BREWERTON RECALLS SOLHEIM CUP MEMORIES AFTER SOLID START TO VOLVO CAR SCANDINAVIAN MIXED

Becky Brewerton

Becky Brewerton has returned to the course where she made her Solheim Cup debut in 2007 and became the first Welsh golfer to play on Team Europe.

Halmstad Golf Club hosts the Volvo Car Scandinavian Mixed, a co-sanctioned event between the LET and DP World Tour which sees 78 men and 78 women playing for the same prize fund of US $2 million and one trophy with Henrik Stenson and Annika Sörenstam as hosts.

But coming back to the venue, the Welshwoman could only remember a few parts of the course because it looked so different.

“It is very weird being back,” she said. “When I was thinking about the course in the build-up everyone kept asking me what it was like, and I couldn’t remember much of it.

“I remembered the first and the 16th and 18th and when I came back in, I recognised some of it, but other bits it was like I had never been here. That week it looked so different and there were so many people, the whole place looked entirely different.”

Swedes Annika Sörenstam and Linda Wessberg were both also on that team with all three teeing it up again this week.

And although Europe lost that edition of the prestigious tournament, Brewerton remembers the jubilation when Wessberg beat Cristie Kerr in the singles on the final day.

“I spoke to Linda today,” continued Brewerton. “I said that I don’t remember so much of it and one of my biggest memories was her beating Cristie Kerr in the singles and everyone was so pleased for her.

“We lost that Solheim Cup, but Linda got mobbed which was quite cool actually and we always throw a good party even when we lose, and Linda was definitely the main woman that night.

“That was a nice memory and my first one playing with Laura Davies and that was probably the highlight of my career.”

Brewerton is playing alongside Swedish duo Niklas Lemke and Linnea Ström in the first two rounds at Halmstad.

An opening round of 70 (-2), which was buoyed by two birdies in her last three holes, saw the two-time LET winner make a solid start.

She said: “A decent start to the week. I had a good finish, so it feels a bit better to be honest because I was hanging on a little bit, but I managed to make a couple of birdies at the end so I’m very pleased.”

And playing alongside the men is something Brewerton relishes as it gives an opportunity to learn more about the game and be more aggressive.

With plenty of risk/reward options around the course, the 39-year-old believes she is being more daring and trying things she would not have a few years ago.

“I’m playing with Linnea and Niklas, so we had a nice little group of people following us,” she continued. “I quite enjoy playing with the guys because it is a different sort of game, but you can actually learn a bit.

“I think the aggression and going at pins and always trying to make birdies can rub off on you a little bit, so hopefully that mentality sticks.

“I think this course is set up well because we have a chance to do risk/reward and I guarantee a few years ago there was no way I would have hit driver. I would have played to a corner, but I feel like we have to try and take advantage when we have got a bit of a head start on some of the tees to hit driver and get as far down as possible just to give yourself your best chance of making birdie.

“It forces you to be a bit more like that and you know the guys are going to be like that because they have to be every week because every single one of them is so good. It’s nice to play like that and it feel normal.”

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