[PHOTO: Gregory Shamus]
At the very least, this Solheim Cup will be much more walkable than last year. While the teams have only seen a different nine each at Robert Trent Jones Golf Club, every player that came to the media centre on Tuesday (US time) laughed at how much easier getting around the course is compared to the hilly Finca Cortesin nestled among the Estepona Mountains in Andalucia, Spain, a year ago.
Even after only two days at the American venue of the back-to-back Solheim match-ups, European Solheim captain Suzann Pettersen saw enough to know that she believes her team would succeed at Robert Trent Jones as they look to keep the cup for the fourth consecutive time.
“It’s a course that would definitely suit my eye if I were to play,” Pettersen said, “And I think it’s the same kind of opinion from a lot of the players on our team.”
The flatter Robert Trent Jones course gives players the feeling that even though its listed distance is 6,741 yards (6,164 metres), 400 yards longer than the 6,316-yard set up in Spain, the track is playing shorter thanks to fewer hills. With the lush bentgrass at the Virginia course giving softer conditions than the baked Bermuda at Finca Cortesin, making it easier to control the ball, players feel there are plenty of scoring opportunities.
“I get a really nice feeling when I’m playing,” Linn Grant said ahead of her second Solheim appearance. “You feel like you can play really well here. For the production and the matches and everything, I feel like it’s going to be a really good week for everyone. There’s going to be a lot of birdies. Like at the end of the day, we just want to go out and play really good golf, and I think that’s very possible here.”
Nelly Korda agreed with Grant that the course will generate a lot of birdies. The scoring chances go a bit against US Solheim captain Stacy Lewis’s wishes, as she tried to make the course have longer clubs into the greens for the matches thanks to what her analytics analyst Justin Ray pointed out is her team’s comparative advantage in ball-striking. Robert Trent Jones Golf Club still presents challenging sightlines with 12 holes having bunkers in play off the tee. Five of those, holes one, three, six, 13, and 15, are lengthy par 4s between 420 and 430 yards.
“You get some really long bunker shots here,” Maja Stark explained. “There’s a lot of bunkers on the back nine which are very strategically placed.”
But Lewis got only some of her requests to make missing the fairway as penalising as possible. Pettersen shared that the LPGA cut the rough over the weekend, lowering the penalty for missing the fairway.
“Had it been a little bit higher rough, maybe we would have been more at advantage of fairways hit, but now I think it just opened up for bombers,” Pettersen explained.
That’s an edge for the Europeans, who have the five longest drivers at the Solheim who are all in the top 20 in LPGA average driving distance: Madelene Sagstrom (272.8 yards), Emily Kristine Pedersen (272.0 yards), Charley Hull (271.3 yards) and Grant (270.9 yards). Jennifer Kupcho, 21st in average driving distance (268.4 yards), is the longest American off the tee.
The Americans’ identified ball-striking edge will still come into play in navigating the course’s defence in its undulating putting surfaces. Megan Khang noticed the varying tiers on the large, 6,000 square-foot average greens demand target-style precision on approach shots. A small miss can turn into a challenging two-putt.
“If you’re kind of on the wrong side of those pockets, there are going to be some tough putts out there,” Khang explained. “So it looks like your ball-striking is really going to have to be on point.”
Khang, still winless in the Solheim entering her fourth appearance, found appealing the fact that the men’s Presidents Cup was held at this course four times and won it four times. Given the US team is at home, its player are hoping the course can similarly go its way to end Europe’s run of three straight Solheim Cup victories (or non-losses, after the 14-all tie last September).
“Both golf courses are amazing, and we’re very happy to be here playing on these beautiful courses,” Khang said. “But we’re hoping we have a little more luck here.”
