Linn Grant and Maja Stark make big impression on Europe’s Solheim Cup captain Suzann Pettersen

Team Europe’s Solheim Cup captain Suzann Pettersen has highlighted the talents of Swedish stars Linn Grant and Maja Stark.

Stark and Grant took the Ladies European Tour by storm in 2022, with the former winning on three occasions and the latter four times.

One of Grant’s wins came in the Scandinavian Mixed, a co-sanctioned event between the LET and DP World Tour in which the Swede beat the men by nine shots.

It was a statement performance which Grant backed up with a further win in August which helped her hold off her friend and rival Stark to claim the Race to Costa Del Sol title for the LET’s top player of 2022.

With both 23 years old, the sky’s the limit for the pair and they are sure to be front rank when Pettersen selects her team to take on the United States in the Solheim Cup at Finca Cortesin in Spain next September.

“She is so solid to watch,” Pettersen said of Grant. “She has control and it is fun to watch.

“It is very special. I am sure they are having fun as well. They are great friends, they are playing great golf and [are] enjoying life and help each other.”

Grant and Stark have often roomed together on tour and spend a lot of time together, and Pettersen feels it will rub off in the team element at the Solheim Cup.

“It is like a team effort for them,” Pettersen said. “It is something I really like and I think it is something that makes them better.

“They have both had fantastic seasons.”

Pettersen is impressed with the attacking approach Stark takes on the course.

“She seems so fearless,” Pettersen said. “I don’t think she thinks about the consequences. It is an ideal golfing brain.

“I would call her a little pitbull, she just keeps going, playing her own game, does not care what other people do. I like that attitude.”

Team Europe won the Solheim Cup 15-13 at Inverness Golf Club in Ohio in September of 2021, defying the odds against a stacked United States team.

Europe are narrow favourites to defend the trophy, and it will be intriguing to see how Stark and Grant get on against the likes of Nelly Korda and Lexi Thompson in Spain next year.