Solheim Cup: Who will take the U.S. wild cards?: Golf Digest Woman: Golf Digest

Solheim Cup: Who will take the U.S. wild cards?

Wednesday, August 17, 2011 Comments

On Sunday night, after a winner is crowned at the Safeway Classic at Pumpkin Ridge GC in North Plains, Ore., captain Rosie Jones will announce the members of the 2011 U.S. Solheim Cup team. Ten players qualify on points and Jones will select two wild cards to round out the 12-person squad. Nine players (Cristie Kerr, Morgan Pressel, Stacy Lewis, Angela Stanford, Paula Creamer, Michelle Wie, Brittany Lincicome, Brittany Lang and Juli Inkster, who will be the Cup's first-ever playing assistant captain) are already guaranteed entry. And Christina Kim, who's currently in 10th place, can only lose her automatic birth if she has a lousy week in Portland and Katie Futcher, Kristy McPherson or Vicky Hurst do really well (Hurst would have to win to oust Kim). So for argument's sake, let's say Kim is in, even though she's in the middle of arguably the worst season of her career with five missed cuts and only two top-20 finishes in 13 starts.

Christie Kerr and Morgan Pressel top the U.S. Solheim Cup Team points standings. (Photo by Jonathan Ferrey, Getty Images)

Spots 11 to 20 in the team standings currently look like this:

11. Katie Futcher
12. Kristy McPherson
13. Vicky Hurst
14. Wendy Ward
15. Pat Hurst
16. Natalie Gulbis
17. Stacy Prammanasudh
18. Amanda Blumenherst
19. Paige Mackenzie
20. Heather Bowie Young

In my humble opinion, captain Jones faces a tough decision. One could argue that Futcher, who finished third in the Kraft-Nabisco Championship and has earned almost three times the money Kim has this season, deserves a spot. But wild card number two is a trickier selection. McPherson played her first Solheim Cup in 2009 but came away with three losses to offset her one win, and currently sits in 53rd place on this season's money list -- not exactly a strong endorsement. Vicky Hurst would be a Solheim rookie, which is fine considering there would only be two other rookies (Stacy Lewis and Futcher, if she gets a nod) on the team, but her 2011 record is almost as dismal as Kim's. Ward, Pat Hurst and Gulbis are solid Solheim veterans but only have three top-10 finishes between them over the last two seasons, which makes them spotty choices in my book -- and the U.S. team is already full of veterans.

So what's a captain to do? Darned if I know. If I were Jones, I'd go with Futcher and the American not already on the team who performs the best in the Safeway this week. And then I'd lobby for a change in the U.S. Solheim Cup Team points-gathering system to make it emphasize current form more than it does now.

--Stina Sternberg