CROMVOIRT, Netherlands – U.S. Solheim Cup captain Angela Stanford had at least one easy decision for Friday morning’s opening foursomes session at Bernardus Golf.
Nelly Korda and Allisen Corpuz have teamed to go 2-0 in the alternate-shot format in each of the past two editions, in 2023 and 2024, and the American super duo will reunited for a fifth time.
“I feel like if I didn’t put those two out, I would be questioned,” Stanford said with a laugh. “I feel like the whole world knew that they were coming.”
Korda, the world No. 1, and Corpuz will draw Charley Hull, a veteran of now eight Solheim Cups, and Lottie Woad, who despite her rookie status is Europe’s top-ranked player at No. 7 in the world. The four players in the first match have an average world rank of 12.
“I would be worried if it weren’t these two players,” Stanford added. “Look, we can talk about Nelly, and we can talk about her being the No. 1 player in the world, but don’t sleep on Allisen. Allisen, I’ve called her the backbone of our team. She’s pretty tough. Yeah, so that dynamic, there’s a lot of good things going on in that pairing that, you know, they just complement each other really well.”
Hull was on losing end against Korda and Corpuz in 2024’s opening foursomes session, as she and Esther Henseleit lost, 3 and 2.
Korda is 6-2 for her Solheim foursomes career, while Hull is 6-3-1 despite playing with five different partners. Hull is 2-1-1 against Korda in any format; they most recently met in singles in 2024, when Hull routed Korda, 6 and 4.
Lauren Coughlin and Rose Zhang earned an opening foursomes point together over Celine Boutier and Albane Valenzuela in 2024 before Zhang was replaced with Lexi Thompson for a Saturday-foursomes defeat. Coughlin will now team with Alison Lee against Boutier and Nanna Koerstz Madsen while Zhang will pair with Jennifer Kupcho opposite Maja Stark and Linn Grant.
“Nanna and Celine, they wanted to play the team event on the LPGA together this year, and they really liked the pairing and they’re good friends, so I didn’t see why not to pick them,” European captain Anna Nordqvist said. “Maja and Linn, I mean, they played so much amateur golf together and they’re really good friends, so they know each other really well, so I think that was another pairing that felt really natural.”
Stark and Grant, who went 1-1 as a foursomes pair in 2023, are the only one of Europe’s four partnerships on Friday morning with previous experience together. The U.S. also has just one familiar pair, Korda and Corpuz.
The U.S. has outscored Europe in foursomes just three times in the last 14 Solheim Cups (2007, 2023, 2024). Europe leads the all-time foursomes series, 72.5-68.5.
“It started in Spain,” said Stanford, crediting the team’s stats guru, Justin Ray. “That was kind of the first time we started using stats and data to figure out the foursomes, and it’s helped us. You still have to have that little bit of chemistry, too. ... We’ve had a couple times where you want two players to play together because number-wise they should be off the charts, but they don’t want to be out there together. Not this year.”
Here is a complete list of Friday morning’s foursomes matchups, starting times, which are listed in ET. The teams will compete in four fourballs (better ball) matches in Friday’s second session.
- 1:40AM: Allisen Corpuz/Nelly Korda (U.S.) vs. Charley Hull/Lottie Woad (EUR)
- 1:52AM: Alison Lee/Lauren Coughlin (U.S.) vs. Nanna Koerstz Madsen/Celine Boutier (EUR)
- 2:04AM: Andrea Lee/Lindy Duncan vs. Esther Henseleit/Leona Maguire (EUR)
- 2:16AM: Rose Zhang/Jennifer Kupcho vs. Maja Stark/Linn Grant (EUR)
