Solheim Cup Preview

The 11^th Solheim Cup gets underway this Friday at Rich Harvest Farms in Sugar Grove, Illinois (near Chicago).  Team U.S.A. holds a 7-3 edge in this bi-annual event and has won the last two.  In September 2007, they defeated Team Europe in Halmstad, Sweden by a count of 16 to 12.

If you're unfamiliar with how the Solheim format works, allow me to spell it out for you.  Each team collects a point by winning one of 28 scheduled matches.  Being the holders of the Cup, the United States only needs to collect 14 points to retain it while Europe must earn 14.5 points to win it.  In each match, the team that wins the most holes wins the match.  When one player has a lead which exceeds the number of holes remaining, the match is immediately over.  If a match is tied (All Square) after 18 holes, each team earns a half-point - there are no extra holes or "sudden-death".  The first two days will each consist of four four-ball matches in the morning and four foursome matches in the afternoon (a total of eight matches each day).  Four-ball means that the two players will each play their own ball and the best score of the two will represent their team's score on that hole.  Foursomes allow the two players to play only one ball - one player hits the tee shot, the other plays the second, etc.  The second player on Hole 1 tees off at Hole 2.  On Sunday, all twelve players from each team will play singles matches.

The captains of the two teams - Beth Daniel for the U.S.A. and Alison Nicholas for Europe - do more than just fire up the troops.  They decide which players to pair up in the four-ball and foursome matches.  With only eight slots to fill per session on Friday and Saturday, there are various strategic ways to make out their lineups.  They also dictate the order each pair or player goes out, each without the knowledge of whom her opposite will be sending.

You should know from reading my regular work that I usually try to stay objective when reporting on LPGA results.  Be forewarned - I was obviously pro-U.S.A. in my writing for the '07 Solheim (if you don't believe me, read this, this, this, this or this) and I expect to be similarly slanted this time around.  Another thing you might notice from those links - team match play can be a riveting thing to watch, where an entire day's outcome can change in the span of a couple of holes.  Even if you don't have an allegiance to one of the teams, it is more exciting than stroke play events primarily because every hole is its own mini-competition.  Each hole is a valuable prize in and of itself.  But the twist on that is, whether you lose a hole by one stroke or five doesn't matter.  And a player had better not dwell on the result of that last hole too long or the next two or three will get away from her.

I evaluated the teams a couple of weeks ago and predicted an 18-10 U.S. victory.  I won't repeat anything else I wrote then but would like to add/modify a couple of things.  Karen Stupples promptly won last week's LET event after being left off of Team Europe and would certainly have been more comfortable playing in America (being an 11-year LPGA veteran) than Becky Brewerton.  To be fair, Captain Nicholas was hamstrung by the downturn in performance by LET players as reflected by the Rolex Rankings.  Having four automatic qualifiers to the team who rank worse than #90 certainly isn't her fault.  The pass I gave Nicholas over having to spend a pick on Anna Nordqvist was faulty - if Nordqvist had been eligible for one of the four Rolex spots, she would have pushed Maria Hjorth out and Alison would have likely picked Maria ahead of Karen anyway (Rolex #35 vs. #50).  Bottom line - she liked Brewerton's recent play better than Stupples'.  Karen's win came a week too late.

Other bits of trivia:  For the first time ever, the event is being played prior to Labor Day.  An August date would have been nice two years ago!  Each team has three Solheim rookies - Brittany Lang, Kristy McPherson, Michelle Wie, Tania Elosegui, Diana Luna and Nordqvist.  Janice Moodie definitely deserves her spot on the team with her 6-1-1 career record (in 2000 and 2003).  Laura Davies, Suzann Pettersen and Catriona Matthew are the other Europeans who have at least three more career wins than losses.  The Americans who fit that description?  Juli Inkster and Paula Creamer.  Inkster and Cristie Kerr are the only Americans with more than two prior Solheim experiences (and seven have played in one or none).  Europe has six players with at least four Solheim Cups under their belts.  Even minus Mrs. McGee, Team Europe still has a sizable experience edge.  Finally, let me be the first to say - the U.S. has never lost the Cup on home soil, always winning by three points or more.

The Solheim page at LPGA.com has some good info, except for where they link to stuff which still talks about the upcoming '07 event (come on guys!).  Particularly interesting are the all-time player won-lost records for Team U.S.A. and Team Europe along with a hole-by-hole description of Rich Harvest Farms.  The page is also showing that par will be 73 over the 6670-yard layout.  Even if that is accurate, it doesn't matter at all under a match play format (realistically, "par" is what your opponent's score is on the hole). 

As Friday draws near, I'll be getting into full Solheim mode and you can expect a detailed account of each day's action throughout the weekend.  Enjoy the competition and GO U.S.A.!