladies European Tour these days,” Pettersen added after her reappointment was announced.
“We keep saying it every year, but there’s so much great talent coming up. It really is a lot of great talent coming up.
“Linn and Maja represent a new generation of players that are deadly solid in everything they do, and it really shows off on the golf course.
“I mentioned earlier you have a German girl, 16-year-old, Chiara Noja. If you look at her standard of golf as a 16-year-old, it’s just extremely impressive.
“We’ve had a great run over the last five (years) – a great run since 2011, and I think the players really want it. When you really want something, you’re ready to kind of roll up the sleeves and work for it.
“Hard work pays off always over time, and I think that’s kind of how the results relate here. It’s hard for me to speak from the US side because most of them play on the LPGA, and you kind of see them fairly often.
“On the European side, there are maybe more new names popping up every season. That’s either kick-starting their professional career or breakthrough years.”
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Matt Chivers
Now on the wrong side of 25, Matt has been playing golf since the age of 13 and was largely inspired to take up the game by countless family members who played golf during his childhood.
Matt is a member at Royal Cinque Ports in Deal playing off a 5 handicap, just a pitching wedge away from his hometown of Dover where he went to school and grew up. He has previously been a member at Etchinghill and Walmer and Kingsdown in Kent.
Having studied history at the University of Liverpool, Matt went on to pass his NCTJ Exams in Manchester a year later to fulfil his lifelong ambition of becoming a journalist. He picked up work experience along the way at places such as the Racing Post, the Independent, Sportsbeat and the Lancashire Evening Post.
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