GAINESVILLE, Va. — Most didn’t know what to expect from Solheim Cup rookies Lauren Coughlin and Sarah Schmelzel this week at Robert Trent Jones Golf Club. But two of the oldest members of the 2024 U.S. Team put those questioners to bed on Friday in both the foursomes and four-ball sessions.

Currently living in Charlottesville, Va., 31-year-old Coughlin has been a fan favorite over the first few days of the biennial team competition, and that adoration for the rookie continued well into the first day of play in Gainesville, Va. The fans roared for the two-time LPGA Tour winner both when she teed off in her morning foursomes match and played in the afternoon four-ball matches, cheers that were just as loud as those received by some of her more popular American counterparts.

But Coughlin didn’t show up just to participate.

Teeing it up alongside her fellow two-time LPGA Tour winner Rose Zhang in Friday foursomes, Coughlin helped put a point on the board early for the Americans, as the pair, who are separated by a 10-year age gap, defeated the veteran-rookie combo of Celine Boutier and Albane Valenzuela in the second match of the morning session at Robert Trent Jones Golf Club.

The U.S. took an early 1-up lead after winning the second hole, but Europe got a hole back after parring the third to tie the match. Things were then all square until the Americans regained the lead on the par-5 8th hole, and the Europeans once again tied things up by winning the ninth hole of the match.

Tied is how the match remained until Coughlin and Zhang won three straight holes from Nos. 12 to 14, ultimately finishing off the Europeans 3 and 2 on the par-3 16th hole in Gainesville, Va., to both earn their first full career point for the Americans.

“I feel like we were playing well all match, and then we finally started getting some putts to go in,” Coughlin said. “But I feel like we played super solid the whole round. We just finally started scoring well there at the end.”

Coughlin was then paired with her fellow 2024 rookie Sarah Schmelzel in the afternoon four-ball, a player who had also found success during the Friday foursomes matches.

Schmelzel was sent out in the final early match in Gainesville, Va., alongside Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings No. 2 Lilia Vu. The pair made birdie on the first hole to go 1 up early on Europeans Carlota Ciganda and Linn Grant and then never trailed at any point throughout the rest of the match.

Ciganda and Grant leveled the score with a birdie on the par-4 2nd hole, but Schmelzel and Vu regained their 1-up lead on the third hole, extending their advantage to 2 up after No. 4. The Americans lost the fifth hole and didn’t get back to 2 up until the par-5 12th hole, landing another blow on 13 to take a 3-up lead with five holes to play. The U.S. then ultimately closed out the Europeans on 16, making birdie on the par 3 to win the match 3 and 2.

“To be out here with these crowds, especially these last few holes rooting us on, encouraging us to get this point, it's exceeded so many expectations,” Schmelzel said. “The girls, the captains, everyone is amazing. And then playing in an atmosphere like this, you can't ask for anything better than to represent your country like this.”

Coughlin and Schmelzel were then partnered for the afternoon four-ball session in Virginia and once again proved why they both belong on this U.S. Team.

Playing against Emily Pedersen and Maja Stark, the match was tied through six holes when the Americans claimed the par-4 7th hole to go 1 up on the Euros. A Coughlin birdie on the par-5 8th hole then moved the U.S. to 2 up with 11 holes to play at Robert Trent Jones Golf Club.

Pedersen and Stark landed a blow on 10 to get back to 1 down, but Schmelzel birdied 11 to again put the Americans two ahead with seven holes remaining. The Arizona native made another birdie on 13 to move the U.S. to 3 up, and that’s where Schmelzel and Coughlin remained, tying the Euros on the next three holes to win the match 3 and 2 on the 16th hole.

“Sarah played unbelievable,” Coughlin said of her partner. “I was just trying to hang in there and make some pars so she could be free. She rolled in so many good putts. It was awesome.”

Schmelzel credited Coughlin as well. “Both of us settled in pretty well this morning,” said the 30-year-old. “We both came out this afternoon really aggressive and wanting to play well and wanting to get a point after that first one. I think we just stayed aggressive all day and believed in each other.”

Even though, on paper, Coughlin and Schmelzel are technically Solheim Cup rookies this week in Virginia, both are quick to remind everyone that they are storied veterans when it comes to LPGA Tour experience. Coughlin first joined the LPGA in 2018, and Schmelzel did so a year later in 2019, each running the gamut when it comes to the highs and lows of life as a professional golfer.

So, yes, representing their country on the biggest stage in women’s golf might be new for these athletes, but they’ve proven time and again, this season and in years past, that they have a propensity for the big moment, making them arguably some of the best rookie options that Captain Stacy Lewis could’ve asked for on a pretty heavily experienced U.S. Team.

“We're 30 and 31 years old,” Schmelzel explained. “We're borderline oldest on the team. It was just really validating, I think, for both of us to go out there and play like we did today. Walking into the tunnel for that afternoon match, we had that underdog mentality of let's show them what we've got, let's show them who we are kind of thing, and we just tried to roll with that all day. Lauren played amazing, and it was easy to feed off of.”

Captain Stacy Lewis has elected to send Coughlin and Schmelzel out again in Saturday morning foursomes after the pair each went 2-0 on Friday in Gainesville, Va.

And considering how they showed up and out on day one at Robert Trent Jones Golf Club, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see more excellence from the pair on day two of their first Solheim Cup.

Solheim Cup Rookies Lauren Coughlin, Sarah Schmelzel Showing Out at RTJ

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