“Easy,” Lewis said of making her picks. “And a lot of it I think is probably more the stats and more the preparation that we had done prior to this week. Because they don’t know this — I have really been set on them for quite a few weeks now.”

The decision tree was trimmed in part due to Jessica Korda’s injury — and pregnancy — that removed the three-time veteran from consideration, leaving the only potential choice being taken care of when Andrea Lee supplanted Lexi Thompson for the final points spot at last week’s Canadian Open.

Lewis has five rookies on the roster, with Knight joining Lee, Rose Zhang, Allisen Corpuz and Lilia Vu as the US try to stop Europe from three-peating for the first time amid a run of the Americans losing four of the last six Solheim Cups.

“These five, they are rookies, but they are so experienced, just as far as the amount of golf they have been able to play,” Lewis said. “Rose [Zhang] is the only true rookie, but she’s probably got [more] experience than a lot of us combined, in big events, that is. So not worried about the rookies at all to be honest, and I love having Lexi, Danielle [Kang], those that have been around and played a lot. We are going to rely on them quite a bit just for behind the scenes and leading the way there.”

With an inexperienced roster including only two players in Kang and Thompson that have won previous Cups, here’s everything you need to know about Lewis’ picks with three weeks remaining until the matches are held at Finca Cortesin in Andalucia, Spain.

Ally Ewing

Ally Ewing. Chloe Knott/R&A

This will be the third Solheim Cup for the 30-year-old, her debut coming in 2019 as an injury replacement for Lewis. The three-time LPGA winner, most recently at the 2022 Kroger Queen City Championship last September, has consistently been at the top of leaderboards this summer, with four top-11 finishes in her previous seven starts. Earlier this month she had a five-stroke 36-hole lead at the AIG Women’s Open before settling for a T-6 finish. Ewing’s Solheim record is 2-5-1.

Cheyenne Knight

The fifth rookie for Lewis’ squad, Knight got her second LPGA victory in the Dow Great Lakes Bay Invitational in July, a two-person team event. The 26-year-old has multiple ties to Lewis, both growing up in The Woodlands, Texas, as well as Knight winning the 2012 KPMG Stacy Lewis Junior Girls Open as an amateur. Knight finished 11th on U.S. points list. She is 12th this season in driving accuracy (80.5 percent)—one of four U.S. team members hitting over 80 percent of fairways, alongside Corpuz (82.5 percent), Lee (81.6 percent) and Khang (80.6 percent.)

Angel Yin

Angel Yin. Stacy Revere

Yin, like Ewing, also has played in two previous Solheim Cups (2017 and 2019). She surged onto the Solheim radar with a playoff loss at the Chevron Championship in April. She is the only golfer on the U.S. team without an LPGA victory, but has been a consistent player in the 2023 campaign, posting nine top-30s over 13 starts this year. Yin’s career Solheim record is 3-2-1.

US Solheim Cup Full Roster
Lilia Vu
Nelly Korda
Allisen Corpuz
Megan Khang
Jennifer Kupcho
Danielle Kang
Andrea Lee
Lexi Thompson
Rose Zhang
Ally Ewing
Cheyenne Knight
Angel Yin

The post Ewing, Knight and Yin are in as Stacy Lewis completes her US Solheim Cup line-up appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

With Ally McDonald replacing an injured Stacy Lewis on Tuesday in the American lineup, captain Juli Inkster now has six golfers on her 12-player squad who are playing in their first Solheim Cup. McDonald joins Nelly Korda, Megan Khang, Marina Alex, Brittany Altomare and Annie Park as newcomers. It’s the largest group of rookies for an American team since the inaugural event in 1990. In 1992 (when Inkster played her first Solheim Cup) and 2002, Team USA has had five rookies.

The patriotic socks and footwear of Jessica Korda of Team USA during a practice round prior to the start of the Solheim Cup. (Photo by Stuart Franklin/Getty Images)

In addition, three of the six “veterans” on the U.S. team (Danielle Kang, Jessica Korda and Angel Yin) have only competed in the Solheim Cup when it’s been played stateside. Although not technically rookies, they’re new to a Solheim Cup in Europe, where the majority of the crowds won’t be rooting for them. Since Solheim Cups draw the biggest crowds in women’s golf, that matters.

That leaves three players—Lexi Thompson, Lizette Salas and Morgan Pressel—who have played against Europe, in Europe. Thompson and Salas are playing in their fourth Solheim Cup, and Pressel is playing in her sixth.

