No Laying Up - Golf Podcast - 892 - LPGA: Reactions to Solheim Picks and Stacy Lewis Interview

Episode Date: August 30, 2024

Randy and Cody break down the Solheim Cup captain's picks that were announced earlier this week for both teams and then visit with Stacy Lewis who'll lead the USA for a second consecutive cup. Note: We recorded our interview with Stacy prior to the announcement of the Captain's picks. If you enjoyed this episode, consider joining The Nest: No Laying Up’s community of avid golfers. Nest members help us maintain our light commercial interruptions (3 minutes of ads per 90 minutes of content) and receive access to exclusive content, discounts in the pro shop, and an annual member gift. It’s a $90 annual membership, and you can sign up or learn more at nolayingup.com/join Support Our Partners: Yeti Titleist Mizuho Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Be the right club. Be the right club today. That's better than most. How about in? That is better than most. Better than most. Expect anything different? Better than most. Expect anything different. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome into the No Laying Up Golf podcast. My name is Randy. I am joined today by Cody McBride, and we have a quick show

reacting to the Solheim Cup picks just announced this week. And then we have a great interview on the back half with US Captain Stacey Lewis. So first things first, Cody, do you make it back all right? Any travel issues getting home from Scotland? Very safe, buddy. It was smooth for me. I know it wasn't for you.

But first trips I've had in a bit where there's like zero delays, we're actually out early, arrived early, baggage, everything, you name it. It was so smooth. Wonderful to hear. I had a, well, I had a flight canceled, but once I got rebooked the morning I was supposed to leave everything was smooth and I got to talk to TC, you know, I don't want to turn this into an airports pod, but there was a tailwind going from east to west. Our captain on our flight called it a very unusual tailwind that got us in an hour early. I know, that's weird too,

because usually everything's so dependable when it comes to that. And you know what else is dependable? That's Yeti and their sponsorship of our LPGA Tour products, man. They ride with us. They're built to last. They're durable. Everything is double insulated, you name it. I don't want to call it over-engineered,

but it has so much horsepower packed into every single product that they make. We want to thank them and their long-standing support, not only to KnowLayingUp, but to our LPGA content throughout this year. And we had a great film that we just debuted last week over on our YouTube channel. Please everybody go check that out. Special feature from the mastermind of DJ Piehowski about the old chorus in reverse. Please go check that out on our YouTube. You'll find it on our socials. But again, a huge shout out to Yeti, you can find their complete product line and more at Yeti.com. Big. I don't think we got a lot of surprises here.

No, I don't think we did either. So let's just go through Cody, I want to start with let's start with Team USA. Just to catch people up. The US team, seven automatic qualifiers on points. And those women are Nellie Korda, Lilia Vu, Lauren Coughlin, Allie Ewing, Alison Corpuz, Megan Kang, and Andrea Lee. And then the qualification takes the next two highest ranked players based on current world ranking. And so those two qualifying were Rose Zhang and Allison Lee. And then that leaves three captain's picks. We knew Lexi was going to be one that was, you know, set in stone pretty much.

So no surprise there. Jennifer Cupcho, I don't think is a surprise. She's played on, this will be her third appearance in a Solheim Cup. So she's becoming a regular part of the team. And so I think if there was any surprise Cody, it was that last captain's pick Sarah Schmelzel, who will be making her Solheim Cup debut. She earns that captain's pick.

The only surprise really is Angel Yin not getting a pick, but I understand it. So let me just stop right there I guess and were you surprised what was your initial reaction upon learning these captain's picks? Well I was not surprised at the ones that you laid out already. I think that Lexi we've known that for a long time there's no way that she wasn't gonna be on this team it doesn't really matter what form she really was going to be in. She was going to be in Virginia to represent the United States. Jen Cubs show, I get it, makes a lot of sense. I really think it came down to this final pick. And Sarah Schmelzel has just played really, really good golf. And

I can see if you look at the the overall points list. So where the the main seven selects come from Angel sitting on number eight. She was only one spot behind Andrea Lee. Then you have Rose and Allison Lee being at nine and ten on that list. Sarah Schmezl is at 11. Then you got Jen Cup Show Cheyenne Knight and then Lexi.

So that's basically the top 14. Can send out that 15 spots Alexa Pano. And I thought honestly, that Alexa was going to get a little bit better look than she did. I thought she had, you know, a great, great season last year is a rookie season. Got a win this week basically over in Ireland, she won the, the women's Irish open and then put together really a heck of a year has had some low points, some missed cuts along the way, but overall rounding into form has had great, you know, showings and major championships specifically last week of the AIG women's open.

