CATRIONA Matthew says it will be a dream come true to captain Europe’s Solheim Cup team in pursuit of a hat-trick of victories on Scottish soil in 2019.
Matthew made her ninth appearance as a player at Des Moines Golf and Country Club in Iowa last month, having originally served as an assistant captain to Annika Sorenstam.
The 48-year-old Scot switched roles at the last minute after Suzann Pettersen withdrew through injury and won three points from four matches to take her career total to 22, third on the all-time list behind Laura Davies (25) and Sorenstam (24).
Matthew’s heroics proved in vain as the visitors lost by five points to suffer a second straight defeat, but she is now focused on regaining the trophy on the same Centenary Course at Gleneagles where Europe won the 2014 Ryder Cup.
“I was delighted to get the news,” Matthew said. “It’s a dream come true to be captain and doubly so being captain in Scotland.
“The Solheim has always been one of my favourite weeks and I’ve been fortunate enough to play in nine. To now have the chance to take on the captaincy is a tremendous honour for me.
“We’re going to go there wanting to win and take the cup back from them, but personally I’m still going to be playing for the next couple of years and I still have goals of my own on the golf course. But it’s definitely the pinnacle of my Solheim career.
“At Dalmahoy (1992) and Loch Lomond (2000) the Europeans won both times so that puts a bit of pressure on me. But I don’t think it would matter where it was. You have tremendous pressure on you as captain and as a player. The main thing is to go there and enjoy it.
“I haven’t really taken it all in yet but there is a lot to do and I’ll need to be super-organised, which is maybe not my strongest point, so I’ll have to work on that.”
Despite her late change of roles in Iowa, Matthew believes she has gained plenty of experience from this year’s event, as well as working under six other captains.
“I was assistant captain for the whole run-up,” the former Women’s British Open champion added.
“It was really just for the last three days that I switched roles. I was probably more of an assistant captain than player for that one.
“You learn things from every captain, but being more involved behind the scenes, you do pick up a lot.
“It was good to have that and to have a slight idea of what I’m letting myself in for.
“You take little bits from each captain. Annika was super organised. She had something for every scenario that could happen.
“Helen [Alfredsson] was great fun as a captain. Alison [Nicholas] involved the whole team. They all just had different traits.
“You probably take a little more from the recent ones because they are freshest in your mind.”
Why are you making commenting on The National only available to subscribers?
We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
Unfortunately, though, these important debates are being spoiled by a vocal minority of trolls who aren’t really interested in the issues, try to derail the conversations, register under fake names, and post vile abuse.
So that’s why we’ve decided to make the ability to comment only available to our paying subscribers. That way, all the trolls who post abuse on our website will have to pay if they want to join the debate – and risk a permanent ban from the account that they subscribe with.
The conversation will go back to what it should be about – people who care passionately about the issues, but disagree constructively on what we should do about them. Let’s get that debate started!
Callum Baird, Editor of The National
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here