The Big Lead

Nobody is enjoying 2024 Solheim Cup week more than rookie U.S. Sarah Schmelzel

By Adam Woodard

Sarah Schmelzel tees off on hole sixteen during the third round of the KPMG Women's PGA Championship golf tournament. (Photo: Steven Bisig-Imagn Images)
Sarah Schmelzel tees off on hole sixteen during the third round of the KPMG Women's PGA Championship golf tournament. (Photo: Steven Bisig-Imagn Images) / Steven Bisig-Imagn Images
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For a rare second consecutive year, the 12 best American and 12 best European women’s golfers will square off for three days of match play at the 2024 Solheim Cup this week at Robert Trent Jones Golf Club in Gainesville, Virginia, just outside the nation’s capital.



The biennial bout returns to even-numbered years after the men’s Ryder Cup competition was forced to play odd-numbered years following the postponement of the 2020 event due to the COVID-19 pandemic.



Last year’s Solheim Cup was held at Finca Cortesin in Spain and featured the first-ever tie in the event’s history, which spans 18 competitions and dates back to 1990. While Team USA has the historic upper-hand with a 10-7-1 record, Team Europe retained the trophy after the 2023 competition due to their 2021 victory at Inverness Club in Toledo, Ohio. The Europeans also won the 2019 event at Gleneagles in Scotland.



Both captains from 2023 – Stacy Lewis for the U.S. and Suzann Pettersen for Europe – are back at the helm this week, and each squad has just two rookies. With the competition set to tee off on Friday, one of the American first-timers has fully embraced her Solheim Cup debut. Meet Sarah Schmelzel. The 30-year-old turned pro in 2019 and while she’s yet to win on the LPGA, she rarely misses cuts and has bagged seven top-10 finishes this season, including a runner-up showing at the Blue Bay LPGA.

I was lucky enough to cover the 2018 Ryder Cup in France and the 2023 Solheim Cup matches in Spain, and wow did the Europeans show out on the first tee. The buildout in Spain wasn’t nearly as big as France, but the fans made it nearly just as loud. They had a huge ramp that led to the first tee that walked right by the thousands of fans who packed the bleachers, a live DJ and orchestrated chants and songs for players. I get chills just thinking about it.


Schmelzel took a tour of the first tee buildout at RTJ and had some good ideas for fan costumes she wanted to see from the Americans on the first tee later this week. The bar has been set, U.S. fans, don’t let her down.