David Cannon

How Inkster plans to approach setting up her pairings in foursomes and four-balls becomes a big storyline heading into the three-day competition. It’s common for captains to pair rookies with veterans to help ease nerves and have a steady voice for advice. Yet Inkster won’t have that luxury.

“We’re not doing a veteran with a rookie. I’m going to send a couple of rookies out there together,” Inkster said. “They’ve got to grow up sometime. Everybody’s a rookie once. And I just happen to have six of them. So we’re just going to throw them out there.”

Some dynamic Team USA pairings are already broken up by the lack of seniority. Lexi Thompson and Cristie Kerr, the most successful U.S. pairing in Solheim Cup history with a record as a team is 4-0-2, aren’t going to be playing together because Kerr did not qualify for the team. Thompson, all of 24 but already having played in three Solheim Cups, will have to take on more of a leadership role.

To her credit, Inkster doesn’t appear to be worried about the rookie factor. “I’m really not changing anything,” she said. “For two years they’ve played well and they’ve made the team. They deserve to be out there. I’m gonna put them out there and see what they do. They have the right to play, and I’m going to play them.”

Inkster went as far as saying that this might be the ideal situation for some of America’s younger players to get their first Solheim Cup experience.

“I think if you’re a rookie, it’s a lot easier to play away your first Solheim because you’re really not expected to win and you can go out there and play a little looser,” Inkster said. “You don’t have the U.S.A. crowd pumping you up, and you just rely a lot on your teammates and your team. I think it’s easier to bond over here; you don’t have a lot of outside distractions.”

There isn’t a consistent precedent for what can happen when the U.S. team is rookie-heavy. Inkster knows firsthand that it can go poorly: In 1992, the Americans lost, 11½-6½. But in 2002, they won 15½-12½. In truth, the history Inkster will be relying on is more personal. This is her third straight Solheim Cup as U.S. captain, and so far she’s undefeated.

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By Keely Levins
As if preparing to play in the Solheim Cup didn’t come with some inherent nervousness, imagine how European team member Jodi Ewart Shadoff is feeling after arriving on-site to compete in the biennial matches for the third time in her career, only for her golf clubs not to have accompanied her?

As was the case earlier this summer when Ryann O’Toole’s clubs were lost before the Evian Championship, Shadoff flew a commercial flight to Scotland and checked her clubs with the airline.

Shadoff’s husband, Adam, told Golf Digest that Shadoff flew Aer Lingus from Orlando to Dublin, then Dublin to Edinburgh. “She looked out the window in Dublin and saw that her golf clubs weren’t getting loaded onto the plane,” Adam said via Instagram direct messaging. “She told the flight attendant and they assured her that they’d be loaded.”

As of Monday night Scotland time, Shadoff’s clubs still hadn’t arrived.

Still waiting to fill this awesome empty bag with clubs @AerLingus ? @SolheimCupEuro pic.twitter.com/SgHbPrnUBz

— Jodi Ewart Shadoff (@Jodi_Ewart) September 9, 2019

Amazingly, though, Shadoff isn’t the only golfer competing in the Solheim Cup facing the same unsettling situation. Angel Yin, a member of the American team, had at least two bags go missing from her Aer Lingus flight, including her clubs, en route to Scotland. LPGA officials say that a clothing bag has since arrived, but that Yin’s clubs have not.

The post A pair of Solheim Cup players’ clubs have been lost by airline, have yet to arrive in Scotland appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

Altomare has had a strong season, finishing in the top 15 five times on the LPGA Tour in 2019. Park won her first LPGA title in 2018, the ShopRite Classic, and has had three top-10 finishes in 2019. Yin, one of the longest hitters on tour, will once again be the youngest player on Team USA at age 20.

While Altomare and Yin looked like they’d likely secured spots on the team as the tournament played out outside Toronto, the last position was more uncertain. Before the CP Women’s Open, Austin Ernst was ahead of Park. But after Ernst missed the cut in Canada, Park moved ahead of her on the World Ranking list by advancing to the weekend.

Seven golfers had already locked up places on the 2019 U.S. Solheim Cup team prior to the CP Women’s Open: Lexi Thompson, Danielle Kang, Nelly Korda, Jessica Korda, Lizette Salas, Marina Alex and Megan Khang.

Two spots on the U.S. team remain to be filled. Inkster will announce her captain’s picks on Monday. There are several veteran players for Inkster to choose from, notably Cristie Kerr, Stacy Lewis, Paula Creamer, Morgan Pressel and Gerina Piller. Arguments could be made for all of them.

“I am really happy with my 10 players right now,” Inkster said on Sunday. “The problem is I have more players who deserve to be on the team than I have spots available.”

