Solheim Cup 2024: “The Most Fun I’ve Had on a Golf Course” -Team USA’s Winner Press Conference

The Solheim Cup 2024 seemed to have been decided after the first two days of the tournament and after the first singles matches at the latest. However, Team Europe fought their way back into the competition in impressive fashion and ensured excitement on the final day, which was ultimately decided by Lilia Vu in favor of the Americans. Afterwards, a visibly relieved and happy Team USA answered questions from the media. The winners’ press conference.

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THE MODERATOR: Hello, everyone, and welcome to the media center for the 2024 Solheim Cup. I am joined by the victorious United States team. Stacy, just talk about how proud you are of this team and the week you all have had.

STACY LEWIS: Yeah, it was an amazing week from the start. We started the week off Monday going around D.C. and we had a great day.

From the moment this team was together, they were together. There was no we needed a couple days or anything like that. The vibe in the team room was amazing, the way they got along, the way they support each other. Our group of caddies were off-the-charts keeping the team room loose, making sure everybody had fun, and it showed. It showed in the golf that was played.

I’m just so proud of them. I’m proud that they get this moment where they get to celebrate tonight and win this Cup.

Q. Megan, you went back-to-back years undefeated in the Solheim Cup, a huge feat. Heck yeah. Just talk about how important both those experiences were for you.

To be able to go undefeated for both Solheims, it’s been incredible and a dream come true. Hopefully keep the streak alive and make the next Solheim Cup in 2026 in the Netherlands.

Q. Rose, you went 4-0 this week. I believe you never saw the 16th hole. Talk about your week and how awesome it was.

ROSE ZHANG: Oh, it’s been absolutely incredible. I feel like starting off the beginning of the week, I just felt so comfortable with everyone. The whole team has just been — they’ve just been so friendly, and everyone has had a good time in the team room, on the golf course. Like Stacy said, it translated over to the golf course.

I felt a lot more loose than I did last year, and it was good vibes all around.

Q. Lilia, you earned the point to capture the victory for the U.S. Team. How important was that for not only yourself but for the team?

LILIA VU: It was so important. I felt like in the middle of the match the wheels were kind of falling off. 16 I hit it through the green and into the bunker and I knew I had to make up-and-down.

And then somehow birdied 17 and was able to hit it really close on 18. I knew — I looked at the leaderboard, saw we had 14 points, and like Stacy said at the beginning of the week, half points matter. I only had one goal was to get it close and get that birdie.

Q. Stacy, when you accepted the captaincy in 2022, you said that the team needed you now. What did the team need back then, and do you think you met what the team needed?

STACY LEWIS: They needed to have fun and they needed to enjoy this. This needed to do that but also needed to play good golf. I think there was a lot of tension of trying to play perfect golf and not enjoying it in the process.

This team enjoyed this week more than the golf itself. They had so much fun together. They picked each other up when they needed it. They did whatever I asked of them. They were great, offering feedback on pairings.

Q. Lauren, I’m curious of the experience of playing in your home state and winning in your home state was like for you?

LAUREN COUGHLIN: I mean, it was my first Solheim so I don’t really have anything else to compare it to, but it was an amazing week. I wouldn’t change anything. I had an absolute blast with everybody out here, the caddies, my teammates, captains, our families that were around. It was a very special week.

Q. Lexi, potentially that was your final moment with your teammates out there. What did it mean to get a win in your potential final Cup?

LEXI THOMPSON: Yeah, it was very special. It meant the world to me just to be here and to be part of this team. These girls are incredible.

Words can’t really describe just the personalities on this team and the talent that each and every one of them has. Like they’ve all said, from the beginning of the week, there was just something about this team that was different, the atmosphere, the energy from the team rooms to the bus rides to the first tee experience.

There was nothing like it, and just how we all came together and had fun and played some amazing golf on top of it. It was just great to be part of it.

Q. Stacy, you turned and you passed the Cup to Lexi, kind of reminded me of the Stanley Cup in hockey when players do that. Why was it important for her to have that moment?

STACY LEWIS: Because she deserves that moment. I think she was kind of one of those first players to really get that first tee going loud and going crazy, and I think the Solheim Cup is what it is because Lexi started that, and she started with that energy.

All of my favorite Lexi memories are at the Solheim Cup. I’m just super proud of her. I know today was hard. It was a hard day for her emotionally, I think. Just proud of her fight.

She’s been a leader of this team for a long time. On and off, she leads by the way she prepares and the way she goes about her business. Who knows, maybe she’ll make another one.

