2024 Solheim Cup Friday morning foursomes scores, results as U.S. hosts Europe

The four rookies all went out in the morning session.

GAINESVILLE, Va. – The 2024 Solheim Cup got underway Friday morning at Robert Trent Jones Golf Club with foursomes and the Americans scored three big wins to kick off the day.

Last year, the U.S. swept the morning foursomes session for the first time history. Europe led only four holes the entire session. The cup ultimately ended in its first-ever tie, with Europe retaining. The U.S. holds a 10-7-1 overall lead.

There are a total of four rookies in this year’s cup and all of them went out in Friday morning foursomes. Switzerland’s Albane Valenzuela was paired with Celine Boutier for Europe while Sarah Schemzel went go out with World No. 2 Lilia Vu. Virginia’s own Lauren Coughlin was paired with Rose Zhang.

Solheim Cup: Scoreboard, teams | Photos | Morning scores

Lexi Thompson, who hit the first shot at last year’s cup, sat out the morning session. She is competing in what might be her final Solheim Cup.

Scores from Friday foursomes at the 19th Solheim Cup

Nelly Korda/Allisen Corpuz def. Esther Henseleit/Charley Hull, 3 and 2

Rose Zhang/Lauren Coughlin def. Celine Boutier/Albane Valenzuela, 3 and 2

Lilia Vu/Sarah Schmelzel def. Linn Grant/Carlota Ciganda, 3 and 2

Emily Pedersen/Maja Stark def. Ally Ewing/Jennifer Kupcho, 2 up

Who sat out the Friday morning foursomes

U.S.: Megan Khang, Alison Lee, Andrea Lee, Lexi Thompson

Europe: Georgia Hall, Leona Maguire, Anna Nordqvist, Madelene Sagstrom

2024 Solheim Cup Friday morning foursomes pairings, schedule, TV info as U.S. hosts Europe

There are a total of four rookies in this year’s cup and all of them are heading out in morning foursomes.

GAINESVILLE, Va. – Suzann Pettersen went with her gut. In her two Solheim Cup appearances, Leona Maguire has never sat out a match. That won’t be the case this week as Pettersen has chosen to sit the Irishwoman players call “MVP” in morning foursomes (alternate shot) on Friday.

The ever-popular Charley Hull, who doesn’t like to sit around, and rookie Esther Henseleit will kick things off for Europe at 7:05 a.m. ET against World No. 1 Nelly Korda and Allisen Corpuz, who went 2-0 together in foursomes last year in Spain.

“I wanted to send some experience out first,” said Lewis, “and no better than No. 1 in the world and a pairing that was very successful last year and they’re very comfortable together.”

Last year, the U.S. swept the morning foursomes session for the first time history. Europe led only four holes the entire session. The cup ultimately ended in its first-ever tie, with Europe retaining. Pettersen joked that she had her fingers crossed they’d at least put up a ½ point on the board this time around.

Solheim Cup: Scoreboard, teams | Photos

“Yeah, it was a tough start for us last year,” said Pettersen, “but that being said, you can – I don’t know if I would have done the pairings any different. Sometimes you can play good golf and still lose. You can literally get outplayed. That’s just the game.”

There are a total of four rookies in this year’s cup and all of them are heading out in morning foursomes. Switzerland’s Albane Valenzuela will be paired with Celine Boutier for Europe while Sarah Schemzel will go out with World No. 2 Lilia Vu, and Virginia’s own Lauren Coughlin heads out with Rose Zhang.

“There’s no point for them to sit around and kind of wait and wonder what it’s going to be like,” said Pettersen. “Let’s just send them out and let them kind of experience it.”

2024 Solheim Cup
The view of one of the Team Europe golf carts prior to the Solheim Cup at Robert Trent Jones Golf Club on September 12, 2024 in Gainesville, Virginia. (Photo by Scott Taetsch/Getty Images)

Lewis, who relied heavily on the stats for a starting point, began the week with a list of potential pairings for each player and then used player feedback throughout the week to narrow it down.

Not everyone plays same golf ball at Solheim Cup

The hardest part, she said, has been getting everyone comfortable with potentially playing a different golf ball depending on partner.