The European Team has already been finalised. Captain Catriona Matthew will bring the following players to Gleneagles in Scotland:

Celine Boutier (rookie)
Carlota Ciganda
Georgia Hall
Caroline Hedwall
Charley Hull
Bronte Law (rookie)
Caroline Masson
Azahara Munoz
Anna Nordqvist
Suzann Pettersen
Jodi Ewart Shadoff
Anne Van Dam (rookie)

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The 19-year-old Californian two-putted for birdie from the back of the par 4 17th green to edge 2009 champion In-Kyung Kim on the second hole of sudden death at Emirates Golf Club.

Both had birdied the 18th to extend what had started as a three-way playoff until France’s Celine Herbin dumped her approach into the water guarding the par 5 and eliminated herself with a double bogey.

After bravely trading near tap-in birdies on 18 with Yin, Kim hit her drive on the 17th just shy of pin high. But the reigning British Open champion rushed her chip six foot past the cup and then tugged the birdie try to extend her a 0-5 LPGA playoff heartache all the way to the Ladies European Tour. 

IK Kim narrowly misses her birdie putt & @angelyinlol lands her breakthrough win @OMEGAGolfDubai @EmiratesGC pic.twitter.com/idq8B7vMsm

— Ladies European Tour (@LETgolf) December 9, 2017

Yin has done it all this week, playing the joker with 36 and 54 hole leader Anne Van Dam (who slid to solo 4th with a closing 71), interviewer of the Dutchwoman on Thursday, interviewee after creeping into contention on Friday before finally emerging as the champion in the first playoff in the 12 year history of the LET’s season-ending event.

The winner’s $75,000 cheque and Omega wristwatch sealed a sensational year during which Yin earned a Solheim Cup captain’s pick from Juli Inkster on the back of a rookie season which netted $455, 235 and 52nd place in the LPGA rankings courtesy of an impressive five top-10s.

It’s clear golf has a new star in its midst after the world No. 57 raised the new Dallah trophy.

“It’s huge for me because at the LPGA, the last event, the CME Tour Championship, I played terribly [T-70] so to close out this year, 2017, which I think I’ve done really well, to close it off on a really good note with such a big win in Dubai , it just gives me that stamp that you can do it next year,” said Yin.

“I feel amazing, my first major tour professional win, so this is big for me.” 

.@angelyinlol looking for payback with a water pistol after winning the @OMEGAGolfDubai & being covered in water.

Watch @broch_nicole & @OliviaCowan run!! pic.twitter.com/JKBSbwFilx

— Ladies European Tour (@LETgolf) December 9, 2017

Yin could and probably should have won it in regulation but pushed a three-footer for birdie on 17 and then, knowing a birdie would get it done, found that her drive on 18 had trickled into the water hazard on the far side of the left-handed dogleg. She held her nerve to make a two-putt par following the penalty drop and a 178-yard five iron into the green to sign for a 67 which saw her join Kim (65) and Herbin (64) on -15 and in the playoff.

“I wasn’t happy of course with hitting in the water because I know if I just had an iron and two putt I win it easily,” said Yin.

“But I know that I can make birdie there. Earlier this year I was playing in the same situation and I hooked it in the water and I had a two iron and I stuck it to two-feet and made birdie so I was like, I can do that again and even if I don’t I can make par and go in the playoff.

“I couldn’t have asked for a better one [finish to 2017]. The playoff, I think that just added to it. I didn’t want a playoff but obviously…it was awesome to have a playoff and play with IK Kim…that shot [Kim hit into 18 to take extra time to a second hole] was nice, she stuck it. “

Yin says her Solheim experience helped her get across the line. 

“I thought I was going to be very nervous at Solheim but I was more pumped than anything and it just helped me able to deal with my adrenaline better coming to the closing holes. Definitely the Solheim helped me a lot, I mean I think I got better with the crowds too.”

Indian teen Aditi Ashok had been in the conversation until she uncharacteristically doubled the 72nd hole after dunking her third shot into the par to finish tied 5th with Swede Pernilla Lindberg (70) and Englishwoman Charley Hull (69) on -12.

Dame Laura Davies started the day just four strokes out of the lead but a fairytale 46th LET title wasn’t to be as the 54-year-old signed for a frustrating six over 78 to nosedive to a tie for 41st.

In the end it was a player 35 years her junior that was celebrating. But how? In keeping with her unusual week, Yin planned to keep a date visiting the Penguins at Ski Dubai in Emirates Mall. You can take the talented kid out of LA, but you can’t take the kooky character out of the kid.

