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Matthew will try and defend Solheim Cup as Euro captain in 2021

Catriona Matthew will captain the European Solheim Cup team again in 2021.

The Ladies European Tour made it official in an announcement Thursday at Gleneagles in Matthew’s native Scotland, where she led the Euros to victory against the Americans in September in one of the most exciting finishes in the history of the biennial international team event.

Matthew, 50, will captain the Euros in a road game this time, with the United States hosting the Solheim Cup at the Inverness Club in Toledo, Ohio.

“Winning the Solheim Cup in Scotland was a dream come true but backing that up with a win in American would be even better,” Matthew said.

The Europeans are 1-7 in Solheim Cups played in the United States.

“It’s always harder to win on U.S. soil, but I’m honored to be tasked with the mission,” Matthew said. “I was lucky enough to be part of the first European team to win on U.S. soil at Colorado Golf Club in 2013 and so know what’s possible.”

Matthew added to her already impressive Solheim Cup history as the architect of the European victory in her homeland in September. She took a risk naming Suzann Pettersen one of her captain’s picks, with Pettersen out of tournament play around the birth of her first child for most of the last two years, and yet Pettersen delivered the final victorious stroke for Matthew’s team, holing a birdie putt on the final hole in the final match at Gleneagles.

Matthew becomes the fifth European to captain multiple Solheim Cup teams, the first to do so in back-to-back Solheim Cups since Alison Nicholas in 2009 and ’11. As a player, Matthew was a force, compiling 22 Solheim Cup points, third most in the event’s history behind Laura Davies (25) and Annika Sorenstam (24).

Matthew penned a first-person column on her experience as captain on LPGA.com, sharing how team and family overlap as concepts.

“I talked to many past captains of both the Solheim Cup and Ryder Cup,” she wrote. “Each offered something valuable. I learned about not only compromise, but communication ... communication with players, caddies and back-room team. That was a key to our victory. I listened and stayed attuned to as many needs as possible. It’s not all that different from being a mother, actually. You have to guide your children in a certain way to get the best out of them, but also give them room and freedom to grow and perform at their best. The same is true when you’re captaining a Solheim Cup team.”