We have the pandemic to thank for the Solheim Cup and Ryder Cup being contested in the same year and back-to-back. If you love team competition and golf then this fall is your time to enjoy hours and hours of match play from across the pond.
Dates for each Cup: The official days of competition run Friday through Sunday.
Solheim Cup Competition days: Friday, September 22 – Saturday, September 23 – Sunday, September 24. Golf Channel coverage is from 2 am to 1 pm on Friday and Saturday and 5 am to 11 am on Sunday.
Ryder Cup Competition days: Friday, September 29 – Saturday, September 30 – Sunday, Oct 1. The Ryder Cup gets more TV coverage (including the Junior Ryder Cup and opening ceremony on Thursday). You can find all the times on How to Watch the Ryder Cup on the website.
I assume you will also be able to see replays on YouTube.
Note: When the 2020 Ryder Cup was moved to 2021 (due to Covid), it meant that the Ryder Cup would now be played on “odd” years and therefore be the same year as the Solheim Cup. The LPGA and LET decided to move from their traditional odd years to even so that do not have to “complete” every year with the Ryder Cup. They could not move the 2023 event so their only solution was to not wait 2 years to wait for the next Solheim Cup so there will be a 2024 Solheim cup, in the USA.
My thought was that it would be amazing if the men’s and women’s tours could work together to have one big “match play week” where they combine the events and also add some mixed match events into the event.
If you are interested in a bit of insight, read the overviews below.
SOLHEIM CUP OVERVIEW
The Solheim cup is much “younger” than the Ryder Cup since the first competition was in 1990. The record stands with the USA 10 wins and Europe 7 wins. Team Europe has won the last two cups.
The Solheim Cup is being contested in Andalucia, Spain at Finca Cortesin. The European Captain is Suzanne Petterson and the USA Captain is Stacy Lewis. Details can be found on the Solheim Cup website but let’s look at the players.
Team USA players: I would say that there were no really big surprises in the captain picks from Lewis. Rose Zhang is the new star on the LPGA (winning her first professional tournament her first week on the LPGA) and as a recent college graduate she has played a lot of match play. The other captain picks were all next in qualifying points.
The players earned points starting at the Portland Classic in 2021. The USA has the recent number one ranked player, Lilia Vu and the US Open Champion in Allisen Curpuz. Rose Zang is the new star on the LPGA and has a steller match play record from college. Watching the LPGA tournaments the last few weeks it appears most players are coming into Solheim in great form. For example, Megan Kang just won her first tournament on tour (the Canadian Open). The two players that are struggling are Jennifer Kupcho and Lexi Thompson. In fact, Lexi Thompson has had seven missed cuts in her last 9 tournaments and her best showing was a T31 at the Founders Cup in May. She is on the team because of all the Solheim cup points she accumulated in 2021. But both Kupcho and Thompson love match play and so hopefully they will rise to the occasion.
- Lilia (automatic qualifier)
- Nelly Korda (automatic qualifier)
- Allisen Corpuz (automatic qualifier)
- Megan Kang (automatic qualifier)
- Jennifer Kupcho (automatic qualifier)
- Danielle Kang (automatic qualifier)
- Lexi Thompson (automatic qualifier)
- Andrea Lee (automatic qualifier)
- Rose Zhang (captain’s pick)
- Alley Ewing (captain’s pick)
- Angel Yin (captain’s pick)
- Cheyenne Knight (captain’s pick)
Team Europe players: Suzanne Petersen has stated this is the best European team ever and that’s a big statement given the Europeans have won the last two Solheim Cups. Only time will tell if it is the best team “ever” but she does have a stellar list of players. Celine Boutier (#4 in the world who won back-to-back at Evian Championship and the Scottish Open), Charley Hull with an 11-5-3 Solheim Cup Record and Leona McGuire with a 4-0-1 record from 2021. It is interesting that there are five swedes on her team and three of them were captains picks. The big surprise was Carolina Hedwall because she’s not highly ranked but she is a fierce competitor and did well in past Solheim cups.
- Celine Boutier (automatic qualifier)
- Marja Stark (automatic qualifier)
- Charlie Hull (automatic qualifier)
- Leona McGuire (automatic qualifier)
- Georgia Hall (automatic qualifier)
- Linn Grant (automatic qualifier)
- Carlota Ciganda (automatic qualifier)
- Anna Nordquist (automatic qualifier)
- Madelene Sagstrom (captain’s pick)
- Gemma Dryburgh (captain’s pick)
- Emily Pedersen (captain’s pick)
- Carolina Hedwall (captain’s pick)
Morning Foursomes
The Morning Foursomes for Friday were announced today (Thursday) at the opening ceremony. I am a bit surprised to see Lexi going out first; and Rose Zhang, Lilia Vu are not playing. I’m not sure what Stacey Lewis is thinking. Let’s hope she sees something in the player stats that made these morning pairings make sense. On the European side, Suzanne Petterson has stacked her foursomes with Lin Grant, Celine Boutier, Leona Maguire, and Charley Hull.
RYDER CUP OVERVIEW
The Ryder Cup was first played in 1927 and the record stands as USA 27 wins and Europe 14 wins. If you love golf history you can read about every Ryder Cup on the Ryder Cup Website.
The Ryder Cup is being contested in Rome, Italy at the Marco Simone Golf & Country Club. The European Captain is Luke Donald and the USA Captain is Zach Johnson. Details can be found on the Ryder Cup Website but, as we did with the Solheim Cup, let’s look at the players.
Team USA Players: If you are a golf fan you know the most controversial pick was Justin Thompas (JT). He has played well below his normal standards this year but was picked because of his stellar match play record. Hopefully, JT plays well but I can’t imagine the pressure he must feel given so many feel he did not deserve to be on this team.
- Scottie Scheffler (automatic qualifier)
- Max Homa (automatic qualifier)
- Brian Harman (automatic qualifier)
- Patrick Cantlay (automatic qualifier)
- Wyndham Clark (automatic qualifier)
- Xander Schauffele (automatic qualifier)
- Brooks Keopka (captains pick)
- Sam Shepard (captain’s pick)
- Rickie Fowler (captain’s pick)
- Collin Morikawa (captain’s pick)
- Jordan Spieth (captain’s pick)
- Justin Thomas (captain’s pick)
Team Europe Players: The European team is solid and they have a few players that are coming into this Ryder Cup is exceptional form. There is Viktor Hovland who won the FedEx Cup and Ludvig Aberg who, like Rose Zhang, was a college star that came on tour and won quickly. I think the United States will face a very tough European team.
- Viktor Hovland (automatic qualifier)
- Rory McIIroy (automatic qualifier)
- Jon Rahm (automatic qualifier)
- Matt Fitzpatrick (automatic qualifier)
- Tyrrell Hatton (automatic qualifier)
- Robert MacIntyre (automatic qualifier)
- Ludvig Aberg (captain’s pick)
- Tommy Fleetwood (captain’s pick)
- Nicolai Højgaard (captain’s pick)
- Shane Lowry (captain’s pick)
- Justin Rose (captain’s pick)
- Sepp Straka (captain’s pick)
So grab your cup of morning coffee (or tea, in my case) and sit back and enjoy the golf. Hopefully the matches will be great battles and make each cup exciting and closely contested.
Golf Expectations 