How the Cup Wound Up in Gainesville
» PAGE 2
Meet the 24 Players
» PAGE 4
The History of RTJ
» PAGE 5 How the Solheim Cup Works
» PAGE 5
18 Things to Know about the Course
» PAGE 6
» PAGE 8
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BY DAVID FAWCETT dfawcett@insidenova.com
osting tournaments like the Solheim Cup typically involves a bidding process before a site is selected.
But facing a tighter than usual schedule to find a home due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the LPGA took a different tack in securing a location for the 2024 Solheim Cup in the United States.
When Robert Trent Jones Golf Club officials expressed an interest in bringing the event to Prince William County this month, the LPGA took them up on their offer. They still did their due diligence by sending out various people to check RTJ and see if it was in fact the right place. They figured out quickly that it was.
“As soon as we got here, we just realized how special the place is and how perfect it would be.” said Lindsay Allen, executive director of the 2024 Solheim Cup.
Penny Lee, chair of the 2024 Solheim Cup and a current member and past president of RTJ, said the course had been in previous conversations with the PGA, USGA and PGA of America about bringing a tournament to Robert Trent Jones, located in the Gainesville area of Prince William off Route 29 on Lake Manassas.
But size constraints limit how many people can attend certain types of tournaments, Lee said.
RTJ’s pedigree, though, helped land the Solheim Cup. After opening in 1991, RTJ hosted four Presidents Cups, including the first two in 1994 and 1996, as well as the PGA Tour’s 2015 Quicken Loans National.
Based on its prior experience with tournaments of that magnitude, RTJ knew what was expected, even with a shortened schedule, and it already had the infrastructure in place.
In February 2022, the LPGA made the decision official – announcing it had selected RTJ as the 2024 Solheim Cup host. This is the first major women’s event ever held at RTJ.
“We knew this was a course readymade, especially one that could almost turn on a dime to be able to host this with a compressed schedule,” Lee said. “We’ve had this type of event before. We know this is a course suited for match play.”
The Solheim Cup, which features the top professional female golfers from the United States and Europe, typically occurs every two years – alternating with the Ryder Cup, the men’s version of the match-play competition.
The pandemic, however, rearranged the schedule because the 2020 Ryder Cup was postponed a year. Both events were held in September 2023, with the Solheim Cup occurring a week ahead of the Ryder Cup.
Remaining on an odd year schedule, the
Where: Robert Trent Jones Golf Club on Lake Manassas
When: Sept. 10-15
History: The United States holds a 10-8 lead over Europe
Ticket information: solheimcupusa.com/tickets
Schedule
Tuesday, Sept. 10-Thursday, Sept. 12: Teams practice. Opening ceremony
Thursday at 4:30 p.m.
Friday, Sept. 13:
» Foursome matches (alternate shot), starting at 7:05 a.m.
» Fourball matches (better ball), starting at 12:05 p.m.
Saturday, Sept. 14:
» Foursome matches (alternate shot), starting at 7:05 a.m.
» Fourball matches (better ball), starting at 12:05 p.m.
Sunday, Sept. 15: Twelve singles matches, starting at 8:50 a.m., followed by the Closing Ceremony at 3:30 p.m.
Parking
» General parking will be at Jiffy Lube Live. Disabled parking spots will be available and are first-come, first-served. Complimentary shuttle service will be provided to and from Robert Trent Jones Golf Club. On-site parking is not available for spectators. Parking passes are $25 per day or $100 for the week.
Rideshare
» All rideshares are required to pick up and drop off at Jiffy Lube Live.
TV
Friday and Saturday
» Golf Channel, 7 a.m.-6 p.m.
Sunday
» Golf Channel, 9 a.m.-noon
» NBC: Noon to 3 p.m.
Ryder Cup returns in 2025, while the Solheim Cup remains on an even-year schedule.
“We are excited to showcase this course to the world, but also to be able to host phenomenal women’s golf and to hopefully expose the game to a larger audience,” Lee said. “We obviously have the White House here and we have over 150 embassies. So we have an international community already built. We want to expose this game not only here in Virginia and elsewhere but across the globe. And we think there is no better venue than here.”
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ALLISEN CORPUZ
Hometown: Kapolei, Hawaii
Qualified: U.S. Solheim Cup Points
Previous Solheim Cup Appearances: 2023
Career Solheim Cup Record: 2-1-1
LAUREN COUGHLIN
Hometown: Charlottesville
Qualified: U.S. Solheim Cup Points
Previous Solheim Cup Appearances: Rookie
Career Solheim Cup Record: N/A
ALLY EWING
Hometown: Fulton, Miss.
