When it comes to pairings at the Solheim Cup, captains Pat Hurst and Catriona Matthew obviously have the final say, but they’re getting input from their assistants and the players to help in the decision-making. As we saw at Gleneagles in 2019, one of the best pairings came from the players: In Scotland, Americans Jessica and Nelly Korda convinced captain Juli Inkster to let them to play together. It paid off—the two were dominant in foursomes, winning their two matches by margins of 6 and 4 and 6 and 5. Hurst said that the sisters once again asked to play together this week at Inverness Club. With a record like that, how could she say no? They’re playing against Mel Reid and Leona Maguire in foursomes (alternate shot) on Saturday morning.
Here are the pairings for Saturday morning’s opening session, with Team Europe listed first as the defending champions (all times are Eastern):
7:35 a.m.: Anna Nordqvist/Matilda Castren vs. Danielle Kang/Austin Ernst
7:47 a.m.: Celine Boutier/Georgia Hall vs. Ally Ewing/Megan Khang
7:59 a.m.: Mel Reid/Leona Maguire vs. Nelly Korda/Jessica Korda
8:11 a.m.: Charley Hull/Emily Kristine Pederson vs. Lexi Thompson/Brittany Altomare
Another powerful pairing from Gleneagles is together again: Europe’s Georgia Hall and Celine Boutier. The duo won all three of the matches they played together, and then both went on to win their singles matches.
“Obviously Celine and Georgia did so well at Gleneagles,” Matthew said. “That was an obvious one that we were going to certainly try out and put out again this time.”
None of Team USA’s three rookies are playing in the morning matches, with Hurst citing the format as the reason.
“Alternate shot for us is usually the more difficult format, or the foursomes, so we want to put out people who are feeling a little bit more comfortable and not just kind of throw them out there kind of not knowing how they’re going to do and what to expect,” Hurst said. “That’s why we went with more veterans out there.”
Team Europe has two rookies going out in the morning (Maguire and Pederson). Captain Matthew isn’t worried about their lack of Solheim Cup experience.
“I think for us obviously Matilda has been playing really well this year, winning the [LPGA] Mediheal and winning on the LET knowing she had to do that to be part of the Solheim Cup. I think that’s a really strong pairing. And we have great confidence in her,” Matthew said. “And Leona, again, another player on our team who’s been playing really well on the LPGA. Really just kind of trots out the results every week. Again, we have kind of every confidence in them to keep going out and doing what they’ve been doing week in, week out on tour.”
Coverage starts at 7:30 a.m. ET on Golf Channel, with streaming also available on Golfchannel.com and the NBC Sports app.