Saturday, August 17, 2013

Solheim Cup Saturday Morning: Foursomes Predictions

Morgan Pressel/Jessica Korda vs. Anna Nordqvist/Caroline Hedwall:  I give Team Euro the slight edge here, as Hedwall is one of the hottest and boldest players on either team, Korda is a rookie, and she and Pressel really benefitted from Ewart Shadoff's nerves yesterday.

Stacy Lewis/Paula Creamer vs. Azahara Munoz/Karine Icher:  Well, it's another gimungous (a woird I heard for the 1st time from 1 of my nephews the other day here in CT) paper advantage for Team USA, but given how this Team Euro pairing took down Kerr and Creamer yesterday morning, anything can happen!

Brittany Lincicome/Lizette Salas vs. Catriona Matthew/Caroline Masson:  I've gotta give the edge to Team Euro here, as I'm just not sure Lincicome is driving the ball straight enough this year to set Salas up, Salas didn't hit that many quality approaches yesterday when Lewis set her up, and all Matthew needed to win both her matches yesterday was a reliable partner (the kind Masson was for Hedwall yesterday afternoon).

Michelle Wie/Brittany Lang vs. Suzanne Pettersen/Beatriz Recari:  Wie and Lang are both very good ball-strikers and swinging well this week, but they're going up against the cream of Team Euro's crop, so they'll also have to putt well to win.  I'm a little surprised Captain Neumann didn't follow the strategy that worked yesterday of frontloading her huge talent and hoping for an upset from Munoz and Icher.  Looks like Captain Mallon decided on that strategy instead, while Team Euro's anchors will have to perform better than Kerr and Creamer did in that role yesterday.

So if all goes according to my predictions, Team Euro will be up 8-4 by the end of the morning.  However, since nothing's gone as I've expected, the teams will probably be all knotted up heading into the morning!

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