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Washington - Pat Hurst, a six-time LPGA winner, was named on Thursday as US team captain for the 2021 Solheim Cup, where the Americans will try to reclaim the trophy from Europe.
The 17th edition of the biennial women's golf match-play showdown between Europa and the United States will be played September 4-6, 2021, at Inverness in Toledo, Ohio.
Hurst played on four winning teams in five Solheim Cup appearances as a player, compiling a 10-7 with three halved record - 3-1-1 in singles - in helping the Americans to triumphs in 1998, 2002, 2005 and 2007.
She served as an assistant to US captain Juli Inkster in the past three Solheim Cups, in which the Americans won in Germany in 2015 and Des Moines, Iowa, in 2017 before losing the Cup 14 1/2-13 1/2 last year at Gleneagles, Scotland.
"Deep down I hoped for that same opportunity, a chance to take what I had learned from Juli and put my personal touch on it," Hurst said in a blog on the event website.
"Now that I've been blessed with this great honor and awesome responsibility, I'm giving it all I've got."
Hurst says she plans to use the pod system, breaking the squad into smaller groups to work together and ease pairings issues for the event.
"Of course there will be more pressure to win on home soil in front of a partisan crowd," Hurst said. "But I'm up for it and I know our players will be."
American women lead the all-time rivalry 10-6 but holders Europe have won three of the past five.
Hurst won her only major title at the 1998 LPGA Dinah Shore tournament. Her last LPGA triumph came in 2009 at Mexico City.