Q. Rose, we asked you earlier this week what is it about playing in this air that fits your comfort zone. After going 4-0 here, do you think it might be the grass, the air? Any thoughts after another win outside D.C.?

ROSE ZHANG: Maybe the grass and the air. I’d like to say — it’s just been really comfortable to be playing on bentgrass and playing on these types of golf courses. The fans, I’ve always just thought about how great the fans were.

When they came out and just represented USA and how loud they were, it was just so cool to witness and to feel that inside the ropes.

The first time that I really played back in 2020, it was still COVID, and it was the U.S. Amateur. I don’t really consider that a full-on experience. I’d only consider that the golf course.

Other than that, this week has been just incredible with the golf course and the fans.

STACY LEWIS: I will add that in my day she had the highest course fit rating of anybody on this team, so there’s that part, too. The golf course was made for you, Rose.

Solheim Cup 2024 – Nelly Korda: “Probably the most fun I’ve had on a golf course ever”

Q. Nelly, I’m curious where this week ranks on the fun scale for you over the course of your career.

NELLY KORDA: This was probably the most fun I’ve had on a golf course ever. Just the team, the team environment, the caddies, everyone getting along, the fans. Everyone was so incredible. We all vibed really well off of each other. This is probably the most I’ve laughed and the most I’ve fist pumped ever on a golf course. It was just an amazing week and a dream come true.

Q. Where are the big bottles of champagne?

STACY LEWIS: We haven’t even been back to the team room yet. I think there were a couple. I think they drank them already.

Q. That was a little bit of a joke, but you look a little bit drained up there. You look very relieved. Do you feel like a burden has been lifted and you can just exhale?

STACY LEWIS: I feel that way. I don’t know how the rest of them feel. How do you guys feel?

MEGAN KHANG: I got some choice words that I’m not going to say, but we feel good.

ANGELA STANFORD: We feel like a million dollars, because we got the Cup.

Q. Do you feel like you celebrate in a more mature way than the guys?

STACY LEWIS: We haven’t gotten a chance to yet.

MEGAN KHANG: Have them bring the bottles out and we’ll see.

LAUREN COUGHLIN: We haven’t gotten to celebrate yet.

Q. Lauren, you mentioned that I think you came here four times beforehand. In any of those times did you ever practice a putt to win the Cup?

LAUREN COUGHLIN: So Terry, my caddie, came up the week before Canada, and on the 18th hole he put a putt down and he said, this is to win the Solheim Cup, and I made it.

Q. Suzann was in here just a little while ago and she was a little emotional. Have there been moments since you won that it’s been a little overwhelming for you or that the emotions have really hit you?

STACY LEWIS: Right now, no. Similar to her, in Spain, it didn’t really hit me until I got on the airplane and I was sitting on the airplane with my daughter and she was sleeping and I just lost it and I started crying.

I was like, we did all this work for these girls to play to a tie, and that was literally the only moment. From that point though on it was right back to work because I don’t want that to happen again.

There were parts of this journey that were hard. It was busy. There was a lot of work at times. There were frustrating things at times.

But that’s part of it, and just to watch them celebrate and to see Lilia pull off that shot in that moment was just really, really special.

Q. Do you think now after you leave here you’ll be able to finally, like you said, exhale and enjoy the moment?

STACY LEWIS: Yeah, the shoulders are already down, so we’re going to enjoy the moment. We’re going to celebrate. This has been seven years in the making for a lot of the women on this stage.

There’s a lot — actually 10 that haven’t had this celebration yet, so we’re going back to the team room to celebrate.

Q. Knowing how much you love analytics, now that the matches are over, can you share some of the specific metrics you were using to help determine some of the pairings?

STACY LEWIS: No. No. I mean, a lot of it, it’s got to stay within this team. The assistants know it. We know what works, and I think I’ve got the buy-in now from this team, as well.

But yeah, we’re going to keep a lot of that to ourselves. But I’ll tell you one thing is this team played really, really good this week. It doesn’t matter the pairings or any of that. If you play really, really good golf, you’re going to win.

Q. Stacy, the business is now finished. Can you just speak to what that means?

STACY LEWIS: It’s a little strange, to be honest. I don’t know what I’m going to do next week now.

Yeah, I mean, the job was to get the Cup, and we finished the job. I don’t know what we do now. I hadn’t thought past this moment, to be honest.

Other than we celebrate, I’ve got to get my daughter back home to go to school on Tuesday, but past that, I don’t know what’s next.

MEGAN KHANG: But that’s Tuesday, and it’s Sunday.

STACY LEWIS: Exactly. That’s my point.