Guess Who's Going for a Threepeat?

I really wanted a picture with both Juli Inkster and Catriona Matthew but I guess they haven't had time for that yet. After all, they only made Juli's pick official on Tuesday. So I made my own...




But those pics will show up soon enough. After all, both picks seem like no-brainers to me. Scottish-born Catriona is the logical choice to head the European team at Gleneagles in Scotland. (For those of you who don't know where Gleneagles is, check your maps for the PGA Centenary Course at The Gleneagles Hotel in Perthshire, Scotland.) She's been an awesome player for a long time and she showed everybody at the last Solheim Cup that she's still got it. (And she did it on short notice too. That's what you call being "clutch.") That performance is gonna carry a lot of weight with the players on her team.

And Juli? Well, there's a reason she's the first US Captain to lead the team three times. It goes beyond the back-to-back wins for Team USA with her at the helm. It's all about "culture," to borrow the term that's popular in so many team sports lately. Juli is neither an overbearing perfectionist nor a party girl, but she has managed to juxtapose the "lunch box" mentality of the first with the "first tee dancer" of the second... and the team has responded to that.

But both are similar in what they bring to their teams.

Both still play the Tour. Both play with and are comfortable around the younger players, and both have the youngsters' respect. Of course, both bridge the gap between those younger players and the legends of the game. Both are approachable, yet both are capable of taking charge when necessary.

And I have no doubt that both will relish working with each other over the next 18 months or so as they do the mandatory publicity work their positions demand.

Isn't it nice when the powers-that-be get it right?

A Variety of News Articles

Although I've been keeping up the posts this week, I am in fact on vacation in Disneyworld with friends. I haven't had time to do swing analyses and such, so I haven't tried. And while the trip is almost over, it's still going to be a couple of days before I'm back in North Carolina. So today I'm just linking you to some interesting news bits that I've run across -- in-between flights to Mars, fireworks displays and trips to a comedy club run by monsters, that is.



I found articles at both Golfweek and Golf Digest about Catriona Matthew's appointment as 2019 Solheim Cup captain. I don't think this is any real surprise, as that competition will be held in Perthshire, Scotland. Still, it's nice to know that the Euro team didn't drag out what really should be a no-brainer.

Golf.com has a neat article about a new Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign for Beer Pong Golf. To quote the article:

The venture was launched on the crowdfunding website Kickstarter earlier this summer, and in a few days it had sailed past its goal to raise $20,000. As of Thursday morning, 874 backers have poured $138,274 into the project

The irony here is that something simple like this may be a bigger draw to new golfers than some of the more publicized (and expensive) attempts to create a simple entry point. This is a grassroots, play-it-in-the-backyard approach that could become addictive.

I also found two articles about the new Titleist AVX ball. Golf Digest focuses on the initially limited distribution while Golfweek focuses on the construction. But neither article is very long because the ball is so new.

And finally, Golf Digest has an article about how Michael Phelps is helping Tiger Woods -- and other athletes -- deal with the various drug-related depression problems and such that are becoming more common among star athletes.

Those are the interesting bits I've seen between vacation highlights. Hopefully you'll enjoy them. (Especially the Beer Pong Golf. That really sounds like fun!)

The Solheim Cup Scores Are a Bit Misleading

Many of you, who haven't been watching the Solheim Cup, may look at the lopsided score going into today's singles -- 10.5 - 5.5 in favor of the USA -- and think the Euros haven't played very well.

It's quite the opposite. This Cup has featured some of the most impressive scoring we've seen in years. Let me give you an example.



Let's look at the afternoon fourball between "The Killer Bs," aka Brittanys Lang and Lincicome, and the team of Mel Reid and Carlotta Ciganda. The Brittanys won 2up -- which means the match went to the 18th -- and the lead was never more than 3up. (That was for only one hole. It was often down to 1up.) Doesn't sound very interesting, does it?

But let me tell you how all that scoring worked out...

Lincicome birdied the first seven holes. The seventh didn't count because Lang eagled it. In total, Lincicome birdied ten holes with her own ball, Lang had five birdies and an eagle. For the Euros, Reid had eight birdies with her own ball and Ciganda birdied six.

Count those up, folks. In that one match, there were a total of 29 birdies and one eagle!