I mean, she was right in the thick of things and you know, she, she's a dog and she's got a lot of grit in her, But I also understand that she's 20 or 21. I know it was just a birthday 20. And we're gonna have a lot of golf left for her. And I know she's gonna make future teams. I just thought that maybe they might put her here to kind of, you know, her and Rose get on really good. And I thought that maybe it would be a good person to match Rose with. Now, when we look at it, and the curious case of Angel Yin, I can say this from a fan of Angel Yin from the outsiders perspective that, yeah,

I'm bummed, man. She brought a lot. She brings a ton of spunk personality, you name it, to every single one of these team events that she's been in so far. You can't really argue with the fact that her game just hasn't been there, man. Well, and she was dealing with an injury which really put her behind the eight ball to start the year. That was a shame. She didn't even make her season debut really until, I believe believe match play. So we're talking end of April. And then didn't really play well through most of the summer. Now has started to find form. She finished tied for second in Portland a few weeks back. And then her next start just finished tied for 10th at the open, which we know proper

conditions there. So I think it would have taken, it feels like Sarah Schmelzer was the safe pick for Stacey Lewis. Yeah, 100%. And something that she can justify not only with results, but also with the KPMG performance insights. So what is Sarah profile? What's her? What does she do? Well, who you know, what type of player do you think she'll be paired with? Well, I think she, you know, she's really friendly with the alley Ewing rookie, you know, our rookie LC, but really what she I don't want to say she really excels so much at one particular

thing. She's just like rock solid at every single possible strokes game category. She's not giving anything away. The highest ranking-wise she's at is strokes game total. She's 29th on the year, sitting right at..99, excuse me, plus.99. Her worst category ranking is 71st and that's putting, but like that is far, far, far from being a bad putter. She makes buckets and buckets of putts.

Like when she gets a hot putter, it's truly unstoppable. She can take it deep and she's not afraid of going low. And I think honestly, she's just like, you need these people who are like, just steady as it goes. And there's not really, you know, she doesn't really get too high. She doesn't really get too low. She's definitely like, there's been a couple of very viral moments where she's kind of taking it out of herself from hitting bad shots. And if you look at the results of those bad shots after she's like dog cussing herself, it's a you know, they're like 20 feet from the pin. So her, her expectations of

herself are extremely high. But I also like that she she feels like she always plays like she's an underdog. And I think making this team and being this pick because she was right there on points, you know, she was going to, this is not a surprise. Like she was going to make this team. And I think the only way that, that she wouldn't have made this team, if there was an additional player that showed some form like Alexi. And I think that the only person that that really could have been would have been like Danielle Kang. If Danielle started playing good this later half in the summer

because there's no one else that you could really justify taking the spot away and away from Sarah Schmezl just based off her results. So I want to do the devil's advocate. And I'll just say I was surprised that Angel was not chosen for this team. I guess I was thinking with Angel being 5'3 and 1' all time in Solheim Cup, you know, good experience in Solheim Cups. I believe she was 2'0 she was 201 last year in Spain. And in this very recent run of form, I thought that was somebody that you want on the

team. Now reading between the lines, and I will say Angel's been active on social media, it feels like maybe Angel isn't as good of a fit in the in the team room as Sarah. And I don't want to say that too much because I don't know. It's just kind of like putting together pieces between stuff that Angel reacted to on Instagram this week and whatnot. So I guess I was a little surprised. And I'll say going back to this 2024 team. So how is it different than last year's team in Spain? You mentioned Danielle Kang. So there are essentially three players out,

three players in. Danielle Kang is out, Cheyenne Knight is out, and Angel Yin are out. Those three women last year in Spain combined to go six, three, and one. They earned six and a half of the 14 US points. So coming in are two rookies, Lauren Coughlin, Sarah Schmelzel,

and then Alison Lee has qualified. She has prior Solheim experience. She carries a one in three record from her one appearance. And so I feel like when we start thinking about is this team better or not this year, it could be better, but there's a lot of pressure on Lauren and Sarah to earn those points that Danielle and Cheyenne and Angel earned last year in Spain.

And I think that will be very interesting. And then of course, you know, your Nelly, your Lilia, like the US needs really good performances from its stars. What do you agree or disagree with there? And I guess bottom line question, do you think this US team is better than it was last year heading into Spain? Well, it's hard to say that it's not with, you know, Lilia Vu, Nelly Korda, headlining your team, specifically the form

that they've shown this year compared to last. Now, obviously we could say a lot of that is, you know, wins coming at the first half of this year kind of petered out since then, but both of them very much in contention there. Alison Korpuz has kind of fallen off, but Ali Ewing is somebody who's, you know, made herself very present over the last two months. Megan Kang, again, kind of fly by night. That's a great question, Big. I don't know if I could say

that this team is in better form than the team that they took last year. But I also know last year, there was huge doubts with the fact that, you know, Lexi Thompson was on that team barely automatically that captains pick wasn't because of all the points that she had earned the year prior. And look at the performance that she put on there. Now I agree with you that there is going to be a ton of pressure, not only on the rookies that are on this team, but the other ones and welcoming back Alison Lee, and I think Alison Lee, you know, she's had a pretty good run of events. We don't really get to see her that often on the LPGA tour.