Eight players on Team USA play at Titleist ball, with Andrea Lee and Rose Zhang playing Callaway and Nelly Korda (TaylorMade) and Lexi Thompson (Maxfli) rounding out the group.

Pettersen handled things a bit differently. Georgia Hall said players haven’t really talked at all about pairings with their captain this week.

“Obviously a lot of us have played together before,” said Emily Kristine Pedersen, “but Suzann has pretty much decided who’s playing together. We’re lucky in our team that everyone gets along really well, and I feel like everyone’s a good match.

“For us, it doesn’t really matter who plays together. We’re happy to play with each other, and our games suit each other well.”

Pettersen chalked it up to not being able to please everyone.

Lexi Thompson, who hit the first shot at last year’s cup and won the opening match with Megan Khang, will sit out the morning session along with Khang. Alison Lee and Andrea Lee will also sit out the first match for Team USA.

For the Europeans, Anna Nordqvist, Madelene Sagstrom, Hall, and Maguire will not play Friday morning.

Friday foursomes at the 19th Solheim Cup

7:05 a.m. ET

Esther Henseleit/Charley Hull vs. Nelly Korda/Allisen Corpuz

7:17 a.m. ET

Celine Boutier/Albane Valenzuela vs. Rose Zhang/Lauren Coughlin

7:29 a.m. ET

Emily Pedersen/Maja Stark vs. Ally Ewing/Jennifer Kupcho

7:41 a.m. ET

Linn Grant/Carlota Ciganda vs. Lilia Vu/Sarah Schmelzel

Golf Channel has live coverage starting at 7 a.m. ET.

Sitting out Friday morning foursomes

U.S.: Megan Khang, Alison Lee, Andrea Lee, Lexi Thompson

Europe: Georgia Hall, Leona Maguire, Anna Nordqvist, Madelene Sagstrom

U.S. captain Stacy Lewis downplays team house controversy at 2024 Solheim Cup

Team USA has moved down to the far end of the range.

GAINESVILLE, Va. – There aren’t team rooms here at the Robert Trent Jones Golf Club. The two sides are enjoying the use of two sprawling cottages this week, which are situated next to the driving range.

Controversy is nothing knew to the Solheim Cup, however, and it seems that Team Europe’s digs, which are smaller than the USA’s, have caused a bit of a stir.

Jamie Weir from Sky Sports reported that the U.S. took issue with the fact that Europe had utilized some of the hitting bays in their cottage, which went against the rules written in the event’s contract. They also set up tables and chairs outside their cottage on the driving range, which also isn’t allowed.

https://twitter.com/SkySportsGolf/status/1833922875805303228

Stacy Lewis, when speaking with the press on Wednesday, downplayed the issue though she called the closeness of the two houses “awkward.”

The inside of their cottage doesn’t have a lot of room for tables, so their tables have to be outside, said Lewis. “It was just our players were warming up, and they’re there eating breakfast and talking. We were just trying to get everybody some space so they didn’t have to listen to them eating breakfast. That’s all.

“There’s no bad beef. It’s just trying to, instead of having to listen to breakfast conversations.”

Solheim Cup: Scoreboard, rosters | How to watch | Photos

Team USA has moved down to the far end of the range.

“Us coming on the U.S. soil, the U.S. gets to pick their team room before we do,” said Sweden’s Anna Nordqvist. “I don’t know if they’re happy with their choice, but we’re obviously very happy to be right there on the range.”

U.S. assistant captain Angela Stanford called it a non-story.

“I said to the girls this makes me feel good,” said Stanford. “Because if this is the best thing they’re coming up with, we’re doing great.

“Every time we play, they search for something to get them fired up, to get them unified.”

U.S. captain Stacy Lewis centers entire Solheim Cup week around remembrance of 9/11 and those who serve

“I wanted (the players) to be able to thank those people that protect us.”

GAINESVILLE, Va. — Rose Zhang wasn’t even born when the Twin Towers fell 23 years ago. Most of the players, and even the captains, on this year’s Solheim Cup team were too young to remember much about the events of Sept. 11, 2001, or what it meant to the nation. The average age of Team USA is 27.

But on Wednesday, in the shadow of Washington, D.C., U.S. captain Stacy Lewis did her best to honor those whose lives were lost and all the brave men and women who have served.

