SOLHEIM CUP

September 23, 2023

Suzann Pettersen

Finca Cortesin

Team Europe

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: We're joined by Suzann Pettersen. Obviously, going level heading into tomorrow. What did you say to them this morning?

SUZANN PETTERSEN: I didn't say too much this morning. I think I had a fairly clear speech last night. I just think the way the entire team has fought back from a pretty rough Friday morning has been extremely impressive. And again, this Saturday afternoon, the way the matches were played, it was just unbelievable. We came up on the strong side again.

So I think just overall, it's been three great sessions for Europe. We kind of gave them a little bit of a head start and now we're even.

THE MODERATOR: I was going to say talk through the day and some of the highlights that you saw out there. Obviously, the girls did so well throughout all of the matches.

SUZANN PETTERSEN: Well, I think it started off this morning. We obviously didn't lose the first hole in every single match at the start of this morning, so that was kind of a little bit of a momentum changer.

And the morning matches, I think it was kind of a fair score the way that kind of turned out. We went kind of with our kind of longer hitters for the afternoon, and that seemed to play off.

THE MODERATOR: Open it up for questions.

Q. I know you've had a lot of your pairings planned out weeks in advance coming into this week, but did you always think that Emily would play all five sessions or was that more of a product of what you've seen from her this week?

SUZANN PETTERSEN: I think Emily's a great pick, isn't she? I think she's done fairly well. I mean, we have a lot of -- I had a lot more names down for five than what we played. But this is a team format. You want everyone out on the course. It ended up that three players are going to play five and they can handle it.

It's also about you're young, you're fresh, you're ready to go, you're hungry. These girls are here to play, so they just said whatever you want, they will do it. So I think it's been working fairly good so far. They get a little bit of a good recovery tonight, a good rest-up in the morning, and then everyone should be super ready to go in the morning starting at 11:10 tomorrow.

Q. Knowing how the match is tied 8-8 and the margins are so small now, how important is that home field advantage going to be tomorrow? The crowd was really wild today and you could definitely hear them all over the place.

SUZANN PETTERSEN: Yeah, we got a great momentum going our way. I've been trying to actually ground the entire team in the team room now before I came here. Yes, we have done a tremendous job to get where we are now, but we're not even -- we're not even there. There's 12 points up for grabs tomorrow, and I want them to go out and feeling like we're still behind.

Q. I don't know if you can tell us something about the speech yesterday night, what did you say, how did you motivate the players.

SUZANN PETTERSEN: I just think I spoke from the heart, and for the ones who knows me in this room, that would probably not be too appropriate to say out loud. But I think it was needed. So I laid the land and they kind of got it.

Q. How many players did you have down for playing all five sessions?

SUZANN PETTERSEN: Well, I don't know exactly. It was at least five or six.

Q. Why was that your game plan coming in?

SUZANN PETTERSEN: What?

Q. Why was that your game plan coming in?

SUZANN PETTERSEN: It's always nice to have options. I mean, this is a different event. It's about energy, adrenaline, momentum. It was almost hard for me kind of -- it was, like, pick and choose who was actually going to go out this afternoon because we had so many that was just red hot and ready to go.

So I mean, it was literally almost a flip coin for some of them who I picked at the end. But we tried to base it off stats, tried to match up as good as we could, and it worked out fairly good.

Q. You've been a player in your career who has gone all five as well. As captain, philosophically, how do you weigh sending out players who are playing the best versus having rest for the all important Sunday singles session?

SUZANN PETTERSEN: I mean, it's Sunday. You can't take away how important the singles are. But I think Laura said it fairly well, we're on even ground now and that's all we can do. We kind of fought our way back, we've done our lineup and now the girls got to go out there and prove to themselves, prove to the world that they really want this. It's not much more we can do.

But I think everyone is really up for this. There's a lot on stake. But we got to go out there in the morning, try to get off strong again, and that's kind of how the lineup that we've done.

Q. In the 11th, in the match with Carlota, you have done just like Carlota wake a little -- I don't know if you understand.

SUZANN PETTERSEN: Yeah.

Q. Okay. Carlota has told us that 10 years ago you did some, you explained to her that she had to do it. I don't know if you can remember that moment.

SUZANN PETTERSEN: Yeah, yeah. I think it was back in, I don't exactly know or remember what year, but -- no, it was actually in Colorado. Carlota and I played together. She was a Spaniard, hitting it everywhere. And I kind of kept plugging along, kept us in the match. And she finally showed up on the back nine, and then she literally really showed up on like the hole 15. We managed to win the 15th. And as we walked down hole No. 16 I said, Carlota, chest up, walk like a champion. Like you never been gone, right?

So it's kind of a joke between the two of us, but I know Carlota well enough, I just got to give her the look and we know exactly what we're thinking, both of us. So, so happy for Carlota to come here to Spain. Literally bring her A game. She's been under a lot of pressure, probably mostly from herself. But the way she's handled it so far has been very, very impressive. That match in the afternoon between Carlota, Linn and the Americans was just unbelievable to watch.

Q. Looking at the lineup of tomorrow's matches now, Linn going first. Curious if you had a strategy in terms of ordering them, because it can be something we look a lot into and it can be a complete coincidence.

SUZANN PETTERSEN: We didn't do a flip coin on the lineup. But, yeah, we have a strategy on how we think this is going to most likely unfold. I don't think it's going to go any different than a lot of other Solheims in the past. Yeah, we're trying to go strong out. It's going to be important to get points early, give ourselves a chance. We got a pretty nice lineup in the back ready to take the ship home.

Q. Is it hard as a player to not, on Sunday, when there are 12 matches, to not get bothered by the red and the blue and where things are at?

SUZANN PETTERSEN: It's very hard because, I mean, you just played two days as a team, you've had teammates that you could lean on, that you can kind of walk down the fairways with, and all of a sudden you're stuck by yourself. At times in the singles you literally feel like you're playing some, I don't know, a hole at your home golf course because it gets so pocketed how kind of the crowds moves. Sometimes you play holes where you hardly see anyone, and then as it kind of narrows down, it all kind of builds up again.

So the girls know that, and the rookies, they have been told, you know, hopefully they can kind of stay fairly friendly with your caddie, because he's the only one you're going to have tomorrow next to you.

So, I mean, the Americans specifically, yes, they're very tough in the singles and we know that. But we've also proved that we can win the afternoon sessions. We've just kind of been probably not our best or strongest side. I mean, we've always been strong in the foursomes. So I think everything this week has been a little bit reversed. But it's a lot of fun to be out there.

And I got to say, it's 10 times more painful and harder to watch it from the sideline than it is to play.

THE MODERATOR: All right, we'll wrap it up. Thank you, Suzann, for coming in.

SUZANN PETTERSEN: Thank you.