She, she almost outside of the majors, like, you know, she splits plays her majority of her schedule on the, the LET and that's because she lost access, lost access on the LPGA tour for multiple years. But finally, you know, dug her way back out of it. She's all the way up to 25th in the world on the Rolex rankings. It's going to be very, very interesting because I have the exact opposite feelings that I have for the US team when I think of Team Europe. And I'm like, oh, my Lord, here comes this European squad again, you know, are they going to make this?

They're basically going for four in a row. I mean 1921 and then last year retained it at Finconn-Cortezan. You know, the last time that they lost was out in Iowa in 2017. And I think that the team that the European squad has formed is, it might not world ranking wise be as powerful, but this is the same thing we talk about when it comes to US versus Europe Ryder Cup. I mean, they just, the Europeans got that dog in them and it doesn't matter what number they have hung next to their name. It's something that their captains are able to bring out of them that makes them play so much better. And I feel like running through a brick wall right now

for this European squad. Well, let's talk about the European squad real quick. So they take the top two off of the LET points list and that was Charlie Hall and Esther Henselite earning auto spots that way. And then they take the next six best based on world ranking. And so you have Celine Boudier, Maya Stark, Lynn Grant, Madeline Sagstrom, Leona McGuire, and Carlotta Saganda, leaving four captain's picks for Suzanne Pedersen. And so I think three of these are, again, it's kind of similar to the US

side. I think three are not surprising at all. And then the fourth one, we were like, oh, we'll see who it is. And so the ones that I feel like weren't surprising at all, you have Georgia Hall, who has played in four prior Solheim Cups. Like, of course, you're taking her. You have Anna Nordquist, a little surprised maybe she's gonna be a vice captain again. She was vice captain last year, but Suzanne is tapping her to play. She's got all kinds of experience

having played in eight Solheims prior to this. And then the other one that I don't think is a surprise just because of what we know about how well they mesh personality wise is Denmark's Emily Christine Pedersen. She is somebody with Solheim experience. She never lights it on fire. She hasn't yet week to week on the LPGA Tour.

But again, somebody that she rose to the occasion last year. She played good golf when she had to in Spain. And so that left the fourth captain's pick. And I think the names that were kind of in the mix, if you will, were, you know, a Linnea Strom, a Alexandra Forsterling, Gemma Dryburra. But in the end, it went to Albain Valenzuela, a Swiss 26 year old.

She'll be making her first Solheim Cup appearance. And so let me let me ask you that Cody any surprises any issues with the four team Europe captain's picks? No, I mean, it's funny because we can sit here and you can poke a million holes in Emily's pick. But you know, she's going to be right there. She's she's missed a cut in almost every big tournament so far this year, but that does not matter when you're talking about Emily and how she fits into this team. I really like the Albion pick.

I think she had really good showing, put herself in contention at the final major of the year, the AIG Women's Open. She's had good form at the Olympics, made her presence known there. She played well, finished, I think, top 20 at the Scottish. You know, last, I would say the only two real blemishes there. I know she missed the cut at Evian as well as Founders, but made cut at US Women's Open. I think she's just somebody that gets along really well with the squad.

And when you're looking for somebody that can go out and go deep, you know, kind of the same version of what we have come to know from Caroline Headwall. Albain is that. She's a really good ball striker. Her KPMG performance insights page, she's just not a great putter. She gives away 0.21 shots putting per round but makes up for it in ball striking. And so you're right. She's somebody

that you compare with a putter. I think she's good in those either foursomes or four ball matches. And yeah, she has showed up. You know, she hasn't really been front page of the leaderboard on Sunday, but she's somebody that you kind of see around leaderboards at a lot of the bigger events. And I'm excited to see her in this competition and for the world to kind of get a better sense of what she's about. I will say Team Europe, so the only two changes from their team from last year, you have Gemma Dryburah, who went 00 and 2, and Carolyn Headwall. I almost am glad Carolyn Headwall is not on this year's team because it leaves her Solheim Cup career on such a high note. What she did in Sunday singles in that charge to earn a point last year was just incredible.

So those are the two that will not be on the team that were on the team. And then of course, Esther Henslite and Albain Valenzuela are both in, they're both rookies. And so you were saying, Cody, I'm with you. It's crazy. Through a lot of this season, I'm like, has Team Europe, are they any good? Or what are we doing? But all of a sudden, you know, we get closer to

Solheim Cup week and, you know, Leona McGuire starts playing a little better golf and it feels like this team is gelling and whatever they have going as a team, as a group in the locker room, it just is really strong. And I feel like once again,

this team probably will play above, you know, just what their numbers are on paper. And it's getting better. I don't know. I like, I'm like talking myself all of a sudden into this team Europe. It just seems like they are in a good spot heading into Robert Trent Jones golf club here in a couple weeks.