“Everything I’ve done this week has been because of 9/11 this week,” said Lewis as she met with the press at the Robert Trent Jones Golf Club. “We get to do this because of the first responders, because of the military, and I wanted these players to know that, and I wanted them to be able to thank those people that protect us.”

Lewis, whose brother-in-law is a former Navy SEAL, organized a trip to the Pentagon on Monday, where a number of three- and four-star generals asked to stop by to speak to the team. One general even walked a practice round with the U.S. team on Tuesday.

Team USA’s uniforms were inspired by the six branches of the military. The team bags are loaded with history, including script of the Constitution.

2024 Solheim Cup
A Team USA flag and eagle golf bag logo for the 2024 Solheim Cup at Robert Trent Jones Golf Club in Gainesville, Virginia. (Scott Taetsch/Getty Images)

On Wednesday, there was a moment of silence on the first tee at 8:46 a.m. to commemorate when the first plane crashed into the North Tower. Throughout the morning tee times, players Zoomed with a military base in Germany, taking questions from American kids with an interest in golf.

There’s a USO military outpost on the grounds at RTJ. ServePro also sponsored a First Responders Celebrity 9-Hole Challenge on Wednesday, where members of the fire, police and Emergency Medical Services were paired with celebrities in a nine-hole scramble. In addition, there was a driving contest for kids from the USO.

First responders receive complimentary grounds tickets during practice days and 50 percent off two grounds tickets during competition days.

“It’s super emotional, I think, for me and for everyone on the team,” said 26-year-old Andrea Lee, “to be able to represent the U.S. this week and honor them. It’s definitely a special week, and we’re definitely thinking about them today.”

Stacy Lewis, driven by passion and armed with data, looks to end U.S. Solheim Cup drought in Virginia

Lewis worked with longtime LPGA partner KPMG to create a new analytics platform for the biennial event.

GAINESVILLE, Va. — In the immediate aftermath in Spain last year, U.S. captain Stacy Lewis concentrated on her players. She didn’t want the 14-14 tie to feel like a colossal failure. The cup stayed with Europe, the defending champs. But Lewis felt her team had a done a lot right those three days at Finca Cortesin.

On the plane ride home, however, with daughter Chesnee sleeping by her side, Lewis allowed herself a moment to cry.

“We worked so hard, and we put so much into this,” said Lewis, fighting back tears nearly a year later, “and it was a tie, you know … but that was the only moment I gave myself.”

From then on, it was back to the mission of “unfinished business.” For three years, there’s been no break for Lewis, who like European captain Suzann Pettersen took on the monumental task of heading two Solheim Cups in two years.

Stacy Lewis, captain of Team USA and Suzann Pettersen, captain of Team Europe hold the Solheim Cup trophy prior to the Solheim Cup at Finca Cortesin Golf Club on September 19, 2023, in Casares, Spain. (Photo by Angel Martinez/Getty Images)

With Team USA winless since 2017 and with five rookies on her squad last year, Lewis couldn’t simply maintain status quo. She needed to shake things up.

Inspired by the resources utilized by Ryder Cup teams, Lewis worked with longtime LPGA partner KPMG to create a new analytics platform for the biennial event. No U.S. captain has ever had so much data at her disposal, and Lewis took advantage in Spain, shaking up her pairings right down to the last minute based on information that was coming in during practice rounds.

Solheim Cup: Scoreboard, rosters | How to watch | Photos

There were a couple pairings she tried to push in Spain, and one that was particularly good statistically, but when the players didn’t want to play together, Lewis allowed the human element to prevail.

When it came time to make her three picks for the 2024 team, Lewis found herself pacing the floor of her St. Andrews apartment as the final round of the AIG Women’s British Open unfolded. She had a short list coming into the week, but as the different scenarios for automatic qualifiers began to shift, Lewis’ job got tougher.

Ultimately, the team ended looking exactly like she thought it would several weeks ago, with Lexi Thompson, Jennifer Kupcho and Sarah Schmelzel as the three captain’s picks. Schmelzel and Lauren Coughlin, two thirtysomething late bloomers, are the only rookies on the team. There are nine players returning from Spain, with Alison Lee qualifying for the first time since she was an LPGA rookie in 2015.

