SOLHEIM CUP

September 1, 2021

Catriona Matthew

Laura Davies

Kathryn Imrie

Suzann Pettersen

Inverness Club

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: We'll get started. How much are you looking forward to the week and how have the first few days been for you?

CATRIONA MATTHEW: Yeah, it's great to finally be here. Obviously a lot of preparation goes into it, so to actually be here and see all the stands up and the crowds beginning to come is, the excitement starting to build. It's great having the team here and the players, getting to see the golf course the last couple of days. So, yeah, it's getting exciting. I can't wait for Saturday to come, to be honest.

THE MODERATOR: As a team, you've got the same vice captains as last time. Obviously, Suzann was a player, but she's back in as vice captain. How have you found the process this time compared to Gleneagles in 2019?

CATRIONA MATTHEW: Yeah. I think this time really the focus has really just been on the team. I think last time with it being a home match and living only an hour and a half from Gleneagles there was a lot more media kind of commitments you had to do promoting the event, so this time obviously haven't been able to, with COVID, travel to the states last year, so this year really has been just completely just focused on the team and everything to do with that. So, yeah, in that respect it's been slightly different.

THE MODERATOR: How have the first few days been here at Inverness. I see the team's arrived and you've been out on the course. How have you found it?

CATRIONA MATTHEW: Yeah. We played, obviously some of them played a few holes yesterday and they were all out on the course today. So I think they all love it. Quite a few of them played in the tournament last year, so they knew the golf course and I think it's playing fairly similar. Obviously it's been pretty windy today, but I think the greens here are pretty tricky with some kind of subtle little slopes, but the players are keen and they're out on the golf course getting to know it, so it's all going well.

THE MODERATOR: Suzann, what's it like being a vice captain this time in comparison to playing last time?

SUZANN PETTERSEN: Well, I'm happy to be back. It's a little bit weird walking by the driving range the first time and not having to pull out your clubs, but I'm actually really enjoying it. I think all four of us have not gotten to know each other over the last four years, so to say, and, yeah, just happy to see everyone here.

THE MODERATOR: Kathryn and Laura, are you happy to be back again in this captaincy role alongside Catriona?

KATHRYN IMRIE: For me, to be working alongside Catriona has always been great. I have fond memories of my LPGA win back in Toledo back in 1995 at Highland Meadows. So it's got fond memories for me and Catriona has done a great job picking all of us. Suzann and myself are doing our roles to make sure that it looks good at the end of the week.

THE MODERATOR: Questions?

Q. Suzann, you talked about walking past the driving range without your clubs. Did you want to have them?

SUZANN PETTERSEN: No. (Laughing)

Q. How often do you play now?

SUZANN PETTERSEN: Zero. I really haven't played much golf since two years ago. I've really got my hands full, and having a second child hasn't given me any more time. So I do miss it, but at the same time, I'm really enjoying a different part of life. And, yeah, just enjoying motherhood, to be honest.

Q. What were the emotions like when you got the uniforms and you put these clothes back on and know you're back out here with this team?

SUZANN PETTERSEN: It's kind of funny because it all feels like it was yesterday. Even though I had been away, you stay in touch, you talk to all these girls along the, I mean, throughout the years, so it's not like you're completely out of it.

But I must say, it's something that feels very natural. It's been a part of our lives for so many years, so I have to say like you pick it up pretty quickly.

Q. What's it like having the gang back together?

CATRIONA MATTHEW: It's great. We have gotten to know each other well over the last four years and we have great fun together. We all bring something different to the team and hopefully I think we all jell well together and we have great fun out there.

Q. How do you see Mel's experience as a vice captain in 2019 in forming her leadership role as a player on this year's squad?

CATRIONA MATTHEW: I think it really helps, actually. I mean Mel, it was a tough situation really for her last year. She just missed out on this team. But I think she jumped at the chance of being a vice captain, didn't need to think of it twice. I think that just really just shows the passion and the desire she has for the team. She realizes it's not about the individual. It's about the team.

So I think having the experience of being behind the scenes and seeing it from another kind of angle will really help her out there on the golf course and with the rookies and things.

Q. How do you see it helping her on the golf course?

CATRIONA MATTHEW: I think she will be a big help with the rookies. I think, and the less experienced players. I think you're looking at probably her, Anna, Carlota, the ones who have played in a few different Solheims, just to, just playing practice rounds, chatting together, and they will just be talking about their different experiences in Solheim Cups and what the rookies can expect in an away match and, you know, what the first tee's going to be like and just different perhaps strategies on the golf course.

So I think it's great to have those experienced players in there to, it's not like a formal thing, but just as they're chatting on their way around in the practice rounds.

Q. How difficult is it to win in America in normal circumstances and how much harder is it going to be without so many European fans able to attend?

CATRIONA MATTHEW: Well, I think the fact we have only won once in Colorado shows how difficult it is to win away from home. Obviously this year it is going to be more difficult and be more of a challenge for us, but I think in a way we can nearly rise to that. Rather than just thinking we're going to have a few fans, we're kind of really expecting very, I mean, basically about zero fans. Obviously a few Europeans who perhaps are living in the States can make it here, but it certainly won't be the same presence that we normally have at an away match.

But I think the players are going to be mentally prepared, so I think it just gives them another challenge and another thing to try and overcome and get that victory.