The final @OMEGAGolfDubai leaderboard @EmiratesGC.

All scores: https://t.co/1jQAQY6Z9r pic.twitter.com/1l7UEgFm7h

— Ladies European Tour (@LETgolf) December 9, 2017

The post Swings of an Angel as Yin wins dramatic Dubai playoff appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

The big-hitting 22-year-old fired a best of the week 65 Thursday to move to -10 and open up a two shot lead over Scot Kelsey MacDonald at the $500,000 Ladies European Tour season-decider.

Revelling in the fun-filled atmosphere encouraged by her playing partners, American Solheim Cuppers Brittany Lincicome and Angel Yin, Van Dam’s flawless seven under loop of the Majlis was highlighted by three successive birdies from the 2nd (her 11th hole).

The Power Hitters @OMEGAGolfDubai ??!@angelyinlol @Brittany1golf & @Annevandam pic.twitter.com/wfYVgWVRYK

— Ladies European Tour (@LETgolf) December 7, 2017

What happens next though is anybody’s guess. Van Dam won her maiden LET title at the Xiamen International in China last year but has developed an unfortunate reputation since for mixing sublime scoreboard climbs with the nonsensical blowouts.

The final stage of LPGA Q-School is a still fresh and frustrating case in point. After opening with a 68 to share the first round lead in Florida, Van Dam backed up with a soul-destroying 81 before finishing 75-75 and in a tie for 118th place. It means Van Dam is committed to the LET for next season and how she’d love to take a second title into the New Year. She’s certainly trending well – Florida aside – after finishing T-4 and T-3 in the recent Open de France and Indian Open respectively as well as T-23 at the Fatima Bint Mubarak Ladies Open in Abu Dhabi.

What a day for @Annevandan!

Superb 2nd round bogey-free 65 (-7) moves her to the top of the Omega Dubai Ladies Classic leaderboard on -10 pic.twitter.com/7jQl8qMizB

— Ladies European Tour (@LETgolf) December 7, 2017

She could easily have title No.2 already but for an uncooperative putter in France where she missed a bunch of makeables as Christie Kerr won. We can’t confirm if Van Dam used the same putter in Florida but we do know that mallet was sent to golf’s equivalent of the naughty chair afterwards.

“Well, my putter from last week just needed a break. I didn’t putt well at Q-School… so yeah, he couldn’t come this week,” Van Dam joked.

“It’s actually quite funny because I haven’t been putting great at all, like the last half year. I changed putters two days ago. I completely got something else, normally I have face-balance, and now I have toe hang. It’s a blade. Normally I have a mallet. So everything is different. But I like the look of it and it’s going well, so maybe that’s the change this week.”

What was also funny was Van Dam’s post round interview, conducted by Yin at the behest of the LET media team. The banter flowed between the big hitters with Yin recalling the 350-yard bomb Van Dam hooked over the trees on 18 in the first round to leave an 8 iron into the par 5 and which she duly birdied for an opening 69.

Van Dam was asked what her longest drive was and it sparked a fun back-and –forth. “Probably that one on 18. 320 metres, that’s like 370 yards or something [350 yards to save further confusion],” said Van Dam before Yin quickly retorted: “It’s close to 400.” Van Dam: “No, no, that’s 360. I think it’s like 370 metres.” Yin had the last word on the matter: “That’s pretty freaking long. My excuse is that I broke my driver before I came here. It’s a new thing and I need to warm it up, break it in.”

Van Dam admitted the fairway giggles helped: “We had a lot of fun out there today, and yesterday, as well. We were all playing well, all under par for two rounds in a row, and yeah, we all hit it long, so that helps. All play aggressive.”

Van Dam is out in the final threesome at 11.43am Friday with MacDonald and Georgia Hall. It promises to be a rather more serious affair given MacDonald and Hall are still searching for their first LET titles but Van Dam has vowed to keep smiling.

“Like, it’s the two last days of the season, and I hope to just finish up great and hit some more monster drives, hole a few more putts with my new putter and it should be great.”

Indeed it should.