Then, in the Nordqvist/Ewart-Shadoff match -- the only afternoon match the Euros won, and it only went 16 holes -- Nordqvist had eight birdies and Ewart-Shadoff, two. Their opponents, Salas and Yin, posted five and four, respectively. That's 19 birdies in what was probably the lowest scoring match of the day, although the Euros won 4&2.

That's a total of 48 birdies and one eagle in JUST TWO of the afternoon matches. It was like that the whole day.

The Euros have had a tough time for several reasons.

• The LET is having a tough time getting tournaments, just as the LPGA did several years back. That means many of the players haven't had the tournament play that the US players have.
• Then there were the sicknesses and injuries.
• You know that Suzann Pettersen had to bow out with back problems. And while Catriona Matthew was able to replace her -- and I'm a huge CM fan -- the fact remains that she couldn't be paired with as many different players as Suzann could.
• Anna Nordqvist is recovering from mononucleosis. She played both rounds on Saturday but it remains to be seen how she'll hold up today.
• And Charley Hull missed Saturday's matches with a wrist injury she aggravated Friday. She plans to play today but, again, we don't know how she'll do.
• And then there are the rookies. Personally, I think the Euro rookies have played pretty well, given that most of the rookies play primarily the LET and we know how few tournaments they had to play in. The three US rookies have outscored the four Euro rookies, and I'm not convinced that's the rookies' fault.

The odds are against a Euro comeback today. They need to win 9 of the 12 points in order to take the Cup back home with them, and that's going to be a lot harder than the 8.5 points the US needed in Germany. Think about it. How do you get 9 points?

• 9 wins (3 losses)
• 8 wins, 2 halves (2 losses)
• 7 wins, 4 halves (1 loss)
• 6 wins, 6 halves (no losses)

And that's it. There is no other way that gets them enough points.

But I expect them to put up a magnificent struggle. That's what we've seen from the Euro team so far, and I expect no less today.

Welcome to the Solheim Cup

Finally! It's time for the rematch!



Tony Jesselli's preview is up at his website, and the official site is at this link. (You can pick Team Europe or Team USA from that page.) The event will be held in West Des Moines, Iowa and the course is nearly 6900 yards long, which is long for an LPGA or LET event.

At this point, each team has at least one questionable player.

• For Team Europe, Suzann Pettersen is dealing with some back problems, and her status is uncertain enough that Vice Captain Catriona Matthew has been practicing.
• And for Team USA, Lexi Thompson is dealing with a virus that caused her to cancel her presser on Tuesday.

We don't know if anyone else is dealing with sickness or injury, but losing either player could play havoc with pairings this weekend.

The coverage starts Friday on GC at 9am ET. While I'm pulling for the US team -- I am an American, after all -- I'm not so sure that either team has an advantage this time. During the last Cup, an unexpected turn of events in one match completely stole home field advantage from the Euro team. Given the length of this course, I suspect the matches could turn on something equally small, although I doubt it will be a controversy like the last one.

Of course, not knowing is half the fun, isn't it?

The US Solheim Cup Gets Interesting

I haven't found the effect on the Euro standings yet, but GC posted an article about how the RICOH cut has affected the US Solheim Cup team. Eight players from the US points list and two off the US world rankings (based on the Rolex Rankings) get auto picks, then Juli Inkster gets two Captain's picks. Here's the short version of how things stand.



The Top6 on the US points list are locks:

1. Lexi Thompson
2. Stacy Lewis
3. Gerina Piller
4. Cristie Kerr
5. Jessica Korda (WD'ed from RICOH with injury but still hopes to play Solheim)
6. Danielle Kang

Michelle Wie is at #7 but could get knocked out by seven other players, depending on how they finish. However, she's high enough on the world list that she could make it that way if she falters in the points list.

Several players need to win the RICOH to make the points list -- Marina Alex, Mo Martin, Jennifer Song and Alison Lee. Alex and Martin could also make it via the world list.

The Brittanies -- Lincicome and Lang -- plus Lizette Salas made the cut at the RICOH and have a chance to make the team via the world list.

Finally, Paula Creamer, Morgan Pressel, Angela Stanford, Austin Ernst and Nelly Korda all need Captain's picks. But only Creamer and Pressel made the cut, and neither has played particularly well this season.