Q. Obviously it's only practice at the moment, but have you seen any European fans dotted around the course?

CATRIONA MATTHEW: I've seen the odd European flag, so there's going to be a few of us there.

Q. What sort of work you've got to do on the Europeans over the next three days? Any sort of good ideas in your head about the bounce of the team?

CATRIONA MATTHEW: I think obviously between the four of us we have got kind of good ideas about pairings for the first few days and the mixture of foursomes, four-balls, so just probably finalizing them in the next couple of days. I think we have got a pretty good idea of what we're looking at. Not going to give any away, though.

Q. Obviously Anna Nordqvist has come to the team room as the Women's Open champion. Do you have any sense of how that will help?

CATRIONA MATTHEW: Yeah. I think for Anna, obviously, coming in winning a major you're going to come in with a huge amount of confidence and just that whole leaderboard at Carnoustie for us with obviously, Nanna, Madelene, Georgia all being up there, I think was a boost for them individually and a boost for the whole team to see so many of the European players and they're teammates up there last week or two weeks ago at Carnoustie.

And for Anna, yeah, I think anytime you win a golf tournament, especially a major, it gives you a real boost of confidence.

Q. I was just wondering, Leona Maguire has a lot of match play experience as an amateur. What do you expect from her on her Solheim Cup debut? Would you be relying heavily on her given her form or would you be easing her into it?

CATRIONA MATTHEW: As you say, she's got a tremendous record in amateur golf, amateur match play in Curtis Cup and things and has been playing well the last year and a half. I think we have a tricky problem this year in that so many of our players are playing well, but she will certainly be featuring there in some of the games.

Q. Could you share what you remember about your rookie experience and what sort of advice you shared with the first-timers on your team.

CATRIONA MATTHEW: Well, for me, my first one was Muirfield Village in '98, very much a rookie. I remember I was in the first foursomes, fortunate enough to get a pretty good partner in Annika. I remember, I don't know whether it was good or bad, but I was playing the odd holes, so I had the first tee shot being the away team. So, yeah, I think you walk on to that tee and yeah, I think it is the most nervous you are.

But I think when you're playing and you're playing your best, that's what you've worked for your whole career is for these moments. So I think obviously you're nervous on the first tee, but you quickly get over it and settle into the match.

Obviously the event has grown hugely since then back in '98. The first tee here looks amazing and I'm sure the rookies, not even the rookies, all the players, are going to be, you walk down on, as you come down through the stands here on to the first tee, it's going to be, you know, it's a real mixture of emotions. You're nervous. You're excited. So, I mean, it's just getting off that first tee and then they will get going.

LAURA DAVIES: Mine was 1990, so we were all rookies. We'd never played in it before, so we were all terrified at the same time, the European team. I think the Americans had a lot of experience. And it was just, yeah, it was really nerve wracking. I remember the first tee like it was yesterday. Lopez and Bradley walked on the tee and they were our opponents for that first foursomes. But it was also excitement and just enjoying it and that's, what, 15, 16 Solheims ago and even as a, there's no pressure of being a vice captain, but you feel nervous for the players because you know what they're going to experience and if they ask any questions, give them a bit of advice maybe, if you can, and but the main thing we were talking last night, just enjoy it, because it is nerve wracking but you've worked so hard to get here, don't let the nerves overtake you.

KATHRYN IMRIE: My rookie year was in '96 and I'll never forget playing with Lotta Neumann and our foursomes game was coming down the last, all the other matches had finished and I hit a bunker shot out to about six feet and Lotta's probably one of the best putters ever and although she did put her first putt on the first hole 10 feet past, I did remind her about that, but she asked me, it was six feet away and I had never read a putt all day and then all of a sudden she said, Can you take a look at this putt? And I went, Okay. Came over and I just said to her, What do you see? And she said, Right lip. And I said, Perfect, go and do it. But the whole message there was that even the top players get nervous too. But she was great to play with and really helped me and that was something that we'll probably do get the rookies paired with more experienced players.

SUZANN PETTERSEN: Well, my first one was 2002, Minnesota. I guess that's where I dropped the famous F word on live TV, NBC. But I think I was paired with Alfie the first match of my first match and when it came down to who was going to hit the tee ball there was no discussion, I had to do it. So it just was kind of thrown right into it and never looked back. It's a great experience, it's a great kind of atmosphere and what I enjoyed the most is probably the Solheim is so much more than golf into my career into all of our careers and you kind of build and bond with the players on your same team across the other team and you share moments that will last forever. So I think that's kind of what I've enjoyed the most with the Solheims and been able to play with a lot of icons in women's golf through all the years.

Q. I would like to know how the European captains are chosen and how many you think you need as far as assistants, how do you decide that?

CATRIONA MATTHEW: I don't know how I was chosen, I was just asked and I wasn't in the choosing process, obviously, so, yeah, they asked me to do it and obviously was delighted. As for the vice captains, I think that's just a kind of standard thing in the Solheim that each team, I think, as the event's evolved, we come to the kind of three vice captains and that's kind of what both teams do. So I think these things just kind of change perhaps over the years, but for me personally I think three vice captains is just perfect.

THE MODERATOR: All right. Thank you very much. Thank you very much for attending.