Yeah, you identified the ball striking there on a couple of them, but it's really about driving accuracy. There's a lot of water out at Robert Trent Jones, and it's going to take extreme accuracy, especially I would say this is probably more of a strength on the European side versus the US side. US side gets a little shaky outside of like the top half of our team. But overall, I mean, from top to bottom, I think driving performance and not just distance, but overall accuracy is a lot well suited on Team Europe there. And people who know

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before. Please head to Titleist.com to schedule a fitting new year. I think that's the most important thing about it. Just get fit wherever you're at. Go get fit. I'm in love with my GT4 I don't I didn't realize I was gonna be a four-boy, but that's what I am Awesome. We have an interview coming up here with US captain Stacey Lewis She of course is back after leading the US team last year Cody said it was a 14-14 tie Though Europe retains the cup. It honestly felt like a European win due to that. And on the European side, you have Suzanne Pedersen back

captaining their side. It feels like this year is a tiebreaker of sorts. I am very excited. We mentioned Robert Trent Jones Golf Club, Gainesville, Virginia. It's September 13th through 15th. Cody, you and I are going to, you know, we're going to have a lot of stuff the week of the Solheim Cup. We're going to be on site. We're going to be doing live shows every day. So I think we have time. We'll save our predictions for a bit closer to the tournament. Anything before we turn it to our interview with Stacey

that you want to talk about, I know the one thing for folks that aren't quite aware is just the discrepancy in how these captains seem to go about building their team and how they think about their team. I'll say Stacey Lewis is very into the data, the analytics, shout out Justin Ray, they are deep in the numbers. And I think on the opposite side, Suzanne

seems to be more of an eye test, which I think just makes her a fascinating matchup. Yeah, you're right there, big. And I think this is going to be my winning moment here, just how we went about the constructions of these teams. And I want to thank our friends at Mizuho. Mizuho Americas is part of Mizuho Financial Group, the 15 largest bank in the world. They serve corporate and investment banks, serving corporate and institutional clients. They advise and fund businesses looking to go public, raise money, expand operations, or connect with large investors. My Mizuho winning moment is just Captain Suzanne Pedersen for the second time that she is leading

the charge for two teams here, just her steadfast self-belief in the eye test and going with her gut. She has put together a squad that I said earlier makes me want to run through a brick wall for him from top to bottom. I don't think she's missing anything out of the team that she's put together. She believes in their personality. She believes on putting strengths and weaknesses together. And honestly, we've heard she's had this team together for the last two months. There is nothing new here. And as much as we want to say, all these picks waited till the very end to that cutoff date at right after that putt dropped at the old course

of St. Andrews. That was not the case for team Europe and captain Suzanne Pederson knew it. So from top to bottom, it doesn't matter if it's Charlie Hall or Esther Henselight, who's playing probably some of the best golf in the world right now. Yeah. To her captain's picks. You know, I just think that she is, there's something about how she goes about her captaincy and I know this is the exact same way that she went about her playing career as well, but it's so, it's so awesome to see the self belief that she has, not only in herself to actually go out and get that victory this time on US soil, but in the team that she put together. And I truly think unless something drastically changes here, the US is in for a real, real rude awakening at which I'm I'm thankful and happy to that we got the chance to talk to Stacey Lewis about it. Yeah. So here's our interview with Stacey Lewis.

We asked her, you know, what she learned from 2023, what's going to be different for 2024. She said very firmly last year Team Europe was favored. I was curious if she would still feel the same way this year. We get into a lot of stuff. She's awesome. Great interview. Cody, we'll see you closer to Solheim. Pumped.

Joining us now, she's back for another year to captain the United States Solheim Cup team. It is Captain Stacy Lewis. Stacy, thank you so much for joining us today, talking a little Solheim Cup as we get ready for the event. I think if you don't mind, could we just look back a little bit on 2023? And the first question, obviously with the luxury of hindsight, is there anything that kind

of sticks with you that that you wish you could have changed that was at least within your control? Not really. I mean, you can say I could have sort of changed the singles lineup and put somebody else in a different number. But who knows if that person actually wins a match. There wasn't really anything that sticks out that it would have changed. I wish you could have gotten half a point more, but we also had, Europe had a hole in one. They had a couple of chip-ins on us that affected the end of matches.

And so they're really, Europe had to pull off some crazy stuff, especially, you know, coming back from the start that we got off to, you know, there's really not a whole lot I would change. And just on Team Europe, we did an end of the year wrap up and we just marveled at Caroline Headwall specifically in her performance. You've obviously been in and now captaining a lot of Solheim Cubs. Where would you rank her Sunday singles performance?

You know, the most impressive thing about it is she didn't play a whole lot of golf prior to that. You know, Suzanne Satter, I think the whole first day, played one match because they have to. You have to play at least one match going into singles. And so I think that's what makes it most impressive more than anything. And maybe that lit a fire and that's what you saw.

