Captains Stacey Lewis (left) and Suzanne Pettersen – image Ladies European Tour
This week’s Solheim Cup in Gainesville, Virginia, will again highlight one of the more fascinating David and Goliath battles in world sport never mind just women’s golf.
Of the 18 encounters between the USA and Europe since the event’s inception in 1990, the USA, who have traditionally been much the stronger team on paper, have won 10½ points to Europe’s 7½ but it is the more recent results that suggest a star team can perform better than a team of stars.
In the last seven encounters since and including 2011, the Europeans have a 4½ to 2½ advantage, mirroring in many respects, the dominance Europe has played more recent times in the men’s equivalent, the Ryder Cup.
Played only last year, the typically biennial contest reverts back to its traditional even numbered years disrupted by the Covid epidemic, this being first time the event has been played in back-to-back years.
Once again the odds are stacked against the Europeans in terms of world ranking with five of the Americans inside the top 20 in the Rolex World Rankings versus only two from the European side but this is nothing new to the Europeans who have shown a capacity to win at home or away despite the disparity.
World number one Nelly Korda heads the Americans while Charley Hull is seen as the European’s number one with Stacey Lewis (USA) and Suzanne Pettersen (Europe) captaining the respective teams for the second successive occasion following their 14-all tie in Spain last year.
As has been the case in the Ryder Cup in recent years the Europeans have well and truly overcome a ranking shortfall to dominate the respective events of late and it is perhaps this factor that makes the event such an intriguing encounter to watch.
Four Foursomes and Fourball matches are played on each of the opening two days with all 12 players from each side involved in singles matches on Sunday, the first team to 14½ points sealing the win.
The American crowd will no doubt provide a noisy and partisan advantage at the Robert Trent Jones Golf Club in Gainesville in Virginia, but if history is anything to go by the Europeans are likely to give as good as they get.
