Esther Henseleit spielt seit fünf Jahren professionell Golf. Jüngst gewann sie die Silbermedaille bei den Olympischen Spielen in Paris. Nun steht ihr „eine ganz besondere Woche“ bevor, wie sie sagt. Erstmals gehört die 25 Jahre alte Hamburgerin zur Europa-Auswahl, die von Freitag bis Sonntag im Robert Trent Jones Golf Club in Gainesville (Virginia) den Solheim Cup gegen das Team USA verteidigen will.
Dass sie zur weiblichen Variante des Ryder Cup wird antreten dürfen, dem größten Spektakel, das das Frauen-Golf zu bieten hat, sei ihr „nach Paris klar“ gewesen: „Dass ich mir einen Kindheitstraum erfüllen würde und ich mir zumindest einen Captain’s Pick gesichert hatte“ erzählte sie im Podcast der Ladies European Tour (LET), „aber ich wollte mich direkt qualifizieren.“
Mit dem zweiten Platz bei der Scottish Open festigte Esther Henseleit den zweiten Platz im Solheim-Ranking der LET hinter der englischen Weltranglistenzwölften Charley Hull. Ihr gelang das vor allem dank der glänzenden Ergebnisse der letzten Wochen, aber auch weil sie bei drei der fünf Majors in diesem Jahr unter den Top fünfzehn gelandet war. In der Weltrangliste wird die einzige Deutsche im Team derzeit auf Rang 30 geführt, ist damit die Fünfbeste im Gästeteam, in dem nur eine Top-Ten-Spielerin steht, die Französin Celine Boutier (Platz zehn).
On Sunday she flew from her adopted home of Scottsdale (Arizona) to Washington with her English fiancé, trainer and caddie Reece Phillips to prepare for this prestigious duel with her eleven teammates. It begins on Friday and Saturday with eight foursomes each (classic foursome and fourball) and ends on Sunday with twelve singles. On the four training days, Henseleit can count on the support of David Orr, who traveled from Glasgow.
Players from seven European countries
For the past 18 months, the Frisian-born golfer has been performing just as well on the greens as she does with her long tee shots and precise iron and wedge shots, thanks to her Scottish putting coach. Henseleit also likes the course, which is located around 50 kilometers west of Washington DC. In the spring, she was part of the group that Norwegian captain Suzann Pettersen invited to travel to Gainesville to test the course. “It’s a typical American parkland course, not a course where you’ll have a birdie fireworks display. The course suits me,” she reported. “I prepared for the Solheim Cup just like I would for any other tournament,” said Henseleit.
To prepare for the mental side of this competition, she spoke to several experienced teammates, including the Swedes Linn Stark (26th in the world rankings) and Maja Stark (27th). “We’ve known each other since we were 14 years old,” reports Henseleit. Back in 2017, the three of them had already played together against the two Scandinavians in the Ping Junior Solheim Cup in Des Moines (Iowa) against Team USA. At that time, the “Euros” suffered a defeat.
This time, the players from seven European countries want to repeat last year’s success, especially since, in addition to Henseleit, only one other newcomer, the Swiss Albane Valenzuela, is competing for the Cup defender. For the first time in the history of the Solheim Cup, which was first held in 1990, a team could secure the cup for the fourth time in a row in the 19th duel (USA leads 10:7 with a draw) with Europe. Team USA, led by the two top players in the world rankings, Nelly Korda and Lilia Vu, is considered the favorite due to its better average placement in this ranking (26.25 compared to 41.25).
Attitude wins the tournament
But as in the Ryder Cup, this only plays a minor role in the duel between women. American captain Stacy Lewis describes it like this: “I will tell my team that on paper we should actually win,” said Lewis. “But that is not what wins this Cup. What wins this tournament is the attitude, the fight through the hard times, the adversity. That is what wins the Solheim Cup.”
It was precisely this mental strength that made the “Euros” shine, who last year on the Finca Cortesin course in Spain were not fazed by a 6:10 deficit after the first two days. The decisive coup was achieved by the Spaniard Carlotta Ciganda: an outsider who defeated Nelly Korda in the singles.
#Solheim #Cup #Esther #Henseleit #spectacle #Virginia