Leona Maguire will tee off in the third match of tomorrow morning's opening session of the Solheim Cup with European captain Suzann Pettersen hinting that the 28-year-old Cavan woman could be a lynchpin player in all five sessions just as she was in her unbeaten MVP performance in the stunning away success over the Americans in Ohio two years ago.
"Leona, I mean, I just think she's the type of player you would like to keep on the course at all times," Pettersen said this week.
"She’s just that feisty. She’s just that good. As soon as those sunglasses go on, she’s in her own little bubble, and just keep her there."
It came as no surprise when Pettersen yesterday paired Ireland’s only player on the team in the opening session of foursomes with Anna Nordqvist, who is the one player that Maguire has been grouped with in all of the three practice days this week at the Finca Cortesin venue in Southern Spain.
Nordquist is a veteran of seven consecutive appearances in the matches, including the dramatic come-from-behind win at Killeen Castle in County Meath in 2011 when a then 16-year-old Maguire was part of Europe’s Junior Solheim Cup team.
The 36-year-old is a three-time major champion, most recently in the AIG Women’s Open two years ago and has an impressive points haul of 15 and a half points with a 57% winning record.
Although six feet in height, she is more a steady consistent player than a long hitter, but that fits neatly into the broadly similar playing style of Maguire and sets up ideally for the alternate shot format of foursomes which tends towards risk-averse strategising.
Maguire and Nordquist have been drawn in the third match on the course against the combined highest ranked American pairing of Nelly Korda (World No 3) and reigning US Open champion Allisen Corpuz (World No 9).
Leading out the European team will be the rookie all-Swedish pairing of Linn Grant and Maja Stark who are close friends with an unbeaten playing career as amateurs even including victory in the historically notable Sunningdale Foursomes in 2019.
They have each had stellar rises in their young professional careers, both already winners on the LPGA Tour, while Grant famously beat Henrik Stenson into second place by nine shots in the 2022 Scandanavian Mixed – a co-sanctioned event on the Ladies European and DP World Tours.
Grant and Stark will face Americans Lexi Thompson and Meghan Khang in the first match on the course at 7.10am (Irish time) on Friday morning.
They will be followed by recent Evian Championship winner Celine Boutier and 2018 British Women’s Open Champion Georgia Hall - pictured above - who will be up against Americans Danielle Kang and Andrea Lee (7.22am).
That will be followed by the Maguire/Nordqvist versus Korda/Corpuz duel (7.34am) with the anchor match (7.46am) involving England’s Charley Hull and Denmark’s Emily Pedersen for Europe against Ally Ewing and Cheyenne Knight for the USA.
Previous Solheim Cups have usually followed the line that Europe are underdogs and the USA are favourites and although the average world ranking of the American team is 24.42 against 42.58 for the home team, can Europe truly again claim to be underdogs with four victories in the last six matches?
European captain Suzann Pettersen isn’t pretending she can claim the lower ground this time around admitting: "It’s almost scary to say, but I think on paper we have a really solid top eight."
But of course golf isn’t played on paper. Nor is this Solheim Cup played on a straightforward 'point and hit’ golf course that’s easy to get to grips with without a fair bit of prior knowledge, so home advantage is a real factor.
Finca Cortesin is chiselled into the side of the Andalucian Hills and has many obvious sharp undulations, but also quite a few subtle bewildering sloping breaks against the grain of the land that can defy the eye especially on the large heavily contoured greens.
Statistics can be used to justify a case to be made that either team is either favourite or underdog, which likely means that we’re in for a potential close encounter of the absorbing kind, perhaps even as riveting as the 2019 European victory in Scotland which was as just about as heart-stopping or heart-thumping a spectacle (depending on your allegiance) as it gets in team golf.
That was the match with the ‘mic drop’ finish by current non-playing European captain Suzann Pettersen who holed from 7 feet for the critical winning point on the final green in the last match for a 14.5 to 13.5 victory and then promptly announced her retirement.
There have been few, if any, more gritty competitors in Solheim Cup history as a player than the 42-year-old Norwegian two-time major champion who lies fourth on the all-time list of European point scorers with 21.
In her first of at least two terms as captain - she will lead Europe again next year in Gainesville, Virginia - she will bring a sharp edged charisma to the team which will be in contrast to her easy-going but still hugely successful predecessor Catriona Matthew.
The question is will Pettersen's undoubtedly strong line-up, with all of eight players from the world's top 40, rally to her leadership and deliver an unprecedented third European Solheim Cup success in a row?
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