Melissa Reid and Charley Hull will spearhead Europe’s bid to reclaim the Solheim Cup from the United States. The English duo take on Cristie Kerr and Lexi Thompson, the world No2, in Friday morning’s opening match of the biennial event.
Annika Sorenstam, Europe’s captain, has opted for experience for that first set of ties. Only one of four rookies, Georgia Hall, will play in the first-day foursomes. Hall partners Anna Nordqvist against Paula Creamer and Austin Ernst in game three. Carlota Ciganda and Caroline Masson face the hosts’ Danielle Kang and Lizette Salas. Karine Icher will partner Catriona Matthew, a late European call-up because of Suzann Pettersen’s injury, against Stacy Lewis and Gerina Piller.
“We are going with feel,” said Sorenstam. “The pairings are 99% players’ choices. I want them to be happy. If you have happy players, there is good golf.
“I want them to have fun out there and play with the people they want to play with. If they ask for input, I give input.
“Some of the holes, they have asked how I would play them. They have asked some other questions. But as far as who they want to play with, that’s up to them.”
This will trigger inevitable criticism towards Sorenstam should her team fall short – and every bookmaker insists they will.
After all, what is the value of a captain at all? Nonetheless, in what will be a fascinating dynamic between the Swede and her opposite number, Juli Inkster, Sorenstam is more battle-hardened and shrewder than many would give her credit for. “I am very analytic,” she said. “I take my time making decisions but once I make that, I stick to it. I try to be thorough, I try to have good communication with the team. Beyond that, you just have to be yourself.
“I bring experience to the table. I’ve been in every single role here; player, vice-captain and now captain. So I can relate to any situation.
“I have a great leadership team around me who can pick up my weaknesses. You grow up, you have kids, you realise what’s important in life. I look at things a lot differently now.
“This is about having fun. I want to spread that through the team and just show them that I believe in them; that is why I’m here. I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t believe in them.”
Creamer was set to miss out here and made her displeasure regarding that perfectly clear to Inkster before her late call-up to compensate for Jessica Korda’s injury. Creamer, whose colourful screaming of all things American verges on garish on weeks such as these, may feel added incentive, on her seventh Solheim appearance.
“We are all members of a team,” she said. “It doesn’t matter where you stand, how you got here, any of that. You are just a member of the team.”
Kerr said: “Paula has nothing to prove. It doesn’t matter how you make the team. She won the anchor match in the last Solheim Cup. Nobody believes in her more than this team. We are all one unit now.”