But I mean, you look at stats, you look at the way she had played this year, I don't think anybody would have expected that. The run that she went on there, that back nine, I mean, I thought Allie's match was in the bag, to be honest. I thought if I could get Angel across the finish line and get a full point out of her, I thought we had the thing one. And then unfortunately, Ali's match went the wrong way. It is a good thing to note. Caroline sat out not only all day one, but sat out the morning

session as well as day two, didn't come in paired with Anna. Cheyenne and Angel ended up beating them two up. And it was kind of one of those things I remember sitting there talking about like, is Suzanne trying to hide Carol? Like this is weird. Like, why would you go out on a limb with one of your captain's picks? And then just kind of, yeah, not playing until really she was forced to. And then all of a sudden it was Sunday and it felt like Caroline had this

tidal wave with her and just kind of pulled everything on that course. But you're right identifying, you know, when they needed a break, Team Europe, they got that break. Whether it was a hole-in-one, chip-ins, and it felt like, you know, it's weird when there's moments in these big matches where things fall and they can fall either way. At some point in time, I remember turning to Randy and Neil, who I was with on the back nine on Sunday. I'm like, wow, how is everything going their way right now? And it was just the momentum of it.

You felt it coming. And still I was confused at the end. I'm like, wait a second, standing on 17 green with Carlota. I was like, wait, what just happened? Like, how did, what are we doing? Anyway, big. Yeah, I was back on 17 tee with Lexi and, you know, even Emily, Emily was kind of like,

what are these guys doing? Like, we still gotta finish our match, you know? And I think in her head, like, she had a good opportunity to go, like, they had to go win the cup outright, like in her head. Like let us finish our match and you know and that was Lexi too. I said to Lex, walked off that tee. I said let's not let him win this thing outright and she's like I got it. And so there was still something to play for there. It was a little bit strange the reaction though I would agree with you on that.

Right. It was I can say from a fan's perspective, it was absolutely wonderful theater. I know you didn't get the result you were looking for necessarily. Yeah. It does bring up a great question though, is that how it should end? Should a cup end like that? And I don't wanna put you in a position of,

maybe in a couple of months we'll ask you this again, unless you get named for a third captain, which Oh, no, no, no. I'm not doing it. Well, you said, I remember you talking on on Sunday, you were like, I'm not sure should we do a playoff? It was one of those things you're like, I don't have an answer.

I mean, did you think any more about it? Or are you, you know, hypothetically, we don't have to necessarily make it about 2023. Do you kind of lean one way or another? You know, it's literally the million dollar question. You know, the problem now is you've got history. You've got a way we this is the way we've done it. I think if a change happens, I think it has to happen for both the Ryder Cup and the Solon

Cup. I think it would be strange to do one and not the other. I think the hypothetical format is alternate shot, send two players out from each team, sudden death. I love it. Go out to like 15, you know, a lot of the builds, you know, on those events are around that 14, 15 range. Send them out to 15 and let them go, let them play. I mean, I just think at a team event, you can't just send one person out there. I don't think that's the right way to do it.

So I don't know. I think it would have to be a change across the whole sport though. I think it can't just be us. It's a lot better idea than me recommending that the captains and vice captains are the ones that should play. No.

All right guys. No, thank you. There's a reason I'm captain, not playing. Did you all bring your clubs? Let's get them out. With the 14-14 tie in your mind, do you kind of look at this year's Solheim Cup as a bit of a tiebreaker?

Yeah, I mean, it feels like a carryover to me. Like it never, there wasn't ever ever really a finishing point to it. Because we also, we've been planning for this one prior to playing the one in Spain. So it felt like everything just kind of kept going and we just kept kind of rolling into it. And yeah, I mean, I think it's almost like if Suzanne and I are doing this again,

we left there a tie and so we get to go settle the score. And I love that you guys are both captaining your respective teams this year. That continuity again, just from, you know, getting fans excited. I do feel like there's unfinished business. I'm sure you've thought a lot about this Stacey and you've no doubt probably talked a lot about this. But I'm curious maybe what's the most important thing you learned through the whole thing last year, the 2023 Solheim Cup? I saw how important the environment is for the players in creating a good environment

where they feel comfortable and they're happy and they're enjoying it because it leads to good golf compared to what I've seen that past the past few Solheim Cups that maybe in the past not enough emphasis has been put on that on just creating that not necessarily a team environment but just an environment where the players can be themselves and not forcing them to do things or be a person that they're not. And you know I learned a lot about the stats and diving into players and learning what type of players they are and how you pair them up. I mean, that was that was the biggest breakthrough to me throughout the whole process.

Cody, we have some stats questions. I think this is a perfect opportunity, perfect segue to lean in there. Can you just talk about we've had a chance we know Justin Ray pretty well. We've had him on the podcast. He is just such a wonderful guy. Can you tie in? If you don't mind? Can you can you talk about the role he plays kind of behind the scenes his importance and just how your evolution I guess or your relationship with the analytic analytics has evolved through these last couple of years.

