GLENEAGLES, Perthshire, Scotland | Match play is personal. It’s not me against the field; it's me against you. Or me and my partner against you and your partner. It's not 18 holes; it's 28 matches, each a new struggle. And team match play is simply bonkers. That excitement returns Friday as the Solheim Cup reignites the biennial struggle between the United States and Europe.
And this part of Scotland knows all about struggle. William Wallace, a Scottish independence leader, defeated the English in the Battle of Stirling Bridge in 1297 not far from the Gleneagles course. And if Mel Gibson added a little gold to the blue face paint he wore as Wallace in the film Braveheart, he’d fit right in with the home crowd pulling for Europe.
The 16th Solheim Cup kicks off with foursomes play Friday morning and if there was any question about how much faith U.S. captain Juli Inkster has in her six Solheim Cup rookies, she answered that soundly by playing five of them in the opening session.
In the first match, Carlota Ciganda and Bronte Law take on veteran Morgan Pressel and Marina Alex, one of the American rookies. They are followed by Georgia Hall and Celine Boutier against Lexi Thompson, who hits greens, and Brittany Altomare, who makes putts.
In 2013, when Europe took six rookies on the road to Colorado and won, two of those rookies were Caroline Masson and Jodi Ewart Shadoff. Now they are mainstays for Europe, and they play Jessica and Nelly Korda in the first-ever pairing of sisters in the Solheim Cup in match three.
The final match is Charley Hull and Azahara Munoz against the all-rookie pairing of Megan Khang and Annie Park.
"I wanted to get my rookies out there right away," Inkster said Thursday. "If you are good enough to be on the team, you are good enough to play."
The Americans, who lead the series 10-5, are trying for their third win in a row, which would make Inkster the only captain to lead her team to victory three times. Europe is trying to win for the third time in Scotland.
Part of Inkster's strategy is that familiarity breeds success. She’s had the same assistant captains all three times – Nancy Lopez, Pat Hurst and Wendy Ward – and has kept things the same right down to the cart drivers who ferry staff and team members around.
"Juli is a great captain," Lopez, who played in the first Solheim Cup in 1990 and was the winning captain in 2005, said Thursday. "She still plays a lot of LPGA events and knows the players. Plus Juli, Pat and I are all moms. We know how to give mom hugs and sometimes these girls need that."
Lopez has seen the Solheim Cup grow from an event with a questionable future into one of the most anticipated competitions in sports - "Every American who makes it to the LPGA wants to play Solheim Cup," she said – and she is a huge fan of match play and of team golf.
"Match play is fun," Lopez added. "You can be much more aggressive and it's fun to be more aggressive. You can try to pull off shots because if you miss it only costs you one hole."
As for what the rookies – three for Europe in addition to the six for the United States – will go through, Lopez, who had already won 43 LPGA events and three major championships before that first Solheim Cup at Lake Nona in Florida, remembers well her feelings on the first tee.
"I was in the first group on the first day of the first Solheim Cup," Lopez said. "Pat Bradley and I were playing Laura Davies and Alison Nicholas. The pressure we felt representing our country on a team was enormous. My heart was beating out of my chest. It was alternate shot and neither of us wanted to hit first."
The U.S. lost that match 2 and 1 but went on to take 11 of the next 12 matches on its way to victory by 11½ points to 4½.
"The event has grown so much, and the competition has gotten fiercer," Lopez says. "We are all friends, but our friendship goes away Solheim Cup week. Sunday night we are friends again, but there is a coldness during the week. It’s a fun rivalry, a friendly rivalry for the fans. They shout at each other, but with a wink."
As for her assessment of the American team, Lopez says: "The rookies, the younger players, are playing really well right now. I’m confident."
There is a lot of confidence on the other side as well as Europe has the twin motivations of having lost twice in a row and being made the underdog by the betting parlors in Scotland.
That’s where the fact that match play is personal really makes a difference. Not only is it me and my partner against you and your partner, it is our flag against yours.
On a week when an individual sport becomes a team game, the pressure takes on an uncommon intensity. That's why the Solheim Cup has a special place in the hearts of all those lucky enough to play it as well as those fortunate enough to watch it
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