The post Dutch delight as Van Dam fires 65 to lead in Dubai appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Tim Rosaforte

I Think …

Webb Simpson has finally gotten comfortable on the greens again after last year’s anchoring ban. As recently as five months into the second season since the USGA and R&A implemented to rule, the former U.S. Open champion continued to struggle. It was this past May, on the practice green at the Players Championship, that Tim Clark suggested a grip that was a hybrid between the claw and Matt Kuchar’s way of securing the shaft against his left forearm. “That turned our season around, our demeanor around and our expectations around, in a hurry,” said Simpson’s long-time caddie, Paul Tesori. Since that intervention at TPC Sawgrass, Tesori has been telling me that the top-20s Simpson has been recording have looked better in person than they do on a computer screen or paper. How one swing, or one or two strokes, can mean the difference in contending. While Simpson’s strokes gained/putting rank is unimpressive at 102nd, it represents an improvement of nearly 80 places since the change. There is evidence of this with specific strong finished at the Dean & Deluca Invitational (fifth), the Travelers Championship (T-8) and the Greenbrier Classic (T-14), which built the confidence and beefed up his FedEx Cup points standing. In Simpson’s last two starts, it’s really kicked in. A third-place finish at the Wyndham Championship, where he shot 67 on Sunday, and a T-6 at The Northern Trust, where he shot 65 on Sunday, have Simpson ranked 16th going into the Dell Technologies Championship at TPC Boston this week. While some may be surprised Simpson is so highly ranked, Tesori and Simpson aren’t. “We’ve been close to doing good things,” Tesori said. “We’ve been building toward this.”

I Saw …

That the energy and power 18-year-old LPGA rookie Angel Yin brought to the U.S. Solheim Cup team has not subsided. I caught up with Yin after Saturday’s third round of the Canadian Pacific Women’s Open, and she admitted to being more relaxed and less nervous after going 1-1-1 in her Solheim debut. “I think my game’s grown a ton,” she said. U.S. Solheim captain Juli Inkster was not surprised in Yin’s performance in Des Moines, or her growth as a player through that experience. The team’s oldest member, 39-year-old Cristie Kerr, told me how much fun Yin was in the team room. But how could she not be, with a Twitter handle of @Angelyinlol, and posts like “From Jr Solheim to Big Girl Solheim?” That was not a front. “Juli pulled my caddie and I over, and she goes, ‘I don’t want you uptight here,’ ’’ Yin told me. “She goes, ‘You with me?’ I’m like, ‘I’m with you. I’ve got your back.’ ”

Angel Yin and Juli Inkster of the United States play with the crowd on the first tee before a match at the 2017 Solheim Cup. (Photo by Harry How/Getty Images)

The true buzz Yin created was over her driving distance, which included a 340-yard poke in her Friday four-ball match. Ranked seventh for the year at 271.97 yards, her reputation in this statistical category came to light in her two performances as an amateur at the ANA Inspiration, where she finished second in driving distance to Lexi Thompson as a 14-year-old and beat her by 18 inches the following year. The beauty of Yin’s clubhead speed is that it comes from nothing but natural ability. “I don’t lift weights, don’t hit the gym,” she told me. “I hit dinner tables.” The poise comes from qualifying for the Ladies European Tour with birdies on three of her last four holes rather than enrolling at USC. Coach Andrea Gaston understood when Yin, a first-generation American with Chinese parents, explained her reasoning. “I told Andrea about it and she said, ‘Do what you do,’ ” Yin said. “So I thought, I’m going to get on that train and ride it.” In her first appearance since the Solheim, Yin rallied with 33 on the back-nine Sunday to finish T-22. The train rides into Portland this coming week with the Laugh Out Loud emoji on board.

I Heard …

Nick Saban is totally obsessed about his football team come August, but in the midst of preparing for Alabama’s season-opener against Florida State on Sept. 2, he still took my call. That in itself says something about the respect and relationship he shares with PGA champion and Crimson Tide alum Justin Thomas. It began in the short-game area of the Jerry Pate Center during football off-season in the spring, when Thomas would help the coach with his chipping and bunker play. Saban took pride in Thomas leading the Tide to a national championship in 2013, and sent him a text after his major win at Quail Hollow. Saban told me that Thomas showed the heart of a champion and marveled at the way Justin handled the circumstances of the final round. “Golf is a great metaphor for life,” said the coach. “People who can stay focused in a positive way of what happens next have a great chance of being successful, and Justin did that extraordinarily well down the stretch with a lot of pressure that he didn’t let affect him.”

