2 American stars sitting out Solheim Cup’s opening foursomes matchups

The lineups for the opening session of the Solheim Cup are out, and two top American players are sitting for Friday morning’s foursomes (alternate shot).

World No. 2 Lilia Vu, the top-ranked player in the Solheim Cup who won two majors this season, will sit out. So will rising superstar Rose Zhang, the LPGA rookie who won two NCAA individual titles before turning pro earlier this year, where she then became the first player in 72 years to win an LPGA event in her pro debut. But as the youngest player on the team and as someone who wasn’t even in the conversation for this event until months ago, it’s not completely surprising that Zhang is easing into the Solheim Cup spotlight.

“Regardless of how much I’m playing, I’m going to be fighting out there every single event or every single match that I participate in,” Zhang said on Wednesday, before the pairings were announced. “So no hard feelings there (if I don’t play all five sessions). I feel like I love being on the sidelines cheering for my teammates, if that’s what I’m going to do. That’s basically what being part of a team is.”

Vu, however, was a bigger surprise. U.S. captain Stacy Lewis was asked about the decision to sit her for the opening session.

“I don’t see anybody playing all five sessions,” she said. “So they all needed some rest at some point and just wanted to give her the morning to just kind of regroup and get herself together. She somewhat asked for it a little bit, somewhat didn’t. It was kind of my idea. So, yeah, I mean, you’re going to see her a lot, other than that first session. You don’t win two majors and sit on the sideline for very long.”

Below are the matchups and start times for the Friday morning session of the Solheim Cup. After the morning session, four four-ball matches will close out the first day. You can watch all of the action from 2 a.m. to 1 p.m. ET on Friday on Golf Channel and Peacock.

Solheim Cup Friday morning foursomes matchups, start times (ET)

Match 1, 2:10 a.m. — Lexi Thompson/Megan Khang (USA) vs. Linn Grant/Maja Stark (EUR)
Match 2, 2:22 a.m. — Danielle Kang/Andrea Lee (USA) vs. Celine Boutier/Georgia Hall (EUR)
Match 3, 2:34 a.m. — Nelly Korda/Allisen Corpuz (USA) vs. Leona Maguire/Anna Nordqvist (EUR)
Match 4, 2:46 a.m. — Ally Ewing/Cheyenne Knight (USA) vs. Charley Hull/Emily Pedersen (EUR)

Josh Berhow

Golf.com Editor

As GOLF.com’s managing editor, Berhow handles the day-to-day and long-term planning of one of the sport’s most-read news and service websites. He spends most of his days writing, editing, planning and wondering if he’ll ever break 80. Before joining GOLF.com in 2015, he worked at newspapers in Minnesota and Iowa. A graduate of Minnesota State University in Mankato, Minn., he resides in the Twin Cities with his wife and two kids. You can reach him at joshua_berhow@golf.com.

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