The 2024 Solheim Cup is almost upon us and it’s the part of the week where we now begin to predict what some of the captains’ pairings will be for the contest.
Predicting the teams is never an exact science, as captains try new variants and also have new rookies and different line-ups to previous matches. However, with this year’s Solheim Cup taking place just a year after Finca Cortesin last time out, there are some notable takeaways when you look back at how each team lined up.
So, which pairings could we see this year? The Europeans definitely seem easier to predict, with many of their players having gone through multiple Solheim Cups together.
Here are some potentials to look out for…
Celine Boutier and Georgia Hall: foursomes
Boutier and Hall have played five foursomes matches together over the past three Solheims
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Celine Boutier and Georgia Hall is a staple pairing for Team Europe, having been used six times over the last three Solheim Cups.
The duo played together three times in 2019, going 3-0, once in 2021 for half a point and twice last year with two losses.
It has to be said that neither player had their best Solheim Cup last time, so the chances of the pairing being scrapped seems unlikely in the hope that they can both find form this week.
Notably, they’ve been used five times in foursomes and just once in fourballs.
It would be a surprise not to see them line up in the foursomes.
Linn Grant and Maja Stark: foursomes
The Swedish pair played two foursomes matches together last year
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Close friends Linn Grant and Maja Stark are two of Europe’s most promising players and they both had successful Solheim Cup debuts last time out.
They were paired together twice at Finca Cortesin, and both times in foursomes. They lost to Lexi Thompson and Megan Khang in the very first match last year before getting redemption on day two with a 1up win over Danielle Kang and Andrea Lee.
This is another pairing we’d expect to see in Suzann Pettersen‘s foursomes line-up.
Linn Grant and Carlota Ciganda: fourballs
Grant and Ciganda won both of their four ball matches last year
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Grant played all five sessions last time, and she did so with two foursomes games alongside Stark and two four ball matches with Carlota Ciganda.
Grant and Ciganda won both their matches so there’s no reason not to split them up, right?
This strong pairing is surely one we’ll see again in the four balls this year.
Charley Hull and Emily Pedersen: four balls
Hull and Pedersen have one four ball win and one heavy foursomes loss together
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Charley Hull and Emily Pedersen are two of Europe’s best ball strikers, and they have been paired twice in the last two Solheims and are also in the same press conference line-up this week, which perhaps offers a clue.
They won 3&2 in four balls away in 2021 and then lost 5&4 in foursomes last year, where Hull was struggling with injury and was not one of Europe’s stand-out players.
Perhaps this is one for the four balls again.
Leona Maguire and Anna Nordqvist: foursomes
Maguire and Nordqvist played both foursomes sessions together last time out
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Leona Maguire and Anna Nordqvist played two foursomes matches together last year and narrowly lost both of them 1 down.
This is another pairing we’d expect to see in the foursomes, while Maguire and Georgia Hall could be one for the four balls, having won two four ball matches together over the last two Solheims.
Other potential European line-ups
Stark and Henseleit could be a four ball pairing this week
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Charley Hull and Georgia Hall are very close friends and they recently finished T5th at the Dow Championship, where they shot two 63s on the four ball days. That could well be a four ball pairing, especially as they’re in the same press conference group this week.
Olympic silver medallist Esther Henseleit makes her debut this year and, based on the press conferences, it could well be that she plays four ball matches alongside Maja Stark. Stark will surely play foursomes with Grant, who will surely play four ball with Ciganda.
Madelene Sagstrom is an interesting one as she has had different partners in all six of her Solheim Cup doubles matches. She is in the same press conference line-up as Albane Valenzuela this year so that seems like a potential four ball pairing.
US pairings harder to predict?
When it comes to the US side, it seems harder to predict their pairings based on their line-ups last time out and in 2021. There has been quite a lot of turnover in their side and having not won since 2017 has perhaps made the captain try new pairings each time.
We’d expect to see that again this year with the introduction of three rookies and the returning Alison Lee, who makes her first Solheim Cup appearance in nine years.
Nelly Korda and Allisen Corpuz: foursomes
Major winners Korda and Corpuz won both of their foursomes matches last year
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There were a couple of pairings we saw twice in the foursomes last year, including Nelly Korda and Allisen Corpuz.
The Major winners won both of their matches, by 1up and 5&3, so it would seem sensible for Stacy Lewis to put them together again in the foursomes.
Nelly Korda and Ally Ewing: four balls
Korda and Ewing have a win and two losses in their three matches together – with their victory coming in four balls
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Korda has also played with Ally Ewing three times over the past two Solheim Cups, with two heavy foursomes losses and one victory in four balls.
This might be a pairing we see in four balls, with the World No.1 on fire this year and Ally Ewing also having a brilliant season with five cuts made in all five Majors including three top-10s.
Lexi Thompson and Megan Khang: foursomes
Thompson and Khang went 2/2 in the foursomes games last year
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Lexi Thompson and Megan Khang were the first pairing out last year after a last-minute call from Stacy Lewis on Thursday afternoon.
It resulted in a 2&1 win over Grant and Stark, and they went on to beat Maguire and Nordqvist 1up the very next day.
Ally Ewing and Jennifer Kupcho: foursomes
Ewing and Kupcho were brilliant at the Dow Championship recently, where they finished in 2nd-place
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Ewing and Jennifer Kupcho finished 2nd in the recent Dow Championship together, where they were a combined nine-under-par in their two foursomes rounds (64/-6 in round one and 67/-3 in round three).
They were 54-hole leaders and ended one back of Ruoning Yin and Atthaya Thitikul who shot a final round 62.
Ewing played two foursomes sessions in 2021 with different partners while Kupcho played with different partners last year after previously being paired with Lizette Salas in 2021.
This seems like a very sensible one for the foursomes.
Other potential USA line-ups
Stanford standouts Lee and Zhang could well be paired together this year again
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Rose Zhang made her Solheim Cup debut last year and it was a disappointing one as she won just half a point from three matches. She only played in the four balls and partnered Megan Khang and Andrea Lee. Her and Lee are both Stanford grads so that might be one we see again.
Lilia Vu is another interesting one. The World No.2 lost all three of her doubles matches last year with three different partners. She was grouped with Sarah Schmelzel and Andrea Lee in her press conference, so taking rookie Schmelzel under her wing this week could be a possibility.
Rookie Lauren Coughlin might be a four ball player alongside Lexi Thompson based on the press conference line-up too, and the ‘rookie with an experienced player’ theory.
