One can say partnerships decide Solheim Cups. Foursomes require two players to share one ball and alternate shots, so chemistry matters as much as skill. Get it right, and a team banks points before singles even start. Get it wrong, and the deficit becomes hard to claw back. That’s exactly what happened in Europe in 2024. Naturally, this year, Charley Hull was asked whether Europe would run back the same partnership from that loss or look for a revamp.
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At a conference ahead of the Solheim Cup, the reporter pointed out Europe’s returning pairs scored just one point in 2024 compared to six points from the Americans’ returning duos. With that context, is Europe willing to take that risk once again? Charley Hull’s answer was short and unbothered.
“I’ve pretty much got my partner. I think I’m going to be playing with Mel Reed over the weekend. And, you know, she’s really, she’s informed now. She’s sort of chipping out since, you know, the Women’s KPMG Championship when she was duffing it. I’ll give her a few lessons, but she’s been absolutely smashing it the last few days on the golf course. And I think we’ve got a pretty solid pair in there,” Hull said.
There’s a wrinkle in that answer, though. Mel Reid isn’t a player this week. She is the non-playing vice-captain for Team Europe. So when she says she’s playing with Reid, she’s joking.
At the 2024 Solheim Cup in Virginia, the U.S. won by three points, 15.5 to 12.5. Four European pairings from that event could realistically be reused this year, and together they earned just one point. One of them was Hull and Esther Henseleit in foursomes. Comparing that to the Americans, who have four returning pairings that won six points combined: Nelly Korda and Allison Corpuz, who won twice. Next, Andrea Lee and Rose Zhang rebounded from a tough 2023 and went twice in 2024. In fact, Korda and Zhang each banked a point with different partners too. That gap is the entire premise behind the reporter’s question.
But notably, how captains build these pairings isn’t guesswork alone. U.S. captain Angela Stanford described her process this week. She said she uses months of tracking player numbers since March, watching who performs well together, and factoring in personality alongside data. With that, she, of course, uses her “gut” and instincts.
“We’ve been working on this since March. We’ve been watching them. We’ve been watching their numbers. It’s just a combination of who we have seen in the past, also the things that have worked well, their personalities,” she added.
Europe’s Carlota Ciganda hinted at something similar on her side, saying fans should expect new pairings this week rather than a repeat of 2024.
The Friday foursomes pairings come out at Thursday’s opening ceremony. So fans and the players are holding on to that announcement.
That being said, none of Charley Hull’s quirky banter settles the question. Whether Europe changes the course of the partnership formula that produced just one point last time won’t be clear until the pairing sheet goes up.