I will tell you, Justin, you guys know this, Justin loves stats and numbers more than anyone I've ever met in my life. I mean, I love numbers and life diving into it, but he loves it a whole lot more than I do. And he's been a great resource just to, you know, throughout the year, he'll just feed us stuff on, hey, this player is doing this or this player is doing that. And just so we kind of just help us pay attention to really how they're playing. I mean, we see scores and finishes, but, you know, he spots trends that lead to good golf,

you know, a month away or a couple of weeks away and things like that. And I mean, it's been massive. You know, we in the past, you know, we paired people. Julie did personality test. You figured out who were friends. I mean, we were going through all these different methods and nothing related to how they actually played golf. And a lot of the captains, you know, Julie said she wanted,

you know, let's send the best putters out an alternate shot. But the numbers show that maybe that's not necessarily the way to do it. And so we've learned what type of players play well and best in each format. Really simple way to put best ball, don't put two people together, they're already the same holes. But we've never had the data and the way to filter that data to show us show us what that is and what that looks like So, you know and it makes sense, you know

You look at we've had like the Dow team event where I look at like Nellie and Jess when they played together the one year And they absolutely crushed it an alternate shot But then they got the best ball and they were they laid an egg, but it's because they birdie the same holes, right? So it's been fun to learn all that and then to see it kind of play out in real life and see it happen. I think one of the more fascinating dynamics going back to you and Captain Suzanne Pederson is she seems very much more and she says as much. She says, I was a field player and I kind of am doing this by my thoughts and and you know, of course the input of our assistant captains and whatnot. But I guess I say

all that it makes such a great contrast of styles. And I think that usually leads to awesome matchups in certainly in a team environment, this this clash of style and personal not personality, but just attitudes personality, not personality, but just attitudes towards approaching it. I'm curious if you've kind of picked up on that same dynamic. Oh, yeah. Yeah.

I mean, in Spain, it was almost, you know, she was trying to almost be the polar opposite of me. Right. I will say some of the interviews we've done this year leading up to this, I think she's, she might be trending the other way as far as stats. And so you guys will have to, you guys will have to find out and ask her. But it's, yeah, I mean, the advantage she also had last year was the more veteran team having some pairings from past years that have worked.

You know, the veterans really help you out a lot because they're a little, they're more willing to pair up with people. Then you know, first timers are kind of like, I don't really know that person very well. I don't know if this is going to work. Where the veterans like, I don't care who you give me, we're gonna get we're gonna figure it out. You know, so so having those having a core like with the Carlotta and Anna, having those kind of players is was really helpful to her, I believe. Yeah, absolutely. Just out of curiosity, was there any decision that you can remember or pinpoint where it was like, I know what the numbers are telling me, but I got to go with my gut here?

Lexi, 100%. Okay. She, I told, and I think she'd be okay saying this, but I told her, and we talked in Cincinnati a couple of weeks prior. She obviously hadn't been playing very good all year. Numbers showed it, she knew it. And I told her, I said, I think the way you're playing, I'm probably just gonna play twice and just play in best ball,

because I don't think alternate shot is a good place for you to really get into a rhythm and work on your game and to be ready for singles. She's like, okay, I'll do whatever you need me to do. She shows up at Solheim and man, she was fired on all cylinders. It was like Monday every day, somebody different was coming up to me and saying, man, Lexi's playing so good. Man, Lexi's playing so good. Man, Lexi's playing so good.

And so I'm like, well, the numbers show that she should not be playing alternate shot, but we got to get her out there. And so Thursday afternoon, she was actually playing with Megan in a practice round. I was on the 16th hole. I said, hey, I'm thinking about sending you guys out first tomorrow.

Can you guys figure out a golf ball for alternate shot and they're like, uh sure and so they got came off 18 And I said you guys good and they're like, yeah, we're good. And that was it I just the number of people telling me how good she was playing knowing Lexi Thompson Who Lexi Thompson is when she shows up at Solheim Cup. It just felt like the right thing to do That's I love that. I can remember Cody and I were talking to Justin Ray. We would pass him at the course. Guys, Lexi has hit the ball fantastic. I'm telling you, she's hitting the ball great.

Which makes it funny because you mentioned that as like, that was your gut decision, but the stats also back that up that she was, she was trending. And I remember Justin and you talking about like, no, we've, we've been taking strokes, gained data during the practice rounds. I'm like, yeah, but that's not those aren't competitive rounds. It's so hard to get any data from that. And he's like, no, this is, he's like, you guys, it's going hard to get any data from that and he's like no, this is he's like you guys it's gonna happen like and it clearly did and I Wanted I think my question there is did that feel like a risk at the time or is that something that that like you?

