Young And Relentless

By Ron Sirak
Photo: Scott Halleran/Getty Images September 21, 2007

When the United States overwhelmed Europe 11½-4½ in the first Solheim Cup at Lake Nona in 1990, there were fears the competition would be so one-sided no one would watch. The Americans were simply that good. Five members of that eight-woman U.S. team eventually entered the Hall of Fame, including Betsy King, captain of this year's squad. A European win on home soil in 1992 at Dalmahoy eased that fear somewhat, but perhaps it is time to revisit those concerns. The 16-12 victory Sunday at Halmstad GC in Sweden by an extremely young, superbly talented and overwhelmingly confident U.S. team was staggering in its ease. The final margin was four points only because underdog Europe fought gamely through brutal weather to scratch out halve after halve, hanging on by its fingertips, until finally losing grasp of the situation in singles play. A four-event extension of the Solheim Cup was announced early last week and with eight players on its roster under 30 the Americans have assembled a core that could play -- and win -- together in all of them.

The victory was only the second in Solheim Cup history on foreign soil -- the U.S. team won 17-11 in Wales in 1996 -- and it made the overall record 7-3 in favor of the United States. "We've got to win the next four to break even," Laura Davies, who has played in all 10 Solheim Cups, said after she was one of only three Europe players to win in the 12 singles matches Sunday. "We lost to a better team today. They had some good team spirit out there and beat us. That's the bottom line, basically." Actually, the bottom line was uglier than that. Of the eight singles matches Europe lost, only one made it to the 18th hole. Other than that, Davies' assessment of the situation was spot on.

This U.S. team was indeed very good, and it had impressive spirit. A sign in the team room said: Together Each Achieves More. The ping-pong was as competitive as the golf. Hazing of the four rookies helped bond the team. Past U.S. captains Judy Rankin, Nancy Lopez, Alice Miller and JoAnne Carner spoke to the team and gave them an inspiring sense of history. Tattoos of American flags and red, white and blue hearts were on nearly every patch of exposed skin. The normally reticent King emerged as an effective team leader, working with her former Furman teammate Beth Daniel, the assistant who, sources tell Golf World, will captain the next U.S. team at Rich Harvest Farms outside Chicago in 2009.

At one point Sunday after the Cup had been clinched, nine U.S. team members and assistants squeezed onto a golf cart in a comical pyramid to ride out to watch the last three matches. And, when it was all over, the oldest player, 47-year-old Juli Inkster, the eternal teenager and queen of the one-liner, flipped across the practice green in a near-perfect cartwheel that reduced her younger teammates to tears of laughter and triggered a devastating one-liner best not repeated.

"This is my seventh Solheim Cup," said Inkster, whose three points at Halmstad ran her career total to 16½, tying her with Meg Mallon for most among Americans. "I kept telling the young ones, 'This is the best position we've ever been in coming to singles,'" she said, referring to the 8½- 7½ lead Europe had after foursomes and four-ball play. "I said, 'We're golden.' "

But what happened Sunday had to surprise even Inkster. Morgan Pressel, 19, defeated Annika Sorenstam, the all-time leading Solheim Cup points winner (24 points), 2 and 1. Paula Creamer, 21, handled Maria Hjorth by the same score, and Stacy Prammanasudh, 27, held off McDonald's LPGA Championship winner Suzann Pettersen, 2 up. Angela Stanford, Nicole Castrale and Natalie Gulbis -- all in their 20s -- also won singles matches. Creamer now has a record of 5-1-4 in two Solheim Cups and has won seven of a possible 10 points, clearly emerging as the star for this generation of Americans.