CASARES, SPAIN | While both were victorious in their quest for Solheim and Ryder Cup glory, there was otherwise very little similarity in the captaincy approaches of Catriona Matthew and Severiano Ballesteros – the calm and composed Scot a vast contrast to the micro-managing mayhem of the Spaniard.
At last week’s One Year To Go celebrations ahead of next year’s Solheim Cup at Finca Cortesin on the Costa del Sol in Spain, Europe’s captain Suzann Pettersen laughed when asked where she is likely to place between those two extremes on the leadership scale.
But, in addition to the smile, there was insight. “Right now, I’m leaning towards Catriona’s end, but as a player? There’s no doubt I was very like Seve and very intense,” she told Global Golf Post.
“The thing is, in my nine Solheim Cups I’ve seen the success of an approachable captaincy. I’ve also changed so much as a person since I finished playing – there’s no doubt I am more relaxed. So I will be laid back, I will be very prepared and I will also be very keen that my players appreciate my passion for this event.”
That fire in the belly was never more obvious than in the epic closing moments of the last Solheim Cup on European soil in 2019 at Gleneagles when the Norwegian holed a putt on the final green to clinch victory.
“I loved those situations, and I was not afraid to be in them,” she said. “I don't want to say that I was hoping to be that player, but I was ready for it. I practised my whole life for those moments, so when you're there why not embrace it? Bring it on. What an adrenaline rush – the greatest I ever had.”
In so many other ways the course offers a delicious prospect not least because, with a backdrop of mountain and vineyard terracing, it is sensational to behold.
Having driven Europe to triumph on the course, she will now attempt to do so from off it and just a few miles up the Spanish coast from the scene of Ballesteros’ captaincy at Valderrama. It is just one of many echoes set for the 2023 match.
For example, ahead of that Spanish Ryder Cup in 1997, Europe had lifted the trophy in four of the previous six matches and it has done just that in the last six Solheim Cups.
Comparisons with Valderrama need to be whispered however. Back in 2010, when Madrid was among the cities hoping to host the 2018 Ryder Cup, the team were keen to stress that it was the first true Spanish bid. Valderrama, they said, had been a Valderrama bid, not a national one.
Other echoes rebound from scenes of past continental tussles: Killeen Castle in the 2011 Solheim Cup had long walks between greens and tees, and Finca Cortesin has longer ones; 2010 Ryder Cup host Celtic Manor closed on the side of a hill, and at Finca Cortesin all 18 holes descend, climb or traverse a severely undulating property.
There is no way of ignoring the difficulties these characteristics will present.
Those in charge of the infrastructure have a riddle on their hands: Not just how to get players, broadcasters and fans on and off the course, but how to get them around it. Those slopes are significant, the layout is vast, and, paradoxically, the playing area is tight.
Moreover, it will not only be a test of the fittest, but also of the boldest because there is risk and reward aplenty with four par-5s and (potentially) four short par-4s in the first 14 holes (where the bulk of the match will be settled).
Many of the potential problems will be muttered about in the year to come. Yet this is now more or less a Solheim and Ryder Cup tradition, especially in Europe. For all the grumbling, at 5 p.m. on the final day it is the contest alone that determines how we remember the week.
And already changes have been made to make the most of the landscape rather than be restricted by it. The fourth hole, a short par-4, has, for example, become the first.
The tee is perched high on a steep hill and it seems inconceivable that a grandstand will ever surround it, yet that is exactly what is planned, of course. The prospect of watching blows to a distant yet reachable green (over water) from vibrating, contour-clinging bleachers is equal parts awe-inspiring and terrifying.
At the launch, Pettersen attempted to land a drive on the putting surface and hooked her first blow into the water, almost as if to delay the exhilaration of her second effort finding the target. The hole will not be for the faint-hearted, either inside or outside the ropes.
Later in the day, after 365 children had hit biodegradable balls toward the Mediterranean in a coordinated display and Pettersen had landed by helicopter on the harbour walls of Puerto Banús, Marta Figueras-Dotti reflected on the journey to get this far.
Few in European golf have been involved in so many roles in the sport as this Spanish veteran: amateur star (winning the Women’s British Open when still in the unpaid ranks), LPGA winner, coach, sports psychologist, national team manager, mentor, Solheim Cup vice captain and Ladies European Tour board member. Not forgetting the shoulder to cry on, dogsbody and factotum.
She is now the chair of the LET, a role that gave her the confidence to launch a bid to bring the match to her home country. “It's like a dream come true, and it’s been very rewarding,” she said before adding with a rueful smile: “It’s also been a nightmare at times. There has been a lot of hard work behind the scenes, yet we kept pushing through many conversations with politicians, lawyers and board members. If I’ve done something good off the course it is this, and I’m just giving back to a game that has given me a life.”
She paused at this point and became a little emotional.
“You know, if it hadn’t been for a trip to the 1978 Espirito Santo Trophy in Fiji, I wouldn’t be here. I was in the third year of medical school and we stopped at LAX where the coach of University of Southern California offered me a full scholarship. I said to my parents, ‘I’ll give it six months.’ Those six months have become a lifetime, and to give back to this game is better than winning the British Open.”
There is much talk of growing the game at the moment. Most of the growth involves little more than throwing cash at it (or hoping to make cash from it).
Real growth is hard work. It requires taking the game to difficult places and staging the greatest showpiece in the women’s game on the rugged slopes of Finca Cortesin is a good example. It also demands the qualities of a doer rather than a talker, and Marta Figueras-Dotti is a very good example of that, too.
Top: Suzann Pettersen celebrates winning the 2019 Solheim Cup as a player and next year hopes to experience the feeling as European captain.
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