Alabama head coach coach Nick Saban during the 2017 College Football National Championship Game against Clemson. (Photo by Icon Sportswire)

Thomas low-keyed the friendship, telling Golf World at The Northern Trust, where he finished T-6, “It’s not like we text all the time or stay in touch. But whenever I get to Tuscaloosa, I’ll probably see him or talk to him every once in a while.” I asked Saban if the 165-pound Thomas were bigger, stronger and faster, what position would he project him in football. Anticipating Saban to say punter or place kicker, I was a little surprised to hear Saban’s response. “I think Justin would be a wide receiver or a corner,” Saban said. “But he can hit his 8-iron as far as I can hit my driver. I don’t want to make it like he doesn’t have the power to play something else, but he can certainly hit a golf ball and he’s a great athlete.” Thomas did hear about that quote and was humbled. “I’m pretty slow so I don’t know how that would work,” he said. “But I would think I’m somewhat athletic, so I’m glad to hear he feels that way around me.”

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By Keely Levins
As the fifth singles match came through the difficult par-3 17th hole at Des Moines Golf & Country Club on Sunday, the Solheim Cup about to be decided, the numbers were being crunched.

If Angel Yin won, the Americans would have earned 3½ points for the day, enough to secure a tie and retain the prize they had been so desperately pursing in front of the raucous crowds. When she made bogey, and Europe’s Karine Icher made par, the match went on to the 18th all square.

Yin ended up halving her match, so now the focus turned to Lizette Salas, facing Jodi Ewart-Shadoff. Salas was 2 up going into the 17th, so the worst that could come of her match would be a half. That meant the U.S. had its 3½ points, enough to clinch the Cup.

With that knowledge, U.S. captain Juli Inkster, who had been walking back and forth through a patch of rough between the 17th green and 16th fairway, finally appeared at ease. Forget the large five-point lead her team had going into Sunday singles. Inkster was nervous on Sunday. The 57-year-old had seen pretty much everything in her four-plus decades of competitive golf, including her own team come back from a four-point deficit two years ago in Germany, the biggest rally in Solheim Cup history. She wasn’t counting out Europe until it was over.

“How could you not be nervous? The problem is, 18 holes is a lot of golf,” said Inkster. “You’re just watching the board. I felt like I had no control over anything. Once I got out on the golf course and got to talk to the girls, I felt a lot better.”

It was a big moment, but one that Inkster chose to reflect on at first internally. Eventually, assistant captains came over to hug her, as did European captain Annika Sorenstam. And Inkster was all smiles, hearing through radios that Salas was going to get the outright win on the 18th and hopping in a cart to get down there in time to watch.

“It was my job to bring fun back to the Solheim Cup.” —Juli Inkster

The captain walked up to the green as Salas lined up her par putt. It fell, and soon an American flag was across the young woman’s shoulders, Inkster was on the green hugging her, more teammates and assistant captains rushed to be part of the celebration. The crowd continued its chant of “USA-USA-USA.”

There would be no historic European comeback. When the final matches wrapped up, the Americans won 16½-11½, taking the Cup for a second straight year and the 10th time in 17 matches. But there was some history made; it turned out being the largest margin of victory for the U.S. team since they won 17-11 in 1996.

• • •

The Solheim Cup is an odd mix of individual performances and intense teamwork. It’s a week where 12 athletes from the U.S. and 12 from Europe, who almost every other week of the year compete for themselves are suddenly in a situation where they’re competing for their teammates, for their captains and for their countries.

It’s something the captains have to balance, too.

Like the best leaders in any sport, Inkster provided a huge support system for her squad. A number of her players were only junior golfers when Inkster was dominating the LPGA, winning 31 tour events, including seven majors, and earning a place in the World Golf Hall of Fame. The generational divide allowed for her players to hold a true admiration and respect towards Inkster, even as she could be seen pumping up the crowd—who can’t get enough of her—and dancing around the first tee.

Inkster leads her U.S. team’s celebration during the final day singles matches of the 2017 Solheim Cup. (Photo by Stuart Franklin)

For all the ways that Inkster worked well with others, however, she also admitted to the Golf Channel, “I don’t like a lot of people around me. I like to be by myself.”

It’s this ability to function as an individual within the framework of a team that made Inkster a great captain. And by being a great captain, Inkster helped personifies what Solheim Cup means to so many involved in it, players, officials and fans alike.

“She’s a legend,” Brittany Lincicome said of Inkster. “It’s an honor to play for her. And she keeps telling us do it for yourselves, not for me. But it’s kind of hard not to do it for her because she’s just so fantastic.”

As impressive as Inkster is as an individual, what made her so vital to this team’s success was her true understanding of how a team should function. Inkster’s players trusted her, even if they don’t completely understand how she was able to bring out the best in their play. All they know is, unlike almost every other week of the year, the three-days in Iowa saw more of them making more long putts than anybody could remember.

“She’s intense on the golf course,” Stacy Lewis said. “And she’s passionate. And she wants to win more than anybody. And that’s what she brought out in all of us on that Sunday [in 2015]…. I don’t know what she did but she brought it on all of us.”