World No. 1 Nelly Korda and No. 2 Lilia Vu, fresh off contending at the Old Course, headline the team of 12. The 2024 Solheim Cup will be held Sept. 13-15 in Gainesville, Virginia, at the Robert Trent Jones Golf Club, host of three previous Presidents Cups.

Throughout this process, Lewis has often said that she can pinpoint a player’s success on the LPGA long before it shows up on leaderboards, based on the trends she’s seeing in the data. Even Thompson, right now, is playing better than the results are showing.

“She is night and day better to what were at this point last year,” said Lewis, noting that Thompson ranks in the top 10 on tour in putts made inside 20 feet.

“Over the years, she has shifted from this amazing ball-striker and an average putter,” said Lewis, “to you could almost put her in a category of great putter and starting to see ball-striking catch up. She’s in a much better position this year that we were going into Spain.”

Lexi Thompson of Team USA during the opening ceremony prior to the Solheim Cup at Marbella Arena on September 21, 2023, in Marbella, Spain. (Photo by Angel Martinez/Getty Images)

After playing Robert Trent Jones Golf Club for the first time several months ago, Lewis immediately knew it was a perfect fit for Kupcho, a strong ball-striker who hits it high and straight. In Schmelzel, Lewis saw a consistent, gritty player who is top 10 on tour in bogey avoidance.

“Somebody that’s avoiding bogeys is gritty and a fighter and not going to give up,” said Lewis. “Maybe at times in the past I think that’s what we’ve lacked a little bit, that grittiness and that toughness.”

On Sunday night in St. Andrews, Lewis gathered the nine players who were still in Scotland in a back room at the famed Dunvegan pub and marveled at how much things had changed.

“Just the becoming a team part and cheering for each other and wanting to be around each other and the amount of fun that they’re having is night and day from this time last year,” she said. “So I’m excited about that.”

When it comes to pairings Lewis, a two-time major champion and former No. 1, said her process starts with covering her kitchen counter with sheets of paper. She’ll write something down and scratch it out and start over. She kept all her notes from last year in Spain so that she could look back on where she started the process and where she finished. Lewis figures the puzzle will be easier to put together this time around.

“She knows more stats about my golf game than I do,” said Thompson, who went 3-1-0 in Spain in the midst of her worst year on tour.

“It’s great to learn from her, and we have nothing but full trust in her and belief.”

The Big Pickle: Stacy Lewis talks AIG Women’s Open with Grant Boone, Beth Ann Nichols

The U.S. Solheim Cup captain talks picks, LPGA Hall of Fame changes and the duff she hit off the first tee.

It’s a big week on the LPGA as the final women’s major championship of the year begins Thursday morning at The Old Course at St. Andrews. The 2024 AIG Women’s British Open is loaded with the best players in the game, including defending champion Lilia Vu, Nelly Korda, Jin Young Ko, Lydia Ko, Rose Zhang and Brooke Henderson, among others.

The last time the AIG Women’s British Open was held at The Old Course, Stacy Lewis took home the title. Lewis sat down with our Big Pickle co-hosts Grant Boone and Beth Ann Nichols to talk about the fun of St. Andrews and her role as the Solheim Cup captain.

Subscribe, comment and tell a friend. As the women’s game continues to gain momentum, “The Big Pickle” will be sure to keep you informed, enlightened and entertained on everything LPGA.

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Stacy Lewis, only the second woman to win a major on the Old Course, returns to her favorite place

With the AIG Women’s British Open returning to the Old Course, Lewis is somewhat of a defending champion.

On May 30, 2008, Stacy Lewis rolled up to the first tee at the Old Course for a second time on the opening day of the 35th Curtis Cup. She’d teed off on the even holes in morning foursomes, so this was her first time teeing off on the iconic hole.

It was downwind that afternoon. Lewis pulled a fairway wood and felt the nerves pumping as they announced her name. The duff that followed was so bad, the divot started and ended before it even reached the tee. The stunned crowd clapped twice slowly, she recalled, not entirely sure what to do.

Her second shot was so far back that her local caddie, Fraser Riddler, suggested they lay up. She hit 7-iron down the fairway and had about 40 yards left over the Swilcan burn. She chunked it again, but the ball somehow managed to one-hop the burn, nestling 3 feet from the hole.

