Catriona Matthew open-minded on Solheim Cup pairing

MARTIN DEMPSTER

Catriona Matthew is ready to obey captain’s orders when she makes her eighth Solheim Cup appearance in Germany next month.

The North Berwick star secured a spot in the European team for the match at St Leon-Rot club, near Heidelberg, after being handed a captain’s wildcard on her 46th birthday by Swede Carin Koch.

It will be the seventh successive match that Matthew has played against the Americans and she’ll be the most experienced campaigner in the European ranks along with Norway’s Suzann Pettersen.

Two years ago, when the visitors won for the first time on US soil as they chalked up a record 17-10 victory in Denver, Matthew was paired with English teenager Charley Hull in one of the foursomes sessions.

Hull is also in the 12-strong team again but Matthew is keeping an open mind about who she might be paired with on this occasion in a match that takes place on September 18-20.

“I really don’t know what Carin is thinking about pairings at the moment,” she said. “We’ll have to wait until we get there to get a better idea about that. To be honest, though, I’m not really bothered about who I play with.”

Matthew made her first appearance in the biennial contest in 1998 and has played in every encounter since 2003. She secured the winning point at Barseback in Sweden in 2003 and also gained the half that won the trophy outright in Colorado.

“Each one gets bigger and better,” she added. “Women’s golf and women’s sport in general is getting more coverage now. There’s more of a buzz about it than when I first played in it.”

Uncharacteristically, the Lothians star has missed a few cuts lately, which resulted in her slipping out of the automatic positions, but she insisted: “I don’t feel my game is too far away. I’ve just not been hitting the right chip or holing the right putt at the right time to keep a round going.

“I feel as though my scores haven’t indicated how I’ve actually been playing lately, but that’s golf.”