Suzann Pettersen and Stacy Lewis have announced their pairings for the first morning of the 2023 Solheim Cup.
Having the honour of kicking off for Team Europe at 8.10 am (local time) in the foursomes is an all-rookie pairing with Linn Grant and Maja Stark making their Solheim Cup debuts in style.
The pair will get their first taste of competition and they will face Lexi Thompson and Megan Khang in the morning session.
Speaking of her decision to pair the Swedes together, Pettersen said: “They have been asking for it, so here they go, pretty much, but they’re two great friends. They’ve obviously played a lot together through the juniors, so know each other really well, and they had a big desire to play, so I’m just going to let them.
“First of all, I’ve talked a lot to them. I mean I’ve almost had them set first out for a year now, literally, since they both played in Europe. I just thought it would be such a cool experience for them to lead off here in Spain.
“And then I did see an interview with Maja in Evian where she had a walk-and-talk. I don’t remember who, but she said I would be stupid if I didn’t play Linn and Maja, so I thought, why not.”
Next up for the Europeans at 8.22 am, there is a familiar pairing with France’s Celine Boutier alongside England’s Georgia Hall.
The duo is undefeated having played together in the past two editions of the Solheim Cup and they will play against Danielle Kang and Andrea Lee.
Match number three at 8.34 am sees Ireland’s Leona Maguire and Sweden’s Anna Nordqvist go up against Nelly Korda and Allisen Corpuz.
While the final match of the morning will tee it up at 8.46 am and that will be England’s Charley Hull and Denmark’s Emily Kristine Pedersen going toe-to-toe Ally Ewing and Cheyenne Knight.
“I feel like I’ve had these four pairings down on paper for quite a few months now. It was more like in what order do you play them,” explained Pettersen.
“Both teams this year, I mean, we have so many great players. There are only so many that gets to play each session. It’s great to have both experience and rookies out there getting to kind of get the hang of it, get the feel, and let them play.
“I want the players to be part of every decision that we make this week. I’ve been very transparent. I wanted players to kind of take ownership to the decisions we take. I think the more they feel a part of it, the better they will be for the week and kind of the better they will play. It’s easy for them to prepare.”
While Lewis commenting on her pairings said: “For me, I wanted to get off to a good start. I wanted to get out four really good pairings and that’s kind of been my focus this whole time.
“It was more about who matched up together versus even, I didn’t even look at who was sitting, to be honest. I wasn’t even worried about who was sitting. It was more just what are my best four options.”
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