Europe and USA both claim to be Solheim Cup underdogs
Thursday 17 September 2015 17:44, UK
Europe and the United States have both claimed they go in to this week's Solheim Cup as the underdogs.
Carin Koch's European side are looking to make it a hat-trick of victories for the first time, as Juli Inkster's visiting team aim to end a six-year wait to triumph.
While recent history is in favour of the hosts in Germany, Koch believes the Americans, who have ten of the world's top 12 in their squad, are the side to beat.
"If you look at the rankings, the Americans have such a strong team," Koch told a pre-tournament press conference. "There's so much higher ranked than we are.
"I think they have a great captain in Juli; I have a lot of respect for her. I know she's worked very hard in getting this team together, and coming back strong to beat us.
"It will be a challenge. They have 12 really good players and it will be tough for us, but we'll give them as good of a match as we can."
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USA regular Angela Stanford, making her sixth Solheim Cup appearance, disagrees with the European view and told reporters: "I've never met somebody who wasn't holding a trophy that said they were the favourites.
"People say, on paper, but paper doesn't play. When you get out on the course it's golf and it's match play, absolutely anything can happen.
"I wouldn't consider them (Europe) underdogs. I don't think any team that hasn't held the trophy the last two times could be the favourites so it's obviously their opinion, but I don't agree."
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