So there's a lot riding on the RICOH for the US Solheim Cup team. I'm glad I'm not in Juli Inkster's place. She's going to have some hard decisions to make.

Some Final Thoughts on the Solheim Cup

Obviously, as an American I'm extremely pleased that the US team won the Solheim Cup on Sunday. But with all the controversy that surrounded it, I also have a few thoughts of my own.



First of all, it may surprise many of you that I don't really have a problem with Suzann using a little gamesmanship during the matches. While I personally wouldn't want to win using it, it's a valid technique that has been used for decades at the Ryder Cup and probably for centuries if you want to include all the informal matches that have been played since golf was invented. It's common practice in every sport.

I think there were two reasons that this instance caused so much controversy. The first is simply that Suzann wouldn't admit that's what she did. Regardless of your feelings about gamesmanship, you probably have a problem with dishonesty and, if you're ashamed to admit you play mind games, you probably shouldn't play them.

But the bigger problem is who became her target. Alison Lee made a rookie mistake, but that's the whole point. She WAS a rookie -- not just a Solheim Cup rookie, but she's in her rookie year as a pro. Bear in mind that she didn't even declare as a pro until after she successfully made it through Q-School last season, so she hasn't even been a pro for a full year. Using gamesmanship on a rookie like Alison simply comes across badly, and I suspect that's why it drew such harsh criticism from even European players like Laura Davies.

Credit Suzann for being the kind of woman who can honestly reflect on her actions and then ask for forgiveness. And she should get it too. We keep saying that we want our sport to teach values, and the ability to recognize that we're all human and that a sincere apology -- which Suzann issued Monday morning -- deserves to be accepted is definitely one of the values we want to pass on.

In case you missed it, Tripp Isenhour made a case on Golf Central that the official on the spot mishandled the whole affair and that The Decisions on the Rules of Golf would have allowed Alison's ball to be replaced and putted without penalty. Here's a link to the Monday Golf Central show if you'd like to hear what he said. The show began with the controversy and Tripp's explanation begins at around the 5:10 mark.

Of course, the whole situation pointed out a real danger of gamesmanship: The target may find new motivation in what he or she sees as a cheap trick and then lift his or her play as a result. Suzann may have won the point in that match, but the backlash likely caused the loss of several points in singles. If you saw the team huddle after it happened then you heard the team consoling Alison... and you heard Stacy Lewis tell the team to use it as motivation. If you're someone who likes to use gamemanship, that's a caveat you should take to heart.

Another thought: Juli Inkster was a Hall of Famer before, but she's going to be a legend now. Think about how Ben Crenshaw and Jose Maria Olazabal are regarded in Ryder Cup circles; Juli joins them as the only captains to coach their teams back from 6-10 deficits. The younger players already think she's amazing. Now, given her own record in Solheim Cup play, plus her seven majors and 30-something total wins, this is just going to raise her popularity to a level that borders on reverence.

Are there any US players whose careers may suddenly get a boost from this Solheim Cup? Gerina Piller and Lizette Salas are likely to get the "Solheim bump," coming through under pressure the way they did. Alison Lee might also, given how she rebounded from the controversy and won her singles match.But I wouldn't be surprised if Angela Stanford got a bump as well; she had the worst record coming in (3-11-3) but she's the one who took down Suzann by making two critical birdies on 15 and 16 after Suzann's run on 11, 13 & 14 squared the match.

Lexi Thompson was already playing well but her performance definitely gave her a new position as a leader on future teams. I don't know that it will have any immediate effect on her game but she should gain some confidence from this. And perhaps Stacy Lewis will look at her struggles in these matches and realize she's got to make some mental adjustments to her game -- I know she feels she needs pressure to perform but she's clearly putting more pressure on herself than is healthy. Her game is just too good for the results she's been getting lately.

As for the Euros, Karine Icher and Mel Reid should have taken some real encouragement from their play, and I think Anna Nordqvist and Carlota Ciganda are in the same situation as Lexi Thompson. I'm not sure how the losses Sunday will affect the rest of the team since they were so overwhelming that they may feel more like a blip in the road once the initial shock wears off.

Overall, a tight competition always helps an event like this. And after this incredible finish, the Solheim Cup should be a much bigger source of interest when 2017 rolls around.

