Anna Nordqvist Aims to 'Cut Out the Drama' as Rookie Captain

Anna Nordqvist said she deliberately kept playing on the LPGA Tour through Solheim Cup team selection rather than step into a playing-captain role, a decision she traces to a lesson she took from a previous Team Europe captaincy.

Why did Nordqvist keep playing until the picks were made?

Nordqvist, who turned pro in 2008 and won three majors, 13 other tour titles and five Solheim Cups across nine straight appearances, announced her retirement last month ahead of the LPGA's FM Championship. Rather than step back immediately, she stayed out on tour through selection, telling Golf Monthly she wanted to remain close to the players and caddies rather than watch from the sidelines. She pointed to some rookies' unfamiliarity with a previous captain's intense style as evidence that firsthand experience with a team matters.

How will she build her pairings?

Nordqvist said she weighs chemistry alongside data when deciding who plays together, rather than relying on statistics alone. She cited her own playing partnership with assistant captain Caroline Hedwall as a pairing that thrived despite what a purely numbers-based approach might have suggested. She has also spoken with male Ryder Cup captains while preparing for her debut.

Chemistry beats a stat sheet when it comes to building pairings.

Nordqvist leads Team Europe against Angela Stanford's Team USA when the 20th Solheim Cup opens at Bernardus Golf in the Netherlands. Asked about her goals for the week, she said she wants to "cut out the drama."