“These people that we’re playing gave me the 3-footer, and I’m like, did they not just watch this entire hole?” recalled Lewis with a laugh.

Lewis’ mom, Carol, went back over to the tee box after the session was over and took a photo of the only divot on the tee box. Lewis, of course, went on to become the first player in Curtis Cup history to go 5-0 that week at the Old Course, leading Team USA to victory. Five years later, she became only the second woman to win the British Open on the hallowed course.

“I absolutely fell in love with the place,” said Lewis, who played the Old Course 11 times during Curtis Cup week. “I fell in love with links golf.”

Stacy Lewis of the United States tees off on the 18th hole during the final round of the Ricoh Women’s British Open at the Old Course, St. Andrews on August 4, 2013, in St. Andrews, Scotland. (Photo by Warren Little/Getty Images)

With the AIG Women’s British Open returning to the Old Course for a third time this week, Lewis is somewhat of a defending champion. Many of the loved ones who were with her in 2008 and 2013 have made the trip to St. Andrews, where they’ll try to recreate some of the magic. They’ve once again rented out The Dunvegan Hotel — a corner hangout once owned by Jack and Sheena Willoughby (a Texan and a Scot) — booked their tee times and brought coins for the wishing well.

“It’s just a match made in heaven, her winning there,” said husband Gerrod Chadwell. “That’s her favorite place.”

It was pouring rain the day Team USA first arrived in St. Andrews 16 years ago for the Curtis Cup’s first playing over the Old Course. The band of eight put on their rain gear and went for a walk, soaking up history.

After her first loop around the Old Course, Lewis told her father Dale that she might not break 90 if the weather stayed this bad.

Dad’s advice: Ask Fraser for help.

Lewis went out the next day eager to learn. When Riddler told her to miss the fairway on purpose and hit it in the high weeds, she complied. She took out putter when he suggested and took lines she never saw. He told her stories and made the place come alive.

During the trophy presentation, Riddler came over with his wife and infant son and said he’d move to the U.S. to caddie for Lewis the next year on the LPGA. Only Lewis didn’t have status at the time, and she thought it was too much to ask him to uproot his family with so much uncertainty.

Riddler went on to become the caddie manager at St. Andrews Links Trust before quitting his job to caddie full-time on the LPGA for Jenny Shin.

When Lewis returned to the Old Course in 2013, Riddler came out and walked a practice round with her and longtime caddie Travis Wilson, as did the caddie who worked for Alison Walshe at the Curtis Cup.

In 2008, the Lewis family stayed at the Dunvegan, and for 2013, they booked out the rooms above the bar and the loft across the street above the golf shop, just as winner Lorena Ochoa had done in 2007. Sheena draped the banisters with American flags to welcome Lewis, Walshe, Irene Cho and Brittany Lang. They ate dinner every night at the Dunvegan, and anyone who suggested otherwise was quickly dismissed. Lewis told the crew over at the loft that she’d pay for everything if she won that week.

Several weeks before Lewis went overseas, she worked with instructor Joe Hallett out at the Medalist Golf Club in Hobe Sound, Florida, on an overcast day in blowing rain. Ideal conditions to learn how to hit a controlled punch shot they called “the British Open 4-iron.” Her swing thought for the week was to get her left shoulder turned over her right toe.

While most tour players hate bundling up in bad weather, Lewis likes to play in rain gear because it keeps her swing from getting too long.

While she’s known now for her creativity, having won both the Scottish Open and British Open titles, she came into college with a one-dimensional short game. As she recovered from the spine surgery that required doctors to deflate a lung and move organs around in order to insert a steel rod, Lewis couldn’t even sit up on her own and had to learn how to walk again. In those early months in Fayetteville, Arkansas, she was limited in her recovery to work around the greens.

“We would stay ‘til almost turning on the headlights of the cars, forcing her to hit bump and runs,” said Arkansas coach Shauna Taylor. “It’s really cool watching her execute those shots, even though she gave me heck for trying to teach her.”

Stacy Lewis of the United States putts for birdie on the 18th green during the final round of the Ricoh Women’s British Open at the Old Course, St. Andrews on August 4, 2013, in St. Andrews, Scotland. (Photo by Warren Little/Getty Images)

Inbee Park hogged the spotlight that week in 2013, and rightly so as the winner of the first three majors that season. Lewis had it in her mind that she wanted to be the spoiler.

