The Solheim Cup

That shrieking you Hoosier golf fans are liable to hear the weekend after Labor Day is either from a surprising and surprisingly young American women’s Solheim Cup team, or maybe from Annika Sorenstam, as the greatest player in the game personally keps the trophy in the hands of her European comrades. One thing’s for certain. It’ll be a noisy weekend at Crooked Stick in Carmel, just outside Indianapolis.

The Solheim Cup is great theatre, arguably better entertainment than the men’s version of trans-Atlantic team play, the Ryder Cup. And far more unpredictable. Until they prove otherwise, American men have become chronic under-achievers against their International counterparts.

The Solheim Cup, now up for grabs for the ninth time since the late Karsten Solheim allowed his family name to be put on the trophy, has been as hard to forecast as Crooked Stick will be to play September 9-11. Though the Americans have won the Cup all four previous times it’s been played for in the States, the victory margin has dwindled each time to where a single singles match could determine the outcome this time around.

And the venue couldn’t be more appropriate. Crooked Stick Golf Club is considered by many to be the first of Pete Dye’s true signature courses. Following a trip to the British Isles in the early 1960’s, Dye returned with fresh ideas from great Scottish-born architects Donald Ross (of Pinehurst fame) and Alister McKenzie (who designed a couple of courses you might have heard of, Augusta National and Cypress Point). Dye remembered their desire for wide fairways and generous landing areas, bordering each with his signature mounding, installing the now to-Dye-for railroad tie bulkheads for which he’s become world-renowned. No two consecutive holes go in the same direction at Crooked Stick, forcing you to adjust to the prevailing breezes not just once or twice, but every hole. Three of the four par-5’s are reachable, if the winds are favorable, but can be brutish into the winds.

Ranked among Golf Digest’s Top 75 courses in the nation, all you really need to remember is the pedigree of those who’ve won major championships there, the most recent being Laurie Merten’s 1993 U.S. Women’s Open title, when she birdied two of the last three holes for a final round 68 and a one-shot come-from-behind win over Swede Helen Alfredsson and Donna Andrews. Two years before, John Daly completed his Cinderella drive from ninth alternate to PGA Champion. Fittingly for this international event, Daly’s other major came at the Old Course at St. Andrews in 1995, linking the two great courses forever in golf history.

The matches are played in the same format as the Ryder Cup. Each team has 12 players, 8 of which pair-up in four alternate shot (foursome) matches, followed by four best-ball (fourball) matches each of the first two days, with a point awarded to the winning team in each match, a half-point if the match is tied. Twelve singles matches on the final day will tell the tale. The European team needs 14 points to retain the Solheim Cup with the Americans will need 14-1/2 to take it back.

Players for the two teams are selected by different points races from the LPGA Tour and the Ladies European Tour. After ten American players are chosen via the points standings, U.S. captain Nancy Lopez will make two captain’s picks to fill out the roster. With so many great European players playing on the LPGA Tour, European captain Catrin Nilsmark of Sweden will have five captain’s picks to join the seven automatic invitations issues by the LET. It might well be a good break for the Americans that Nilsmark, who captained the victorious European team two years ago at Barseback Golf Club in Sweden, is not allowed to take any of the Korean stars or Mexican standout Lorena Ochoa.

Not like the Europeans will need a lot of help after their 17-1/2 to 10-1/2 trouncing of the Americans in 2004 at Barseback, even winning 8 of the 12 singles matches the Americans usually dominate. Borrowing the strategy of European Ryder Cup captain Sam Torrance, Nilsmark front-loaded her lineup on the final day to try to finish off the American side, and it worked to perfection.

The U.S. team will counter that the beating wasn’t quite so complete because after the issue had been settled, they conceded three of the remaining matches. Laura Diaz, Juli Inkster, Michelle Redman were the only Americans to win their singles matches outright. Cristie Kerr won on a concession by Suzann Pettersen. Obviously, Annika Sorenstam will lead the European side at Crooked Stick. Kerr, Meg Mallon, Juli Inkster and Rosie Jones are expected to lead the American team again. Jones was originally picked as an assistant captain to Lopez, but her performances in 2005 have her almost a lock to make the team as a player instead. 

The role of re-capturing the cup won’t fail for lack of support. This Solheim Cup sold out all available tickets for the first time ever on U.S. soil, and did it by January 9th, nine months prior to the event. But sold-out doesn’t mean shut-out.

Fans can still be a part of the passion and patriotism. Tickets ARE available for Solheim After Sundown, a special community-based charity event, which takes place on Tuesday, September 6th at Crooked Stick.

Solheim After Sundown offers fans admittance to the Tuesday practice round, day-long admission to the PING Pavilion, complimentary parking, participation in a silent auction and raffle, a memento of the evening, and dinner that includes live entertainment by the Polkaboy Band – one of Indy’s most popular after-hours bands.

Three charities have been selected to participate in Solheim After Sundown and will receive the proceeds.

The charity programs include the Indianapolis First Tee program, which will help Indy Parks build a golf course and learning center for youth as part of the World Golf Foundation’s First Tee program; The Indiana Golf Foundation, which provides organized, competitive opportunities for junior golfers, and the Hamilton County Parks & Recreation to develop Coxhall Gardens - a 125-acre piece of farmland, which is being transformed and developed as a park and gardens for the residents, tourists and visitors of Hamilton County.

Coxhall Gardens will provide over 5,000 parking spots for spectators and is the site of The Solheim Cup’s Opening and Closing Ceremony. The Opening Ceremony takes place Thursday, September 8th, and is free and open to the public.

Tickets are available to Solheim After Sundown for $100 each by visiting www.solheimcup.com or calling 317-237-5020.