So Who's Favored at the Solheim Cup?

The Solheim Cup begins tonight -- at least, it'll be night here in the US -- and so I thought I'd post a few of my own thoughts before things get underway.



As far as who will be the favorite this time, I'm not sure that's a simple question. I have trouble believing that any team trying for a three-peat isn't the favorite! But there are a number of factors at work this time and it just depends on how you look at them:

• At last week's Evian, both teams had four players who failed to make the cut and each team has one prominent player struggling with her game -- Paula Creamer for the US and Caroline Hedwall for the Euros. The fact that Lexi Thompson and Alison Lee finished in the Top10 while a total of five Americans and only one Euro (Karine Icher) finished Top20 might seem to favor the US.
• You always have to give an advantage to the "home team." Since the matches will be in Germany you have to give that one to the Euros.
• There are heavy rains at the course and there's a possibility the first day will be rained out. How you interpret this depends on what you look at:
• The rains will make an already long course play longer. Since the Americans have more power players, this would seem to favor the US.
• But the Euro players are far more used to playing in messy conditions while dealing with rain gear and such. Chalk this one up for them.
• There are no rookies on the Euro team so no one has to be "brought up to speed," as it were. This could favor the Euros.
• Of course, there's only one rookie on the US team -- Alison Lee -- and she made the team while only having half the time to accrue points. Plus she's played on two successful Jr. Solheim Cup teams. She could have an invigorating effect on the team.
• Then there's the culture difference. The Euro players grow up playing foursomes much more than their US counterparts, so that should favor the Euros.
• The captains themselves are wild cards. Will the more reserved style of Euro captain Carin Koch or the super-relaxed style of US captain Juli Inkster be more effective? Likewise, Koch seems to be freewheeling with her pairings, saying that just about any of her players can play together, while Inkster has indicated that she's using a variation of the pod system adapted by successful Ryder Cup captain Paul Azinger. Very different approaches!
• And finally you have the pressure question. Who feels more pressure -- the Americans looking to break a string of losses or the Euros seeking a three-peat at home?

In the end I'm not sure there IS an answer. We'll just have to watch and see what happens.

The opening ceremonies are scheduled for GC today at 11am ET, while the first round of matches -- assuming they aren't rained out -- will be televised starting at 2am ET Friday morning. We're talking 10 hours of coverage on Friday if the rain doesn't mess things up! How cool is that?

In a World of Hurt

Shock is perhaps the only word that describes what the US team felt after Saturday's rounds at the Solheim Cup... and that word probably isn't adequate. A sweep in the afternoon fourballs had to be the furthest thing from Meg Mallon's mind when she sent her pairings out.

But perhaps we shouldn't be surprised. There were plenty of hints that Saturday might be an unusual day.

There was the Nordqvist hole-in-one to win her foursome match in the morning. She was playing with Hedwall, who was 3 for 3 after that. (She was 4 for 4 at the end of the day. I believe they said she has a chance to become the first Euro player to go 5 for 5.)

There was Neumann's decision to send Ciganda out again, even after her problems Friday. And to send two rookies -- Ewart-Shadof and Hull -- out together as the lead-off group. And to play Hedwall for 4 straight sessions while sitting Pettersen. (Now that's confidence!)

There was the bizarre episode where a Euro caddie tried to concede a Creamer putt so Thompson couldn't get a read from it.

And of course there was yet another 30+ minute ruling over drops.

In the end, the US team is down 5.5 to 10.5 -- meaning they have to win 9 of the 12 points available in singles, while the Euros need only 3.5 points to keep the Cup. That's a tall ask. If they pull it off, it will be the greatest comeback in Solheim Cup history... or in Ryder Cup history, for that matter. But given how well the Euro team is playing, I wouldn't bet on it.

If the Euro team wins, at least no one will be able to say it was because of a bad ruling. The Euros have played better than the US pretty much from top to bottom.

Oh yeah... and no one will be able to say that the Euros are just a paper tiger anymore. If they finish the rout today, the Solheim Cup will succeed in becoming almost as big as the Ryder Cup.

That's probably a win for everybody involved.

But for the US, I'm afraid that's the only win they'll get this time around. Welcome to the men's world, ladies!