Lewis opened with a 67 that week and was in the top 10 going into the weekend. On Saturday, play was suspended and scores were ultimately scrapped as the wind howled under sunny skies. Lewis, who never teed off that day, found herself alone on the range that afternoon.

The next day, the field played a continuous 36 holes, picking up lunch at the turn with no time to re-pair.

Lewis began the fourth round one stroke behind leader Morgan Pressel but wasn’t sure where she stood down the stretch, playing about an hour ahead of the last group with no leaderboards.

When she arrived on the 17th Road Hole for a second time that day, she knew the approach shot called for the low, flat shot she’d been hitting all week. What Lewis saw in her head – a well-struck 5-iron that flew low and was knocked down by wind into the slope and then chased up the hill – was executed to perfection.

She rolled in the 4-foot birdie putt and headed to the 18th tied with leader Na Yeon Choi, who was several holes behind. Sheena Willoughby began to cry.

After ripping a drive down into the Valley of Sin, she had a mere 40 yards to the hole. Wilson suggested she putt, but Lewis had confidence in a shot she’d practiced from that spot earlier in the week. Her approach rolled 25 feet past.

“I actually had that exact same putt in the Curtis Cup and I left it short,” she said. “I knew the read. I just had to make sure I hit it hard enough.”

She did.

After finishing birdie-birdie to close out a final-round 72, she waited to see if Na Yeon Choi could match her.

The famous Dunvegan Hotel and Restaurant, just up the street from the Old Course at St. Andrews.

Four years later, Lewis took Chadwell to the Old Course and relived the shots that made her a major champion at the Old Course. The 5-iron Lewis hit into the Road Hole sits in their home office inside a Solheim Cup captain’s bag alongside a putter she once won a bunch with but now has a bit of a curve to it.

“I can see why she won,” said Chadwell. “She just probably beat a lot of people with her brains and her guts that week.”

During the 2017 British Open at Kingsbarns, the Lewis family once again stayed at the Dunvegan. They followed the same daily routine like clockwork. Breakfast with Jack in the morning, talking about sports and life. Beer and nachos with Jack in the evening. Chadwell and Dale like to order a BBQ chicken sandwich that’s not on the menu. Lewis gets the fish ‘n’ chips, and everyone has sticky toffee pudding.

In a way, Chadwell says, playing at the Old Course feels like playing the LPGA’s Toledo stop, Lewis’ hometown. Every year Lewis’ entire extended family has a nightly dinner at her aunt’s house, only there everyone devours a cookie cake rather than sticky toffee pudding.

This week in St. Andrews will be another week of story collecting. Like the time a group of Lewis’ crew went out around 11 p.m. one night and played down the 18th hole with a putter. Someone had to jump in the burn to retrieve mom’s ball.

Lewis watched from the road with her hoodie pulled up.

The 23-year-old who duffed that opening tee shot returns to the Old Course once more as a two-time major champion, a former No. 1, a two-time LPGA Player of the Year and a two-time Solheim Cup captain. As she plays her own game in St. Andrews, she’ll be keeping an eye on a short list of American players who could potentially round out her 12-player team.

Most importantly, she returns to the Old Course just over a decade later as mom to 5-year-old Chesnee.

“Opportunities like this are becoming less as I get older,” said Lewis, who knows this will likely be the last time she competes at the storied venue.

In 2008, the media gathered at the Road Hole thinking Amanda Blumenherst would post the winning point for Team USA. But it was Lewis who quietly closed out her match on the 16th to clinch it. Riddler turned to her and said, “You just won the Curtis Cup, and no one is watching.”

It seemed somewhat fitting then that the gritty underdog who spent much of her life hiding a back brace under her clothes would go unnoticed.

But those days are long gone.

Stacy Lewis’ name is included on a “Walk of Fame” outside the Rusacks in St. Andrews. (courtesy Joe Hallett)

As one of the best American players this century and the tour’s most prominent voice, Lewis returns to the Home of Golf with a unique responsibility and perspective in what’s become a youthful game.

“Everything she puts her hands on,” said Taylor, “she wants to make it great.”