Have it's your decision is what's best for the team But also are there people in this system, the Solheim Cup University, you have to kind of answer or justify this stuff too? No, there's really no one to justify it too. I mean, I didn't sleep very well the night before, I will tell you that. Like there was so many unknowns. I mean, I had no idea if any of these pairings were going to work out. I mean, all of these pairings, a lot of them were based on, yeah, I mean, I felt like they were right, but it was based on stats and like we had never done this before. So I literally had no clue this could completely backfire or this could be great for us.

And I just I sat on that first tee and saw everybody off on Friday morning. And I just watched Lexi and Megan go one up, two up. And I was like, Okay, I think we found something here, you know, like, so it's, that was that morning session on Friday was just the biggest validation to me of like, like why I did that, why we spent all the time why we spent the money on the stats, like, it was the biggest validation to just all the work we had put in. I love that. I love that.

Um, well, maybe if, if, if we look ahead now to the, this year's Solheim cup, uh, it seems from an outside perspective, Cody and I have actually chatted on some of our recent podcasts. It feels like your team selection is perhaps a bit more cut and dried this year. Do you have that same feeling or has it been a struggle to kind of build your roster out? I would say there's more players in the mix now

than this time last year actually. This time last year, my list felt we were kind of down to 13. And this year, I'd say we're probably still at about 15 or 16. And it's changed. I really honestly, I thought the teams were going to be very similar. Maybe one person was going to switch. I mean, that was honestly why I added two new assistants is because I wanted this thing to feel different. I didn't want like, say it was just one new player coming in. They were like the odd ball out.

You know, the only new person I wanted. I brought new assistants in just to bring, just to add some different flair to it, add a different feel to it. And in case there were more players coming in being different too. So, which, you know, you've had some not play as well, and then we've had others really step up to the plate and play some great golf.

The things that, you know, fans can't see and really, you know, people like Cody and I too, that are there. But the great unknown is kind of what goes on behind the scenes in the team room. In terms of team building and creating that culture, obviously the new assistant captains play a role in that. Is there anything else like new that you really want to do this year? You know, maybe week of, let's say. You know, a lot of the team building and the culture stuff I think happens ahead of time and throughout the year. You know, I think a lot of the challenge with captains in the past too, is they're a lot older and the players don't know them very well and vice versa, the captains don't know

the players very well. And so I've really tried to get to know the players well and I've had more this time. You know, I've said to them all last year, I said, if you ever want to know where you stand, like come talk to me, I'll tell you where you stand. But no, there could be a positive or negative to it. And I will say I've had a lot more reach out this time of wanting to know where they stand, what they can do better. And that part, that allows me to kind of open some doors with them and get to know them

better and build some trust there. So that week of like, you know, I mean, Lexi and I are great friends. I've known Lexi forever. So I knew I could go up to her on Thursday at 16 and say that to her where other players that I say I didn't know them as well and didn't have a great relationship with them. I couldn't say that to them. So, so it's really about just, you know, me getting to know them so I can, we can all adjust on the fly. And, you

know, we're gonna do a cool little trip on Monday afternoon, get them around DC, being so close to our nation's capital. I want them to understand and really embrace what they're representing. It's not just Solemn Cup. It's not just the LPGA. You're representing this country and seeing the bigger picture there. So we're going to get them away from the golf course a little bit and do something fun on Monday. And then, you know, really from there, you know, this is one of those Solheim Cups.

They're going to be at the golf course all day, every day. It's going to be, we're leaving in the dark and we're coming back in the dark. So they're going to get plenty of time together. We talk a lot about course setups and everything else on the Ryder Cup side. And I meant to ask you this last year, because I don't quite know for the Solheim Cup. Do you do you get input when it comes to course setup? Or is that basically LPGA tournament operations, normal setup, they kind of handle that stuff?

In the past, the LPGA has tried to stay very neutral and not allow any sort of thing and I would say this year they've asked more questions to me because I've had some players go and I've had them track what clubs they hit off the tees, what clubs are hitting into the holes and you know I've had some back and forth with the officials just so that, you know, the golf course is set up and played the way they see it being played. But there are some things that I am going to try to get in there that will, you know, Justin has fed me some information on some things that our team does better, that we could, if we keep it in the course setup, that could help us. So I'm trying, is the answer to that. As I'm trying, they're very hesitant to go

as far as the Ryder Cup is gone and say, I want rough this long or I want the greens this speed. They haven't gone that far yet, but hopefully maybe one day. What type of venue will Robert Trent Jones Golf Club be? For folks that aren't really familiar with it? What type of player or what facet of the game do you expect it to maybe favor or challenge? And maybe how different is it from Finca-Cordeson last year?

It's very different than Finca. Finca, you had tons of room off the tee. Like your strokes game driving number didn't really matter there, to be honest. Where this one, it's gonna matter how you hit it off of the tee. There's bunkers, I think almost every hole has a bunker in play off the tee. I mean, it's more of a major championship golf course.

