GAINESVILLE, Va. – Stacy Lewis and Suzann Pettersen are both getting second turns at Solheim Cup captaincy. Lewis’ U.S. team has nine of the 12 players from her 2023 squad and Pettersen retained 10.
Among that familiarity, there has been some change, which European players have noticed in Pettersen.
“Suzann’s just been really prepared this year, so I think just making a lot of good decisions and just kind of doing her thing,” said Anna Nordqvist who is again both a vice captain and a player for Pettersen.
“I think Suzann, it’s just nice to see her competitive spirit and her making some good decisions on her own.”
Linn Grant and Maja Stark were European rookies a year ago and have also noticed a difference in Pettersen’s leadership.
“She’s putting herself, in a good way, above the players, like she really wants to guide us and show the way,” Grant said.
“I think that she was maybe a bit easier last year in the way that she kind of went in and wanted to be buddies with everyone.”
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Added Stark, “Last time she was very democratic, and she kind of told us … I think it was the Monday, she told us like who we were going to play with. Then it got a little bit switched around, and we didn’t really know what was going on sometimes.
“So, I think it’s a lot better now. She knows when to say it. She knows what’s appropriate. Yeah, she seems more comfortable this year.”
Pettersen agrees.
“Yeah, we drew a lot of great experiences from last year. I think what we learned the most is being precise. Giving quite clear messages goes a long way. Being transparent is great. But at the same time, they kind of look for somebody who can make decisions, the players. So, there’s a combination,” she said.
As for Lewis, U.S. players say they are seeing much of the same from their captain – in a good way.
“Stacy’s been awesome,” Andrea Lee said. “Honestly, I don’t feel like anything’s drastically changed from last year. She’s very levelheaded. She knows that we’re doing our own thing, we’re doing our best for our team and for ourselves out there, and she trusts us. That allows us to put a lot of faith in trust in her.”
“It’s great to see how organized she is, too,” Nelly Korda said, “so our days are planned out to a T, so we have nothing to worry about other than our business on the golf course.”
With all her preparedness, Lewis is making sure her team has anything and everything it needs to be successful.
“These girls, they want that trophy, and they want to win. They’ll talk about it occasionally, but I just think they need to enjoy themselves and they need to have fun and they need to be relaxed,” Lewis said. “From what I’ve seen out of Solheim Cups and teams that I’ve been on, the ones that are more relaxed, the ones that are having fun behind the scenes, those are the ones that I’ve been on winning teams.
“So we put a lot of emphasis in what’s going on in the team room, what’s going on in the bus. They asked for a karaoke machine; I’ll get you a karaoke machine. I don’t care.
“Literally, I’ll get whatever they need to help them play good golf.”