Qualified: U.S. Solheim Cup Points
Previous Solheim Cup Appearances: 2019, 2021, 2023
Career Solheim Cup Record: 3-8-1
MEGAN KHANG
Hometown: Rockland, Mass.
Qualified: U.S. Solheim Cup Points
Previous Solheim Cup Appearances: 2019, 2021, 2023
Career Solheim Cup Record: 4-3-3
NELLY KORDA
Hometown: Bradenton, Fla.
Qualified: U.S. Solheim Cup Points
Previous Solheim Cup Appearances: 2019, 2021, 2023
Career Solheim Cup Record: 7-4-1
JENNIFER KUPCHO
Hometown: Westminster, Colo.
Qualified: Captain’s Pick
Previous Solheim Cup Appearances: 2021, 2023
Career Solheim Cup Record: 2-3-2
ALISON LEE
Hometown: Los Angeles
Qualified: Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings
Previous Solheim Cup Appearances: 2015
Career Solheim Cup Record: 1-3-0
ANDREA LEE
Hometown: Hermosa Beach, Calif.
Qualified: U.S. Solheim Cup Points
Previous Solheim Cup Appearances: 2023
Career Solheim Cup Record: 1-2-1
SARAH SCHMELZEL
Hometown: Phoenix, Ariz.
Qualified: Captain’s Pick
Previous Solheim Cup Appearances: N/A
Career Solheim Cup Record: N/A
LEXI THOMPSON
Hometown: Delray Beach, Fla.
Qualified: Captain’s Pick
Previous Solheim Cup Appearances: 2013, 2015 (winners), 2017 (winners), 2019, 2021, 2023
Career Solheim Cup Record: 9-7-7
LILIA VU
Hometown: Fountain Valley, Calif.
Qualified: U.S. Solheim Cup Points
Previous Solheim Cup Appearances: 2023
Career Solheim Cup Record: 1-3-0
ROSE ZHANG
Hometown: Irvine, Calif.
Qualified: Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings
Previous Solheim Cup Appearances: 2023
Career Solheim Cup Record: 0-2-1
2024 EUROPEAN TEAM
CELINE BOUTIER
Hometown: Montrouge, France
Qualified: Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings
Previous Solheim Cup Appearances: 2019 (winners), 2021 (winners), 2023 (retained)
Career Solheim Cup Record: 5-4-1
CARLOTA CIGANDA
Hometown: Pamplona, Spain
Qualified: Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings
Previous Solheim Cup Appearances: 2013 (winners), 2015, 2017, 2019 (winners), 2021 (winners), 2023 (retained)
Career Solheim Cup Record: 11-8-4
LINN GRANT
Hometown: Viken, Sweden
Qualified: Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings
Previous Solheim Cup Appearances: 2023 (retained)
Career Solheim Cup Record: 3-2-0
GEORGIA HALL
Hometown: Bournemouth, England
Qualified: Captain’s Pick
Previous Solheim Cup Appearances: 2017, 2019 (winners), 2021 (winners), 2023 (retained)
Career Solheim Cup Record: 8-7-2
ESTHER HENSELEIT
Hometown: Hamburg, Germany
Qualified: LET Solheim Cup Points
Previous Solheim Cup Appearances: Rookie
Career Solheim Cup Record: N/A
CHARLEY HULL
Hometown: Woburn, England
Qualified: LET Solheim Cup points
Previous Solheim Cup Appearances: 2013 (winners), 2015, 2017, 2019 (winners), 2021 (winners), 2023 (retained)
Career Solheim Cup Record: 12-7-3
LEONA MAQUIRE
Hometown: Cavan, Ireland
Qualified: Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings
Previous Solheim Cup Appearances: 2021 (winners), 2023 (retained)
Career Solheim Cup Record: 7-2-1
ANNA NORDQVIST
Hometown: Eskilstuna, Sweden
Qualified: Captain’s Pick (playing vice captain)
Previous Solheim Cup Appearances: 2009, 2011 (winners), 2013 (winners), 2015, 2017, 2019 (winners), 2021 (winners), 2023 (retained, playing vice captain)
Career Solheim Cup Record: 15-13-3
EMILY KRISTINE PEDERSEN
Hometown: Smoerum, Denmark
Qualified: Captain’s Pick
Previous Solheim Cup Appearances: 2017, 2021 (winners), 2023 (retained)
Career Solheim Cup Record: 5-6-1
MADELENE SAGSTROM
Hometown: Enkoping, Sweden
Qualified: Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings
Previous Solheim Cup Appearances: 2017, 2021 (winners), 2023 (retained)
Career Solheim Cup Record: 3-5-1
MAJA STARK
Hometown: Abbekas, Sweden
Qualified: Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings
Previous Solheim Cup Appearances: 2023 (retained)
Career Solheim Cup Record: 2-1-1
ALBANE VALENZUELA
Hometown: Geneva, Switzerland
Qualified: Captain’s Pick
Previous Solheim Cup Appearances: Rookie
Career Solheim Cup Record: N/A
For InsideNoVa
ABY BILL KAMENJAR
Washington native, Deane Beman is a former professional golfer who later would go on to serve as the second commissioner of the PGA Tour from 1974 to 1994.