It's not one where you can just bomb it down there and have a wedge in your hand. One, because there's rough, there's bunkers, but then there's also some trees that are going to overhang and be in the way at times. So it should, I mean, just the way the golf course plays in general, it should play to the favor of our team. We have a few more ball strikers than Europe does. So it should play to our favor in that aspect, but it's also a very cool piece of property. It's right on Lake Manassas. Pretty much the whole back nine goes all along the lake. That's a cool scene. You've got tons of holes that kind of go back

and forth. So for spectators, it's going to be awesome as far as being able to see a lot of golf. And it will be a better walk than Finca. It's not as... It's got hills, but it's not as severe. It couldn't be worse. Oh, man. All right. Well, I might be putting you on the spot a little bit, but I remember prior to last year's Solheim Cup, you were you said you stated flat out that, hey, the Europeans are favored. They should be favored. What's your mindset coming into 2024? Europeans are favored, they should be favored. What's your mindset coming into 2024? Do you want to take that underdog role?

How do you view this edition of the Solheim Cup? I mean, I feel like it's more of a toss up now. I mean, we went over there with five rookies and played to a tie. I mean, that in itself is pretty darn impressive. But there's also going to be some challenges in that a lot of these girls haven't played at home. Because this is way bigger than anything that happens over there. There's more people involved.

They have more families coming. There's more aspect to it that we're going to have to deal with. I think we need to win. I really do. I don't like hearing three in a row for them. I definitely don't want to hear for so But I also look back. I mean you think back to Glen Eagles the literally the last putt decided it Inverness was probably if there were two or three shots at the end that went differently we could have won that one Spain there were tons of shots that could have gone the other way

So I mean we're we're as close as we've ever been and these things are going to continue to be close. I mean, that's just that it's how good the players are now. There's not, for a long time, there's a drop off of level of play, I think, from the European side and it's not there anymore. So, it's getting our players over the hump of pulling off those shots instead of being on the other side of it. All right. This is not really Solheim cup base, but with it being a president's cup year on the men's side, uh, we've, we've spent a lot of time just discussing how cool. I don't know if it's a president's cup.

That's coed where it's men and women, where it's the U S versus the world, or it's a president's Cup type competition, where the US could take on, you know, there's such fabulous golfers, Japan, Korea, Thailand, you know, Canada, the rest of the world, et cetera. Is that something you would like to see in one form or fashion down the road? Is there room for that in the women's game?

Oh, 1,000%. I think, I mean, you see it, I think room for that in the women's game? Oh, 1000%. I think, I mean, you see it, I think you see it with the Olympics, like, and you see swimming with the mixed relays, the track and field has mixed relays. I mean, like, why aren't we doing this? And I think it's the biggest, it's a huge miss right now. And honestly, I think more so even than the Olympics,

because I think it would be hard in the format and getting players to stay longer and everybody's getting practice rounds. I mean, it would be unless you played the Olympics at the same time, like men and women play at the same time, and then you go into a team competition afterwards. But I think President's Cup is the perfect place to do a mixed event. The international team will get way better as soon as you added those women. So much better.

Instantly better. And it would make it more like that's one of the big complaints that you hear from fans right now is like the US just dominates. It's not that exciting. And yeah, with the the infusion of awesome. I will say one thing is that I major kudos to you last year when we're running these big team competitions and back to

back weeks, I think, you know, a lot of people kind of would have held their tongue and not called out kind of the missed opportunity that having something and more of a join combined thing was and you're the first person to stand up and be like, no, this is the game of golf. Everybody who enjoys golf, let alone competitive golf at the time, but also your position in the game and standing up and saying, hey, this is something that we need to look at and be serious about it. So thank you for that.

You can beat your head against the wall and do the same thing over and over again, but you gotta change, you gotta adapt. We gotta find the ways, we gotta play this game faster. We gotta make this game more exciting. There's a lot of things we need to do to modernize the game of golf in general. And I think having us play together is the first way to do it.

And that'll do it for this episode. Again, a big thank you to Captain Stacey Lewis. I know she is absolutely fired up to lead Team USA against Captain Suzanne Pedersen and Team Europe at this iteration of the Solheim Cup. Robert Trent Jones Golf Club outside of Washington, DC, Gainesville, Virginia, Manassas, Virginia. Who knows?

It's outside of the Beltway. It could be a concern traffic wise. Anyway, we're going to be there all week. Big myself, TC, and we'll have a couple others bouncing around throughout the week. If you're considering attending the event, tickets are still available online. We would love to see as many people out there supporting the event as possible and cheering our LC on. Come on.

We're so fired up for LC making this squad, but really we just can't wait to see another Solheim cut because we've had so much fun at the last couple of playings of them. Anywho, that's it for this iteration. Thanks to Titleist, thanks to Yeti, thanks to Mizuho, and we'll see you next time. Cheers. Be the right club. Be the right club today.

Johnny, that's better than most. How about him? That is better than most. How about Ian? That is better than most. Better than most! Expect anything different?