“Juli said something that really hit home for me,” said Cristie Kerr, the oldest player on the U.S. team at 39 and thus the one that has the closest connection to her in Inkster’s truly competitive days. “You play for the person in front of you, you play for the person behind you. It’s not about your individual records. It’s for the team. It’s amazing you can pull for each other when you have that mentality.”

• • •

There are many examples of Inkster picking her team members up, but none demonstrates that ability better than with Lexi Thompson in her opening Sunday singles match against Anna Nordqvist. Both golfers were expected to set the tone for the day for their respective teams. With Thompson being the No. 2 player in the world, Nordqvist battling mono, and the Americans riding their seeming insurmountable five-point lead, it seemed likely that the tone of the match would mimic the “USA-USA-USA” chants ringing through the course.

But Nordqvist won the first four holes, and Thompson didn’t look like herself. She was missing fairways and short putts. Inkster, who had been on the first tee, came out to talk to her after the fourth hole.

Thompson made the turn still 4 down. But then, something happened. She won the 10th with a birdie. She then holed out from the fairway on the 11th for an eagle. She stuck her approach to a foot and a half on 13. She dropped a 30-footer for another eagle on 15 to bring it to all square, and then added another birdie for good measure on the 16th The two halved the 17th with bogeys, and the match went down the 18th. A few hours earlier, no one could have imagined it would get that far. It ended all square, each player winning half a point.

Inkster embraces Lexi Thompson on the 18th green after Thompson rallied to halve the first singles match against Anna Nordqvist during Sunday play at the 2017 Solheim Cup. (Photo by David Cannon)

“I just told her, ‘Hey, you know, you’re the best player on this team. And you got a ton of holes left.’ I said, ‘You just gotta keep plugging away,’ ” said Inkster.

“That’s all I needed to hear,” Thompson said of the exchange.

Of course, you can’t give complete credit to a captain for the success of the team’s play. Ultimately, the players have to show up and win points. They deserve the real accolades. And Inkster wouldn’t want it any other way.

“I’ve been fortunate to play in a lot of Solheim Cup teams,” she said, having won as a player five times. “I just felt the last couple times I wasn’t having any fun. It was a chore. I just felt like everybody was going in different directions and even though we were a team, were we a team?”

In her first few Solheim Cups, Inkster said the team spend more time together and were able to bond through that. “I just felt like we were losing that,” said Inkster.

“It was my job to bring fun back to the Solheim Cup. And whether we win or lose, you know what? It doesn’t matter. It’s the memories you create. It’s the bonding you create. It’s the atmosphere you create.”

With the win, Inkster becomes the second U.S. captain to win two in a row. Sitting in the press room with a dozen players smiling and laughing, Inkster in the middle cracking jokes, it’s hard to imagine the Solheim Cup without her. So, it was natural to ask if she’d be interested in captaining a third time.

“I don’t want to go there,” said Inkster. “I would love to do it, but I think there are other people in line who want a chance. But I’ll be there. I’ll be there with some hugs.”

The truth is, no one can really picture a Solheim Cup without her.

The post Solheim Cup 2017: Captain America appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Ryan Herrington
It was going to take a historic effort from the European team to erase a five-point deficit and somehow take back the Solheim Cup on Sunday at Des Moines Golf & Country Club. But the United States team wouldn’t allow it. Earning six of the 12 available singles points on Sunday when it only needed 3½, the American side finished out an impressive three-day triumph, winning 16½-11½, to retain the Cup.

Sunday’s first match out proved an example of the fire that U.S. captain Juli Inkster’s team demonstrated all week. Lexi Thompson struggled early to try and set a tone, falling 4 down through nine holes to Sweden’s Anna Nordqvist.

But then Thompson, after encouraging words from Inkster, regrouped, winning the 10th with a birdie, holing out from the fairway for eagle on the 11th hole for another win and making long putts to win the 13th (with a birdie) and 15th (with eagle) to square the match. Thompson then jumped into the lead with another impressive birdie on the 16th. The pair would halve the match when Nordqvist won the 18th hole, but it showed that a crazy comeback like the one the U.S. pulled off in 2015 (when the Americans wiped out a four-point deficit to win in Germany) wasn’t going to happen for Team Europe.

Shortly after, Paula Creamer and Cristie Kerr finished off their respective matches with Georgia Hall and Mel Reid. Creamer, an alternate who made the team only after Jessica Korda pulled out of the competition with an injury, capped a 3-1 record for the week, while Kerr went 3-0-1 and upped her all-time points total to a record 21.