Having evaluated the challenge that the Robert Trent Jones Golf Club course would pose to the players at the inaugural Presidents Cup men’s match-play tournament back in 1994, Beman came away with an assessment that would turn out to be definitively prophetic.
“It’s going to be a great match-play course,” he stated. “A lot of exciting things can happen. There are a lot of half-shot holes. The shorter par 3s, if you don’t make 3, you’ll lose the hole. But there are several large par 4s where par will win.”
At the time, the course was barely 3 years old, so no one truly knew how special the test would eventually become.
But some 30 years and four President’s Cups later, the club has matured and evolved so admirably that it recently earned the right to serve as the host of this year’s Solheim Cup – a high-profile event conducted by the LPGA Tour.
As the women’s equivalent to the men’s Ryder Cup, the Solheim Cup is a transatlantic team match-play competition featuring the best 12 golfers from Europe and the United States. This year’s prestigious event will be held next week at the RTJ Club, in Gainesville on the shores of Lake Manassas.
Long before the first professional golfer stuck a tee in the Prince William turf, however, golf course architect Robert Trent Jones was already envisioning the potential grandeur his namesake masterpiece would in due course bring to the world of golf.
The man himself – known to many as
“the father of modern golf course architecture – was in the waning years of his life. He had previously discovered the property that would be described as “the perfect piece of land” during a flyover on his way to inspecting another potential golf course site. It ultimately became an obsession of his to buy the tract he saw from the air, bring it to life as a golf course design and name the project after himself. In Jones’ mind, it would become his crowning achievement. Turns out, he was right.
The routing he penned his signature on – an emerald treasure along Lake Manassas – is the one he shaped out of what he called “the greatest golf course terrain I’ve ever seen. I found the land and studied it
for years. I studied it by walking it over and over. I had to build a golf course there. I knew it just by looking at it. After all, I built 600 of them.”
To this day, it’s unclear exactly how long the process took – beginning with Jones’ first steps onto the property to RTJ’s completion.
According to a story in the first issue of Washington Golf Monthly Magazine in 1994, “Jones ordered up eight tons of sand to fill 67 bunkers, some of them massive, most of them shaped in the classic Jones amoeba. He oversaw a $12 million clubhouse so awesome that sophisticated visitors find themselves traipsing about like babes in toyland. And he stuck to his life-
» Teams are made up of 12 players, along with a captain and three assistant captains.
» The event has three days of competition.
» Days one and two are comprised of a morning session of four foursome matches and an afternoon session of four four-ball matches.
» The final day is made up of singles matches
About Match Play Formats
Foursome Match
Who was Robert Trent Jones?
Jones was a BritishAmerican golf course architect who designed or redesigned more than 500 golf courses in 45 states and 35 countries.
He is a member of the World Golf Hall of Fame.
A Cornell University graduate, Jones was born in England before coming to the United States as a young boy and settling in East Rochester, N.Y.
He passed away June 14, 2000, at age 93.
long credo: difficult pars but easy bogeys. He kneaded the luscious, Bentgrass valleys and heaven-sweetened contours into a 7,238-yard canvas of world-class demand.”
The story goes on to concede that while Jones only brought the surrounding lake into serious play on one hole (the par-3 11th), he did so in order for members to enjoy its beauty while not feeling threatened by the venue’s visual centerpiece. The course is also characterized by wide, forgiving fairways, with much of the difficulties coming on the approaches into the greens.
“The terrain is aesthetically perfect,” Jones said at the time. “I don’t think we could have done anything better anywhere.”
Two golfers from one team are paired to compete against two golfers from the other team. Each team plays one ball and the golfers play alternate shots until the hole is completed. Four-ball Match
Each member of the two-player team plays her own ball, so four balls are in play on each hole. The lowest score from each team will be the score for that team.
Singles Match
One player from Team USA competes against one player from Team Europe. Each will play her own ball. On the final day, all 12 members of Team USA will compete against the 12 members from Team Europe in singles matches.
