United States captain Stacy Lewis has five rookies on her team this week, but she went with experience to kick off the 2023 Solheim Cup in Spain on Friday.

The U.S. will hit the first tee shots of the event in Foursomes, and Lewis went with Solheim Cup veterans Lexi Thompson and Megan Khang as her first pairing.

Thompson was an automatic qualifier despite slipping to 26th in the Rolex Rankings and missing seven of her past 11 cuts, but Lewis said she likes what she has seen out of the former major champion ahead of her sixth Solheim Cup. Khang, who won the Portland Classic earlier this month, is in her third Solheim Cup.

“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,” Lewis said. “Lexi has looked unbelievable this week and that was part of reason that she’s in there. I think she’s got the most experience on our team, and I wanted her to go out there and have that first tee shot.

“I think she’s earned it.”

European captain Suzann Pettersen took a distinctly different approach, as the Europeans will open with the Swedish duo of Linn Grant and Maja Start, two of the team’s three rookies.

“I think I’ve almost had ’em set first out for a year now, literally, since they both played in Europe,” Pettersen said. “I just thought it would be so — such a cool experience for them to lead off here in Spain.

“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.”

Lewis will get three of her rookies involved in the first session, with Andrea Lee, Allisen Corpuz and Cheyenne Knight each paired with a Solheim Cup veteran. Europe’s third rookie, Gemma Dryburgh, is not slated to play in the morning.

FRIDAY FOURSOMES
(All times local in Spain)
8:10 a.m.: Lexi Thompson/Megan Khang vs. Linn Grant/Maja Stark
8:22 a.m.: Danielle Kang/Andrea Lee vs. Celine Boutier/Georgia Hall
8:34 a.m.: Nelly Korda/Allisen Corpuz vs. Leona Maguire/Anna Nordqvist
8:46 a.m.: Ally Ewing/Cheyenne Knight vs. Charley Hull/Emily Kristine Pedersen

While Lewis said each of her 12 players will see action Friday, Pettersen is taking a wait-and-see approach before committing to her Fourball pairings.

“We don’t quite know yet what the Friday afternoon looks like. We’ll see how the morning goes and kind of we’ll take it from there. We have a plan A, B, C and D,” Pettersen said laughing. “But I mean, as a player, you would love to get out there and play, for sure.”

One of the surprises from the opening session was the absence of Lilia Vu from Lewis’ pairings. The top-ranked player on either side at No. 2 in the Rolex Rankings, Vu has a pair of majors among her three wins this year.

“I don’t see anybody playing all five sessions. So they all needed some rest at some point and just wanted to give her the morning to just kind of regroup and get herself together,” Lewis said.

“She somewhat asked for it a little bit, somewhat didn’t. It was kind of my idea. You’re going to see her a lot, other than that first session. You don’t win two majors and sit on the sideline for very long.”

COMPETITION SCHEDULE
(All times local in Spain)
Friday:
Foursomes – 8:10-8:46 a.m. (Four matches, 12-minute tee-off intervals)
Fourball – 1:40-2:25 p.m. (Four matches, 15-minute tee-off intervals)

Saturday:
Foursomes – 8:10-8:46 a.m. (Four matches, 12-minute tee-off intervals)
Fourball – 1:40-2:25 p.m. (Four matches, 15-minute tee-off intervals

Sunday:
Singles – 11:10 a.m.-1:22 p.m. (12 matches, 12-minute tee-off intervals)

–Field Level Media

Both captains have acknowledged that the United States is the underdog entering this week’s Solheim Cup.

The Europeans are the two-time defending champions as they seek a three-peat on home soil in Spain. They also have a significant edge in experience, averaging 28.25 years of age to the Americans’ 25.83.

Among the 12-player rosters, Europe has three rookies and a combined 62-43-13 Solheim Cup record. By comparison the U.S. is a combined 24-26-3 in past Cups and have five rookies on their roster.

“Our rookies also have three major championships,” said Nelly Korda, herself a major champion.

While United States captain Stacy Lewis acknowledged the Europeans are the favorites this week, some of her veteran players are also reminding people that the Americans have impressive resumes in their own right.

Korda has been ranked No. 1 multiple times in her young career. She’s currently No. 3, with the top 10 also including USA teammates Lilia Vu (No. 2) and Allisen Corpuz (No. 9). Corpuz won this year’s U.S. Women’s Open, while Vu captured the first major of the year at the Chevron Championship.

They are two of Lewis’ five rookies. Another, Rose Zhang, won her first career start as a pro in June and followed it up with top-10s in each of the next three majors. Cheyenne Knight has also won this year, while Andrea Lee enters the Solheim Cup with no worse than a T13 in her past five starts.

“I joke that our rookies aren’t really rookies,” Megan Khang said ahead of her third Solheim Cup. “I think both teams are stacked very well. We have a little more rookies on our team, but it’s going to be a good week to watch some golf.”

The American team is also leaning heavily on the wealth of experience Lewis has compiled among her assistants. Natalie Gulbis, Morgan Pressel and Angela Stanford are all Solheim Cup veterans who will be walking with the groups along the hilly terrain at Finca Cortesin.

“Morgan came out and walked with Angel (Yin) and Lexi (Thompson) and me,” Khang said after Thursday’s practice round. “There were some missed shots we hit, and Morgan is right there telling us, like, ‘Hey, it’s OK. … Let’s hit another one. Let’s do this. Let’s do that.’ Telling us and reassuring us that it’s OK today to have these missed shots.

“Missed shots are going to happen. Knowing that your assistant captain, your partner and your captain, your whole entire team is going to be like, ‘Hey, we’re all trying our best.’ I think that’s definitely a huge part in this environment and team golf that we don’t get to play often.”

Khang said the U.S. team is working its way through jet lag since arriving in Spain on Sunday, but bonding over bus rides and team meals.

“We brought a speaker on the bus and kind of pumped each other up to like get us in a mood, like, ‘Hey, we’re in Spain, we are here representing our country being, let’s get it going,” she said. “So, just kind of like bringing the mood up, letting everyone know that we are here to crush it out here and just do our best and have fun while we’re doing it.

“And let’s kind of keep the positive energy going from the start and kind of finish out the week that way.”

–Field Level Media