A couple years ago, on his first trip to Scotland, Hallett was walking out of the famed Rusacks Hotel in St. Andrews and looked down at the bronze plaques on the new “walk of fame.” He was almost moved to tears when he got to Lewis’ name.

Hallett took a picture and sent it to Lewis, who’d yet to see her name in stone among the greats who’ve won a major at St. Andrews, including Bobby Jones, Sam Snead, Jack Nicklaus, Seve Ballesteros and Tiger Woods.

It was a formal recognition of a place that’s long been etched in her heart.

Lilia Vu becomes second American to qualify for 2024 Solheim Cup squad

From the highest of highs to some trying times, Vu has continued to battle.

To say that Lilia Vu’s last 18 months have made for a wild ride is an understatement.

From the highest of highs (her first LPGA victory in Thailand, two major wins at the Chevron and AIG Women’s Open) to some trying times (back injuries forcing her to the sidelines for months, including her Chevron defense as well as the U.S. Women’s Open), Vu has continued to battle.

Her victory via a playoff at the Meijer LPGA Classic in June and subsequent second-place finish at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship have pushed Vu back into rarified air as she has mathematically clinched a spot on the 2024 U.S. Solheim Cup team.

This marks the second time she will represent her country in the biennial competition. She posted a 1-3-0 record at Finca Cortesin, Spain, in 2022 as the Europeans kept the cup by virtue of a 14-14 draw. Vu joins Nelly Korda as the first two automatic qualifiers for the U.S. side.

Stacy Lewis, who will again captain the Americans, wasn’t surprised that the UCLA product made the squad.

“Coming off last year, when Lilia had an unbelievable year, it was just a matter of time for her to make the team,” Lewis said. “This year, not getting started the way she would have liked and having to deal with her injury definitely set her back for a bit. It’s been very exciting to see how she’s played the last two starts, coming out of the injury with her win and really just picking up where she left off.

“She’s a tremendous player, from ball striking to putting with a true all-around game. We’re excited to have her back for her second Solheim Cup, with an opportunity to step up and become a leader on this team.”

2023 Solheim Cup
U.S. vice captain Morgan Pressel celebrates another American point with Cheyenne Knight and Lilia Vu during the afternoon four-ball matches on Day One of the 2023 Solheim Cup at Finca Cortesin Golf Club. (Photo: David Cannon/Getty Images)

During her time off due to injury, Vu didn’t change anything technical about her swing, but she has grown more conscious about the way she sits, stands, lies down and breathes, calling it lower-belly breathing.

“I know my patterns,” she said. “I don’t want to get so technical with it because it’s just going to bore everybody. I escape on my right hip, and so trying to breathe through that hip more. Little stuff like that.”

Vu said her team has been trying to get her to make small adjustments for some time now, but because she was playing so well last year, she was hesitant to do so. This, she said, was the perfect time to get to work.

Before hitting any shots, Vu goes through an activation warmup. Going through that routine and being conscious of how her body feels, she said, is more valuable right now than seeing the ball-flight she wants or the ideal distance.

It’s still a daily process.

“Just because I’ve been kind of living in that compensation for a while, so it adds up,” she said. “Then one day, I’m tight and my body is angry, and it blows up.

“So it’s peeling the layers of the onion and getting more stable overall to help me swing with no pain.”

The 19th edition of the Solheim Cup will be held at Robert Trent Jones Golf Club in Gainesville, Virginia, Sept. 13-15.

Photos: An inside look at Lilia Vu’s Champions Dinner at Chevron, featuring renowned chef Thomas Keller

What a night: A private helicopter, a world-renowned chef, Bentleys, Rolls-Royces and Bò Kho.

THE WOODLANDS, Texas — Lilia Vu didn’t see the menu for the Champions Dinner at the Chevron Championship until she sat down Monday evening. There was supposed to be a group phone call about it when Vu was playing in China, but a bad flareup with her back disrupted the plan, and she ended up conversing with renowned chef Thomas Keller via group chat.

“I told Chef Keller, hey, really love steak, made it my personality trait,” said Vu, who won her first major championship title last year at The Club at Carlton Woods.

“Then I also said that I’m Vietnamese, and I kind of want to do some Vietnamese flavors. You can do whatever you want. I know he’s so GOAT’ed, so like, just let him do whatever he wants.”