Scoring
» The two teams will play four four-ball and four foursomes matches each of the first two days (Friday and Saturday).
» They will then play 12 singles matches on the final day (Sunday). That’s a total of 28 points up for grabs. The winner needs at least 14.5 points. If there is a 14-14 tie, the cup stays with the defending champion (Europe).
» All matches are match play, which means that the player or team that scores lower on a hole wins that hole and is considered to be 1-up. When a player or team is leading the match by more holes than there are holes remaining (out of the 18 on the course), the match is over. The final score is reported as the number of holes by which the winning team is leading and the number of holes remaining. So if the winning team is leading by three holes with two holes left, then the score is reported as 3&2.
» One point is awarded to the team that wins each match; in the event of a tie, both teams score half a point.
BY TAYLOR GILL For InsideNoVa
hen a guest is invited to play a one-off round with a caddie on a private golf layout as revered as the Robert Trent Jones Golf Club is in Gainesville, he or she should keep one thing in mind: Your success/enjoyment for the next four-plus hours probably depends on a total stranger, the caddie. Most caddies work in an occupation often considered to be demanding in terms of both strength and endur-
RTJ is a classic North American style golf course with greens that are protected in front by bunkers. This in large part forces players to fly their balls onto the greens. There are not many chances to run the ball through an opening up to a green. It will be an advantage for players who can flight the ball high and let it land softly onto the putting surface.
Long is bad on most of the greens, because many of them are sloped back to front. The player will be what we call “short-sided” if she goes long over a green. Also right and left misses can be punished depending on the pin placement. Players and caddies will have to decide what side of the hole to favor should they miss.
On six of the 14 driving holes players should use a driver. On the other eight driving holes the player can choose the option to hit less than driver to avoid either running through a dogleg or the heavy fairway bunkering. (During the Quicken Loans event in 2015, statistics showed that the men’s PGA Tour players hit into a lot of fairway bunkers).
ance. Their insights and wisdom are built on carrying clubs, tracking flying golf balls, reading greens and walking endless loops across the same corridors of grass. And yet their job is perhaps the most fascinating, amusing and time-honored in all of golf.
At next week’s Solheim Cup, which features the top professional female golfers from the United States and Europe competing in a match-play format, each of the players will use her own personal caddie.
Still, this didn’t stop InsideNoVa from asking for
On two holes (Nos. 6 and 17), players can be blocked out by a tree or tree limbs even if their ball rests in the fairway. So caddie and player need to be aware of certain spots on those two fairways to hit the ball because she could be blocked out by overhanging trees even if in the short grass.
The fairways are tightly mowed, so the grass is cut short, which is extremely favorable to good iron players. But it will be important for a player on wedge shots to decide how to control her spin –either put backspin on it or take something off it for a knock-down shot.
A player should know which fairway bunkers she could challenge and which fairway bunkers to avoid. The bunkers have a variety of sizes and depths; some will leave you with a clean approach shot while others will force you to lay up. It is good to know which ones to avoid and which to challenge if she is daring enough.
some “insider” knowledge from an actual in-house caddie (with a few additional insights from fellow members of the RTJ caddie “yard”). In fact, Taylor Gill is just one of the specialists who caddies across this golfing mecca day in and day out at the exclusive club along the shores of Lake Manassas. So pay attention. He certainly has.
Here’s a list of 18 things Gill said (in no particular order of significance) to look out for from players and their caddies while spectating your way across the majestic golf venue at Robert Trent Jones Golf Club as it hosts the Solheim Cup Sept. 13-15:
The green-complex designs at RTJ are absolutely stunning, made up of large bent grass greens that have distinct sections. Player and caddie must figure out a way to hit the ball into the correct section. Leaving the ball in the wrong spots could lead to three-putts.
Lake Manassas is a large reservoir and the dominant feature on the course. Only one shot requires a forced carry over the lake (No. 11, the signature hole) although there’s a lot of water on the golf course in terms of ponds.
Wind could be a real factor especially over the last 10 holes, all exposed to breezes off Lake Manassas. On the interior holes, winds can be hard to discern because you can get breezes coming from between neighboring houses and trees that can create a swirling effect. You can experience a weird wind at times.
Many holes have considerable elevation changes so you have to calculate the right club for that.
Since the last professional golf event was held at RTJ in 2015, there have been several changes to the course. The first hole has been lengthened with a new tee box and green. The No. 2 tee box has been redesigned and lengthened slightly. The No. 3 green has been redesigned as well. And tee boxes on Nos. 4 and 16 have been redesigned . Architect Kyle Phillips did the work.
