Laura Davies believes Annika Sorenstam’s presence in the team room will bring huge confidence to the European side at Killeen Castle.

The 10-time major champion and former world number one will be a first-time assistant captain under Alison Nicholas.

Sorenstam represented Europe on eight occasions from 1994 to 2007 as a player and boasts a 22-11-4 record, having earned 24 points for the European team, which is the most in Solheim Cup history. She also holds a number of other all-time records, including most matches won, with 22.

“I know her really well and I’m delighted she’s involved in it,” Davies said. “The confidence that she tries to put in people, that’s always been Annika’s strength at The Solheim Cup and even though she’s not playing member she’s going to try to instil some confidence in everybody and tell us how good we are.”

Throughout her career, Sorenstam re-wrote the record books whilst earning 89 wins worldwide. In 2001, she won four consecutive events early in the season, including the Standard Register PING where she posted a new 18-hole scoring record of 59 (-13) during the second round.

Davies ranked Annika as the best player she’d ever played against. “Annika and very closely followed by Lorena are the best players I’ve ever played against, because of their consistency. Not any individual shots that they hit, but they hit so many good shots and so few bad shots.”

As for her own role, Davies said that she liked to keep it all light-hearted. “I have fun and try and relax people with a few jokes here and there. If someone asks me a question I’ll give them an answer but I’ll never tell someone they should try this or that because everyone is different and needs to work out their formula. My formula is not necessarily many other people’s formula.”