A combination of guaranteed halve points from Angel Yin (who halved her match with Karine Icher), Lizette Salas (who beat Jodi Ewart-Shadoff) and Gerina Piller (who beat Florentyna Parker) put the American team past the 14½-point threshold to win the Cup.

In the end, it was the proverbial team effort for Team USA in Iowa. All 12 players on the U.S. side won at least one match during the week. And Inkster, the victorious captain as well in 2015, joined Judy Rankin as the only women to captain to back-to-back winning U.S. Solheim Cup teams.

Team USA celebrate victory over Team Europe during the Sunday singles matches of the Solheim Cup at the Des Moines Golf and Country Club. (Photo by Harry How)

“I’m just proud of my team,” Inkster said. “I really haven’t been nervous all week, but I was a little nervous today. It’s just an honor to captain this team, and I’m really honored to captain these girls.”

“We just got outplayed, no doubt about it,” said European captain Annika Sorenstam. “I’m just so proud with how they fought.”

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At a press conference following the Ricoh Women’s British Open at Kingsbarns, non-playing U.S. skipper Juli Inkster added two captain’s picks—18-year-old LPGA rookie Angel Yin and 25-year-old Austin Ernst—to her 10 automatic qualifiers (see below). Europe’s Annika Sorenstam also named her four wild-cards—Anna Nordqvist, Emily Pedersen, Caroline Masson and Madelene Sagstrom—to complete her side.

Both captains made it clear how difficult it had been to arrive at their respective conclusions. Inkster omitted the likes of former U.S. Women’s Open champion Paula Creamer, as well as six-time Cup veteran Angela Stanford and five-time player Morgan Pressel.

“This has been a really tough day,” said Inkster, herself a nine-time Solheim participant. “I don’t know if there’s ever been so many people in the running for two captain’s picks. I could have gone a lot of different ways. But in the end I went with my gut, and who I thought deserved a chance to play. I hope it turns out OK. That’s all I can say.”

Noticeably absent from the European squad will be Catriona Matthew, who was looking to make her ninth appearance in European colors. The Scot will still make the trip to Iowa, however, as one of Sorenstam’s assistant captains.

“It is always hard to say ‘no’ to someone who lives for the Solheim Cup,” said Sorenstam of Matthew. “She was involved in the plans and knew the players we were talking about and that made it a bit awkward at times. But she has been strong and mature, and I am happy to have her on the team either way.”

UNITED STATES TEAM
Points List
Lexi Thompson, 3rd appearance (2013, ’15), 3-2-2 record
Stacy Lewis, 4th appearance (2011, ’13, ’15), 4-7-1
Gerina Piller, 3rd appearance (2013, ’15), 3-2-2
Cristie Kerr, 9th appearance (2002, ’03, ’05, ’07, ’09, ’11, ’13, ’15), 15-14-5
Jessica Korda, 2nd appearance (2013), 1-2-1
Danielle Kang, 1st appearance
Michelle Wie, 5th appearance (2009, ’11, ’13, ’15), 7-7-1
Brittany Lang, 5th appearance (2009, ’11, ’13, ’15), 5-6-3
Rolex Ranking
Brittany Lincicome, 6th appearance (2007, ’09, ’11, ’13, ’15), 5-11-2 Lizette Salas, 3rd appearance (2013, ’15), 1-3-2
Captain’s Picks
Austin Ernst, 1st appearance Angel Yin, 1st appearance

EUROPEAN TEAM
Points List
Georgia Hall (England), 1st appearance
Florentyna Parker (England), 1st appearance
Mel Reid (England), 3rd appearance (2011, ’15), 4-3-1
Jodi Ewart-Shadoff (England), 2nd appearance (2013), 2-1-0
Rolex Ranking
Carlota Ciganda (Spain), 3rd appearance (2013, ’15), 4-1-2
Suzann Pettersen (Norway), 9th appearance (2002, ’03, ’05, ’07, ’09, ’11, ’13, ’15), 16-11-6
Charley Hull (England), 3rd appearance (2013, ’15), 6-2-0
Karine Icher (France), 4th appearance (2002, ’13, ’15), 5-4-1
Captain’s Picks
Caroline Masson (Germany), 3rd appearance (2013, ’15), 2-3-2
Anna Nordqvist (Sweden), 5th appearance (2009, ’11, ’13, ’15), 8-7-1
Emily Pedersen (Denmark), 1st appearance
Madelene Sagstrom (Sweden), 1st appearance

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