Solheim Cup: Predicting Team USA's Friday pairings for successful start
12/09/2024 15:58
The 2024 Solheim Cup starts on Friday morning as Team USA looks to start on a good note. Let's predict the pairings.
Welcome to Playing Through's daily ritual — Golf Talk Today.
Each day, the crew will discuss various elements of the PGA Tour, LPGA, LIV Golf, and more.
Today, I wanted to predict the Team USA pairings for Friday morning's start to the Solheim Cup at Robert Trent Jones Golf Club in Virginia.
Friday morning's format will be Foursomes. Tee times are from 7:05-7:41 a.m. EST. For those unfamiliar, Foursomes are when two players alternate shots on the same ball.
Who will Team USA captain Stacy Lewis pair so her team can start strong? The public will find out later Thursday evening at the Opening Ceremony at 4:30 p.m. EST.
So grab your coffee and breakfast and join me while I pair ladies based on who I think will play the best together and help the Americans win this first session.
Team USA Solheim Cup Roster
* Q: qualifier/ CP: captain's pick
— Nelly Korda (Q)
— Lilia Vu (Q)
— Lauren Coughlin (Q)
— Ally Ewing (Q)
— Allisen Corpuz (Q)
— Megan Khang (Q)
— Andrea Lee (Q)
— Alison Lee (Q)
— Rose Zhang (Q)
— Lexi Thompson (CP)
— Jennifer Kupcho (CP)
— Sarah Schmelzel (CP)
Now that we see the Team USA roster let's pick the four pairings for Friday morning.
— Lexi Thompson and Megan Khang
Lexi Thompson and Megan Khang were the first pairing off in 2023. They won 2 & 1 over Linn Grant and Maja Stark, so I think they would make a great opening pairing again. What resulted in a win last year should do the same in 2024.
Thompson's Swan Song will pull out all her competitive tenacity, and Khang can feed off it.
— Nelly Korda and Lilia Vu
I want to put these two together because they are two of the best in the world. It would be a good mixture with Nelly Korda's length off the tee and Lilia Vu's short game. We see Ryder Cup teams pair these massive names together, and I would love to see Lewis put these two on the same team to see what happens.
— Allisen Corpuz and Rose Zhang
Pairing these two together would be incredible to watch. Allisen Corpuz won both her matches last year with Korda, but I think she would play with the same mentality if Rose Zhang were her partner. Zhang only won half a point last year in Spain, so putting her with someone like Corpuz will only pull out her best.
— Ally Ewing and Jennifer Kupcho
Leading up to this week, these two were playing well and finished as runner-ups at the Dow Championship. Ally Ewing played in foursomes during the 2021 Solheim Cup, and Jennifer Kupcho handled different partners last year in this format. They would be great together.
Other possible pairings for foursomes at the Solheim Cup:
— Nelly Korda and Allisen Corpuz
— Rose Zhang and Megan Khang
— Lilia Vu and Sarah Schmelzel
— Rose Zhang and Andrea Lee
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Savannah Leigh Richardson is a golf staff writer for SB Nation's Playing Through. For more golf coverage, follow us @_PlayingThrough on all major social platforms. You can also follow her on Twitter @SportsGirlSL and Instagram @golf_girl_sl.
