The oldest and most famous team event in golf is, of course, The Ryder Cup. But it only happens every other year and only involves players from the US and Europe. In recent times there have been a lot of very good golfers from parts of the world that aren’t the US and Europe. South Africa, Australia and Fiji, just to name a few. So in 1994, in order to fill in the every other year gap, The Presidents Cup was established. This is a team event between the US and golfers from everywhere that is not Europe. You’ll notice that in each case it is the US against someone else. That is because, let’s face it, the US is where the money is. Last year was a Ryder Cup year. This is a Presidents Cup year. One thing both of these events have in common is that they are for the men.
In order to even things out a bit Karsten Solheim made big push for a women’s team event, and in 1990 the Solheim Cup was born. Karsten Solheim was the founder of Karsten Manufacturing, which is the maker of PING brand golf equipment. And that story is a blog post or two in itself, and we aren’t going there today. Just know that Mr. Solheim knew a thing or two about golf, and had enough clout in the golf world to get a womens team event off the ground. Hence said event is called The Solheim Cup.
Like The Ryder Cup, the Solheim Cup is contested by teams representing the US and Europe. And like the Ryder Cup, The Solheim Cup is match play. Each team has 12 players, and is made up of the top players for each side and a couple of Captain’s picks. And like the Ryder Cup, The Solheim Cup is played every other year, and the venue alternates between US and Europe. Sensing a theme here? The Solheim Cup is the women’s Ryder Cup.
So instead of repeating myself I will point you to this post I did on The Ryder Cup as far as format and strategy goes. Just substitute Solheim Cup and LPGA in your head each time you read Ryder Cup and PGA and that pretty much covers it. Of course there are a few differences, lots more legs showing for one thing, and the point system for determining team members is a little different, but overall they are pretty much the same. Which was Mr. Solheims point, after all.
There are a lot of good non-US and non-European golfers on the LPGA. But given it’s current financial straights, I doubt there is a women’s version of The President’s Cup anywhere on the horizon.
The Solheim Cup is this week, the 17th – 23rd, with the actual match’s starting tomorrow and going through Sunday. It is being played at Rich Harvest Farms in Sugar Grove, Illinois. The US team leads in overall Solheim Cup wins 7 – 3, and has never lost the cup when it’s been contested on American soil. They are heavily favored to win this year as well. Which doesn’t mean it won’t be fun to watch. And we will watch a lot of it here at The Household. The Golf Channel will have the exclusive coverage, starting tomorrow. And of course you subscribe to The Golf Channel. Doesn’t everybody?
Here is Ron Sirak on this years teams, and their slightly different attitudes. And here is an interesting take on the future of the cup itself from a British news paper. And because I know you will want to, here is the page so you can keep up with real time updates on the scoring.
Comments