And Europe Takes the Early Lead

It's Day 2 of the Solheim Cup and, as they did yesterday, GC begins broadcasting this morning at 9am ET. Europe starts the day leading 5-3.

In case you didn't see it yesterday, Europe pretty much shocked the US by winning 3 of the morning foursomes. The Lewis/Salas pairing and the Kerr/Creamer pairing, expected to be juggernauts, got shut down big time -- Salas played pretty well but the other 3 struggled. (In fact, Lewis also struggled in the afternoon fourballs.) Kerr finally started sinking some putts late in the match but it was TOO late. The only US team to win was Pressel/Korda -- a bit of a shock since long hitter/short hitter combos generally don't fare well in foursomes!

Europe's big heroes were Pettersen (no surprise!), Hedwall, and Icher. You wouldn't have known that Icher was only in her 2nd Solheim Cup... and her first was several years ago. The big shocker was Matthew being shut out in both sessions despite playing really well.

The afternoon session split 2-2 with the Brittanies (Lincicome and Lang) coming up big for the US, as did the Kerr/Wie duo. Wie should have put any questions about her pick to rest with her steady (and very creative) play in fourballs. For Europe the Pettersen/Ciganda pairing worked largely because Suzann Pettersen can play as well as almost any 2 other players on either team. (Lexi Thompson played extremely well, but without much from Lewis...) Ciganda struggled, apparently due to nerves, although she did come up big on a couple of holes. And the Carolines (Hedwall and Masson) is a fourball team you may see again today.

The biggest news of the day concerned Ciganda hitting her ball in a hazard on the 15th hole -- ironically, the hole where she made her biggest contribution to the match. The ruling took the better part of a half-hour, which the US team complained killed the momentum of 3 separate teams who were stuck on the hole, unable to play. To compound things, the officials now say the ruling was made incorrectly. I don't know if this is going to become an issue down the road, but the delay seems to be a much bigger issue than the botched ruling.

Just a thought: The LPGA takes its rules on slow play pretty seriously. I wonder what penalty will be exacted on the rules officials for being so slow?

Anyway, here are today's pairings for the opening foursome (alternate shot) matches -- EU team first, US team second:

1. Nordqvist/Hedwall VS Pressel/Korda
2. Munoz/Icher VS Lewis/Creamer
3. Matthew/Masson VS Lincicome/Salas
4. Pettersen/Recari VS Wie/Lang

Three of the Euro pairings are the same as Friday -- only Matthew has a new partner, as all her good play Friday was wasted. Only the Pressel/Korda pairing survived for the US -- neither Wie and Lang played the first session Friday, but both played well in the 2nd; Lincicome also played well in the 2nd and has been paired with Salas; and Creamer and Lewis have been teamed, perhaps in hopes they can jumpstart each other's game.

Although I don't know what Neumann has in mind, Mallon has said she doesn't plan to play anybody all 5 matches. Kerr gets her "time off" this morning, while Lewis and Creamer will both sit this afternoon if Mallon sticks with her plan. I'll be a bit surprised if we don't see the teams of Pressel/Korda, Lincicome/Lang, and Kerr/Wie this afternoon for the US; and Hedwall/Masson for Europe. (I won't be surprised if Pettersen/Recari and Munoz/Icher also show up in the afternoon rounds, although I'm under the impression that Neumann may try to get Hull more experience and Pettersen might be the best partner for her.)

There's a lot of golf left to play but Europe has made a very good start toward their first victory "over here." The US gals better step up today!

The Solheim Cup Starts Today!

Just a quick reminder that the Solheim Cup starts today. GC begins broadcasting this morning at 9am ET, so make sure you don't miss it. (I believe the afternoon session will be broadcast starting at 5pm ET.)

In case you missed it, here are the four pairings for the opening foursome (alternate shot) matches -- EU team first, US team second:

1. Nordqvist/Hedwall VS Lewis/Salas
2. Pettersen/Recari VS Lang/Stanford
3. Matthew/Ewart-Shadof VS Pressel/Korda
4. Munoz/Icher VS Kerr/Creamer

If you want to keep up with the scoring online, the live leaderboard is at this link.

The speeches by the captains at the opening ceremonies were pretty good. If they're any indication of what to expect, this should be a great Solheim Cup!