Why Laura Davies has never been Solheim Cup captain

Dame Laura Davies is ready to resume her role as a Solheim Cup vice-captain for the fourth time this week.

After assisting Catriona Matthew for wins in 2019 and 2021, Davies will now support Suzann Pettersen for the second time in two years as Team Europe look to take their fourth Solheim Cup in a row over the United States in Virginia.

Nobody at the Robert Trent Jones Golf Club in Gainesville boasts Solheim Cup experience quite like Davies, who holds the record for both appearances made and points scored in the fiercely contested match.

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The 60-year-old has long been a shoo-in to lead the European team herself, but has so far resisted the captaincy role for which she will be perennially next in line.

So why hasn’t Davies ever taken the top job? We’ll let her explain…

“I’ve been indirectly asked before and they don’t want someone to knock it back,” she told bunkered before the 2023 match at Finca Cortesin. “‘You want to be the captain?’ I’d be like, ‘No!’ I was still trying to play my way in.

“Now I do commentary so I can’t really give it a hundred per cent. I haven’t got the time and it’s not something I want to do.”

Davies, a key member of the Sky Sports Golf team, competed in every single European side from the inaugural match in 1990 until 2011, and for a long period would not accept that her playing days in the showdown had come to an end.

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“Playing at a decent level you never think you’re over,” she admitted. “But I’ve known for the last four or five years I’m never going to get anywhere near the Solheim Cup and nor would I want to. That’s too much pressure.”

Now, though, Davies is enjoying being part of captain Pettersen’s backroom staff.

“When Suzann rang me up, I didn’t have a clue she’d want me to be a vice-captain, so it was really nice,” she said after the Dane first appointed her.

“I like being around the young players and because I still play on tour I know them all really well. I don’t do a lot. I give them encouragement whenever I can and if they want something I do that. I’ll just do whatever Suzann asks me to do.”

• The full interview with Dame Laura Davies was in issue 205 of bunkered. To read future editions, check out all good newsagents. Alternately, click here to subscribe.

Ben Parsons joined bunkered as a Content Producer in 2023 and is the man to come to for all of the latest news, across both the professional and amateur games. Formerly of The Mirror and Press Association, he is a member at Halifax Golf Club and is a long-suffering fan of both Manchester United and the Wales rugby team.