Needless to say, Vu was impressed when she saw that Keller, owner of The French Laundry and once named the Best Chef in America, had made Bò Kho, a dish her mom makes that’s her absolute favorite. Every single course, she said, was a home run.

The dinner began with a white asparagus panna cotta, followed by sweet pea agnolotti and Bò Kho, which the menu notes as “All Day Braised Snake River Farms American Wagyu Brisket.”

“For that Vietnamese dish he brought out,” she said, “I looked at my whole table, everything was clear. Everyone ate every single piece off that plate. Yeah, it was amazing.”

Jennifer Kupcho, the 2022 champion, had one request from Keller last year: macaroni and cheese.

Kupcho was one of several players who arrived to the dinner via private helicopter.

“Kupcho tried to convince me,” said Vu, “but I was like, no, you go do it. Send me a video after.”

Past champions in the field also received a Bentley courtesy car for the week. Past champions who weren’t part of the field were chauffeured around in a Rolls-Royce.

Every player in the field received a free Avis rental car.

There was a lot of angst when this event moved from beloved Mission Hills Country Club in Rancho Mirage, California, to Texas. Even past champion Stacy Lewis, whose childhood home isn’t too far from the course, had mixed feelings.

But on a day when the championship’s purse moved to $7.9 million, up $4.8 million from when Chevron assumed title sponsorship in 2022, Lewis had nothing but praise.

“They’re pushing the envelope with this tournament, and I like it,” she said. “They want to make it special for us, and last night was certainly a testament to that.”

World No. 1 Nelly Korda enters this week’s Chevron on a streak of four victories, including the last three scheduled events. She’s the undisputed favorite, and her trek toward rarified air takes a lot of eyeballs away from Vu, who prefers it that way.

Vu followed her breakout victory here in Texas with three more titles, including a second major at the AIG Women’s British Open. She ended the 2023 campaign as LPGA Player of the Year.

So far, her 2024 campaign hasn’t gone to plan.

“It’s been a rough couple months battling with my injury,” said Vu, who withdrew from back-to-back events in Asia this spring. “It’s been a little scary. I’ve definitely cried a lot on the range sometimes because my back just couldn’t hold up.”

Vu said she’s 95 percent there now physically and is focused on trying to enjoy herself. She’s under the belief that her body aches because she’s been internally angry inside, frustrated with her performance when she has been able to play. Vu has only one top 10 showing so far this season.

It helps that the California native likes the vibe here in Houston, calling it calming. Almost like home in a way.

“Even my parents were talking about it last night,” said Vu. “Could be a place to consider to move.”

Champions Dinner at the Chevron Championship

 

Can a mom win on the LPGA for the first time since 2020? A local mom is in position at the Ford Championship

The last mom to win on the LPGA was Stacy Lewis at the 2020 Scottish Open.

GILBERT, Ariz. — The last mom to win on the LPGA was Stacy Lewis at the 2020 Scottish Open. This week, there are 10 mothers teeing it up in the Ford Championship, the seventh tournament on the LPGA’s 2024 schedule.

That includes Lindsey Weaver-Wright, who played high school golf in Cave Creek, Arizona, and completed her college career at the University of Arizona.

Weaver-Wright is playing in her first LPGA event since she became a mom to son Crew on Dec. 17. She opened her week with a bogey-free, 4-under 68 at Seville Golf and Country Club, which is hosting the inaugural Ford Championship

“I didn’t really know what to expect, so I just went into the whole week with very little expectation,” she said. “Got a lot going on in my mind right now. Yeah, Crew was just, it’s so funny just getting his texts from daycare, updates after the round. I just love it. My husband is updating me and he gets all the notifications, too.”

Her last shot in her last tournament before taking leave last October was a hole-out eagle.

PHOTOS: Ford Championship

Weaver-Wright trails co-leader Azahara Munoz of Spain, one of three to shoot an 8-under 64 on Thursday, along with Gabi Ruffels and Isi Gabsa.

Other moms playing this week include Sophia Popov and Caroline Masson, who played as a parent for the first time a week ago as well as Lewis, Brittany Lincicome, Paula Creamer, Cristie Kerr, Mel Reid and Hee Young Park.