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Captain Suzann Pettersen believes Europe have assembled their strongest team ever as they bid to win an unprecedented third straight Solheim Cup.<\/p>\n
Nine of Pettersen\u2019s 12-strong side are ranked inside the world\u2019s top 50, including Evian Championship winner Celine Boutier (fifth) and Charley Hull (eighth), who finished runner-up in both the US Women\u2019s Open and AIG Women\u2019s Open this year.<\/p>\n
Scotland\u2019s Gemma Dryburgh is ranked just outside the top 50, although Pettersen raised a few eyebrows when she selected world numbers 121 and 122 Caroline Hedwall and Emily Pedersen as two of her four captain\u2019s picks.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think we\u2019re all very ready to go,\u201d Pettersen told a pre-event press conference at Finca Cortesin in Spain.<\/p>\n
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\u201cI don\u2019t think there\u2019s any reason to hide that, if you look on paper, we have the strongest team that I\u2019ve ever been a part of, and that\u2019s based on great performances over the last few years from all the players.<\/p>\n
\u201cWith good results there\u2019s also expectations, but these girls are so up for it, so we can\u2019t wait.\u201d<\/p>\n
Pettersen\u2019s sentiments were echoed by several of her players on Wednesday, with Hull, who has been plagued by a neck injury, adding: \u201cI\u00a0think this is a very, very strong team.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s got a lot of depth to the team as well. Before we had a lot of strong players, but then sometimes the back end of the team wasn\u2019t as strong, but I feel like we\u2019re pretty strong all the way through.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think we\u2019ve got a good chance this year. I\u2019m looking forward to it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Pettersen and Hull were involved in one of the Solheim Cup\u2019s most controversial moments in 2015 when the Norwegian claimed a vital hole after Alison Lee had picked up her ball thinking a short putt had been conceded.<\/p>\n
Hull gave that impression as she was already walking across the front of the green towards the 18th tee, but Pettersen said they had not conceded the putt and therefore won the hole.<\/p>\n
A par on the 18th was enough for the European pair to win the match, but among those to strongly criticise Pettersen was her former team-mate and current assistant captain Dame Laura Davies, who said on Sky Sports she was \u201cdisgusted\u201d.<\/p>\n
He said: \u201cHow Suzann can justify that I will never, ever know. We are all fierce competitors, but ultimately it\u2019s unfair. We have to play week in, week out together and you do not do something like that to a fellow pro.\u201d<\/p>\n
Asked on Wednesday how Pettersen compares to previous captains she had played under, Davies said: \u201cWell, she\u2019s a lot calmer than I thought she was going to be.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ll be honest with you. I\u2019ve played with her and against her in normal tournaments and she\u2019s always been the same. She\u2019s just friendly, a little bit fearsome now and again, but brings everyone together.\u201d<\/p>\n
United States captain Stacy Lewis agreed with the bookmakers that Europe are favourites to retain the trophy as she lamented a \u201cmassive missed opportunity\u201d for the Solheim Cup to be more closely linked with next week\u2019s Ryder Cup.<\/p>\n
\u201cI thought this could have been marketed together as two weeks in Europe, two Cups for play,\u201d Lewis said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it was a massive missed opportunity for the sport of golf. We tried to do a little bit with the guys and just weren\u2019t really able to move things along the way I would have liked.<\/p>\n
\u201cI tried really hard, actually. I probably spent more time on it than I should have. But whether it was timing or it was too late in the process, I don\u2019t know. To really market it correctly, this probably had to happen two years ago.<\/p>\n
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\u201cIt\u2019s something that, going forward, I think the game of golf needs to get on the same page and do better with. I just would like to see it for the good of the game.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not to further women\u2019s golf. Let\u2019s further the game of golf in general.\u201d<\/p>\n