[PHOTO: Scott Taetsch]
The US Solheim Cup team is in unprecedented territory. The Americans have not won the biennial matchplay event since 2017, its longest streak without holding the Solheim Cup. Just two players on the roster have played for winning teams (Lexi Thompson and Alison Lee), and they each discussed their dwindling time left playing professional golf this week. If the US side doesn’t win at Robert Trent Jones Golf Club this week, the Americans could go to the Netherlands in 2026 trying to snap an almost decade-long winless streak with no players potentially having ever won a Solheim Cup.
Those worrisome circumstances present stakes the Americans haven’t faced before. But at least with the public, members of the US team aren’t showing that they feel burdened by a record winless streak ahead of one of the most crucial Solheim Cups they have faced.
“Pressure-wise, I don’t know,” US Solheim Cup captain Stacy Lewis during her Wednesday press conference. “If we win or we lose… if we win, we stop the streak. If we lose, the streak keeps going. I don’t know. I mean, I would love to stop it, don’t get me wrong, but I don’t see it as pressure. I don’t think they feel pressure. They don’t, trust me.”
Lewis started shaping her team’s view of this year’s Solheim Cup by presenting a tone-setting message of “unfinished business” at the AIG Women’s Open once the 12 American Solheim Cup players were finalised. The US captain handed out T-shirts with the motto printed out, which her players have been wearing in the team room, driving home that their primary focus should be redeeming last year’s close finish. The concept percolated in Lewis’s mind nearly as soon as last year’s Solheim Cup settled in a 14-all tie, waving her hands at her press conference at how she felt unresolved after the match at Finca Cortesin.
“Like, that’s it?” Lewis questioned. “That’s the way this thing is going to end? It just kind of naturally came to me.”
The “unfinished business” slogan also has been a security blanket phrase for the American team to lean on in press conferences. When discussing what pressure they might feel, the players use the motto to focus their message on the task at hand. Any mentions of pressure from the American side concentrated on handling the nerves of the competition rather than dwelling on any broader stakes for the US team.
Nelly Korda, the world No.1 who is still searching for an elusive first Solheim Cup team win in what will be her fourth start, merely said, “We [have] got some unfinished business.” Megan Khang, a three-time Solheim Cup veteran who is one of the louder voices in the American team room, focused on the team’s hunger thanks to the bad taste last year’s matches left in her mouth. Andrea Lee, who made her Solheim Cup debut last year, is trying to shape the chance to win for the first time in seven years as if there’s nothing to lose.
“I personally don’t feel too much pressure,” Lee said. “I feel like this year we kind of have to go into it with an underdog mentality almost, like there’s nothing to lose.”
Lewis focused on building camaraderie in the team room to continue lowering the pressure, believing that Solheim Cup teams that win often have the most fun together. Reaffirming that message are new assistant captains Brittany Lincicome and Paula Creamer, decorated Solheim veterans whom the captain brought on to have more winning DNA into her team room.
Take an inside look at the team room with @megan_khang1023 and @talley_emma 🤪 🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/vIPpx6U09w
— Solheim Cup U.S. Team 🇺🇸 (@SolheimCupUSA) September 8, 2024
The Americans have created plenty of team-building moments over the week, Lewis taking her 12 players sightseeing in Washington DC on Monday along with meeting multiple generals at the Pentagon and former US president Barack Obama at their team dinner. They have done more funny social content, such as having each player sign their first Instagram photos. At the team’s request, Lewis fetched a karaoke machine, hoping that enjoying themselves while turning up the music.
“These girls, they want that trophy, and they want to win,” Lewis said. “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’s tone on a potential loss further softens the stakes. Should the US team not win, she knows the Americans, with a 10-7-1 record, will eventually hoist the Solheim Cup again.
“At some point they’re going to win one and at some point they’re going to get over the hump, just the odds of it,” Lewis said.
Of course, Lewis hopes that some point winds up being this Sunday in Virginia.