Having seen pedometer readings from members, I consider a typical walk around the links to be 6½ miles (of course these ladies may cut off some of that distance being as straight as they are). Still, if a player competes in the maximum number of matches across three days, she could be walking a veritable marathon (across three days) while simultaneously going through all the mental challenges of playing a competitive round of golf.
A note for spectators: Hole No. 14 is a par 5. This could be an exciting place to sit and watch approaches into the green. Many times the hole is set up to be reachable in two shots. A large pond and three large bunkers protect the green. It also features the most severely sloped green. This might be a great place to sit and have a drink – and hopefully players’ golf balls won’t be getting quite as wet. If I were to pick a spot to sit and watch, I would probably set up at hole No. 14 and watch the ladies go for the green in two shots. Hole No. 11 over the lake would be another great place to spectate.
Holes Nos. 10 and 17 are short par-4s that might be turned into driveable par 4s on any given day depending how organizers want to set up the course for excitement.
Though I don’t expect the rough to be overly long, I do expect it to be thick and penalizing.
Hitting the ball into the fairway is key at RTJ. The approach statistics from the Quicken Loans event showed that it was much easier to hit the green from the short grass than it was from the rough.
Classic RTJ greens have a lot of slope and movement in them.
You’ll find a lot of heavy breaks on longer putts. There will be plenty of curling and interesting putts. In a rare case, it wouldn’t be surprising to see a player actually use a wedge on the green surface (if it sits in an awkward spot) because there is so much slope to them. I see that play necessitated every so often from a member.
The Americans have a winning tradition at RTJ. American squads won all the Presidents Cups matches there and an American, Troy Merritt from Osage, Iowa, won the Quicken Loans National in 2015. This will be the first time we will have a female event on par to those so we’ll see if the American women can hold up the tradition.
BY DAVID FAWCETT dfawcett@insidenova.com
Lauren Coughlin felt stressed.
It was the start of 2024 and the former University of Virginia standout golfer kept thinking about two things: How much she wanted to represent the United States at the 2024 Solheim Cup and have the chance to do so in her home state, something no American has done since Tammie Green in 1998 at Muirfield Village in Dublin, Ohio.
To reach her twin goals, Coughlin only had to earn enough U.S. Solheim Cup points based on her performance during the LPGA Tour to secure one of the top seven spots. Although Coughlin was capable of doing that, it still remained easier said than done.
But as the season went on and she played better, the Charlottesville resident experienced a mental shift. Inner peace replaced her self-imposed pressure.
Winning the CPKC Women’s Open in late July only reinforced that mindset. By capturing her first LPGA Tour victory in
her 103rd career start, the 31-year-old Coughlin moved into the Top 30 Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings for the first time as well as moving into fifth place in the U.S. Solheim Cup points standings.
Although nothing was official, Coughlin was in a better position to start planning for the Solheim Cup.
“Now I need to start thinking about how I need to be prepared to play in [the Solheim Cup] and not just make the team and hopefully win as many points as I can,” Coughlin said.
After winning the ISPS Handa Women’s Scottish Open last month for her fourth straight top 10 finish, Coughlin accomplished her objective. She had nailed down a Solheim Cup spot.
“Not only being on the Solheim Cup team, but it being in my home state obviously meant a lot. It’s something I really, really wanted,” Coughlin said. “I felt like I was putting a lot of pressure on myself at least at the beginning of the year. But as the season progressed, I was much less stressed about it and just tried to focus on what I
could control, going and playing golf.”
After turning pro in 2016, the former ACC individual champion said she almost quit the sport twice. She struggled in her first full year on the LPGA Tour (2018), making only four cuts and earning just $12,625.
Coughlin did win once on the Epson Tour in 2018, but even then wasn’t sure professional golf was for her. But her husband John, a former University of Virginia football player, her college coach and her family persuaded her to stick it out. She’s glad they did.
In 2022, Coughlin recorded five top 20 finishes on the LPGA Tour. In 2023, she posted seven top 25 finishes.
“They had the belief in me well before I did, that’s for sure,” Coughlin said.
Living a 70-minute drive from Robert Trent Jones Golf Club, Coughlin has been a go-to partner for colleagues looking for someone to join them who is familiar with the course. She first played it in March and then twice this summer while the tour was on break due to the Olympics.
Before playing the course, Coughlin had been to RTJ once before, when she attended the PGA Tour’s 2015 Quicken Loans National.
Now she can play it in front of the hometown crowd. Growing up in Chesapeake, where she was the first female to play on the Hickory High School boys golf team all four years, Coughlin never thought this would become a reality.
“It’s pretty wild,” Coughlin said.
