EUROPE’S SOLHEIM CUP Captain Suzann Pettersen, insisted she had no regrets following Europe’s Solheim Cup defeat to the United States and declined to reveal why Leona Maguire played just twice in Virginia.
Maguire admitted it had been a “bitter pill to swallow” to be left out of three sessions after playing all 10 in her first two appearances in the biennial contest, winning seven and a half points in the process.
“I’ve never lived my life regretting any decisions,” Pettersen said. “You’d rather play with your gut feel and your heart. Sometimes you get outplayed.
“There was a reason why Leona and the line-up in the back was what it was. We know what they’re capable of.
“It’s a 12-woman team and it’s always going to be hard to do the pairings. Sometimes you get it right, sometimes you get outplayed.
“Maybe we could have played other players that maybe could have faced different opponents that could have changed the outcome.
“You can always look back, but at the same time I don’t think we as a team have any regrets of what we did.”
Pressed as to why Maguire was left out of Saturday’s play, Pettersen would only say: “It’s extremely difficult to sit any players on this team. The way it turned out, that’s how it turned out.”
After she held up her end by winning her game, Maguire told broadcasters, “I’ve been playing really great golf all week in practice, and it was a bitter pill to swallow to be sat out for as many sessions as I was.
“But I thought I got a point to prove today. She [Pettersen] didn’t give much reason, to be honest. The feeling I got was that I was a little bit too short and didn’t make enough birdies, but I think I showed today there’s more than one way to skin a cat, and I think I made plenty of birdies today.
“Captain’s decision. I’m a team player, and all I could do today was come out and win my point, and that’s what I did. It’s a Solheim Cup and I don’t need any extra motivation to go out and try to win my point, but yeah, there probably was a little bit extra there. I’m not going to lie!”
Pettersen declined to say if she would captain the side in 2026 if offered the role, with two of her assistant captains – Mel Reid and Anna Nordqvist – among the likely candidates to succeed the Norwegian.
“I’ve done my best. I’ve tried my heart out and I’ve tried to pass on the values that I picked up from my previous captains, from my previous teams that I’ve been on,” Pettersen added.
“I think we have a great culture on the European side and it’s been nice kind of helping, recruiting new monsters into this team.
“We have Albane (Valezuela), Esther (Henseleit), we have people coming from behind who’s ready to take on these big tasks, these big challenges, and I’m really proud of that.”
Victorious United States captain Stacy Lewis relied heavily on statistical analysis in deciding her pairings and was delighted to see that approach pay off following last year’s frustrating 14-14 tie in Spain.
“I loved the pairings that we came up with to start the week, and then you just have to hope that the right people play well to make those pairings work,” Lewis said.
