It’s been two years of waiting, but the 2023 Solheim Cup is finally here. Two 12-player teams from the U.S. and Europe, led by LPGA legends Stacy Lewis and Suzann Pettersen will battle it out over three days of riveting competition – two days of foursome and fourball matches and a final day of head-to-head singles matches – for the crystal trophy and the honor of winning for their respective countries.
Three-Peat
The Solheim Cup has long been dominated by the United States, with the Americans holding a 10-7 historical edge over Team Europe, but this year the competition is closer than ever. En route to those 10 victories, the Americans have successfully won three straight Solheim Cups twice, with consecutive wins from 1994 to 1998 and from 2005 to 2009. However, the U.S. squad hasn’t touched the crystal trophy since 2017, and with back-to-back wins in 2019 and 2021, the Europeans have a chance for their first-ever three-peat this week. With several members returning from those two winning teams, Team Europe has all the momentum. Captain Pettersen put the exclamation mark on the European win at Gleneagles in 2019, clinching the 14 1/2 to 13 1/2 victory with that famous final birdie putt before announcing her retirement. Major champions Celine Boutier and Georgia Hall, who are competing in Spain this week, both went 4-0-0 that year. In 2021, team Europe found just its second victory ever on American soil, led by a 4-0-1 performance from Leona Maguire in her Solheim Cup debut. The first Irishwoman to compete in the international competition, Maguire will return this year as a two-time LPGA Tour winner after victories at the 2022 LPGA Drive On Championship and the 2023 Meijer LPGA Classic for Simply Give. The Americans will have their work cut out for them trying to keep the Europeans from a third consecutive Solheim Cup victory, especially on foreign soil as the U.S. has only won three times in Europe since the Cup’s inception.
Elite Eight
Though both the Europeans and the Americans can claim plenty of experience, Solheim Cup rookies will be ever-present at Finca Cortesin this week. There are three rookies on the European Team and a whopping five on the U.S. Team for a total of eight players making their Solheim Cup debuts this year. Gemma Dryburgh, Linn Grant and Maja Stark will be donning blue and yellow for the first time this week while Allisen Corpuz, Cheyenne Knight, Andrea Lee, Lilia Vu and Rose Zhang will suit up in red,…
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