The best golf event of the weekend was one that few Americans, I suspect, bothered to watch: the Solheim Cup. A biennial contest between US and European ladies golf professionals, the Solheim Cup was held this year at the Halmstead Golf Club in Halmstead, Sweden. Its format is similar to the much-more ballyhooed Ryder Cup, and consists of four ball, foursomes and singles match play events.
The final score was USA 16, Europe 12, but the tournament was much closer over three days than the scores would indicate. The US led at the end of day one 4 1/2 to 3 1/2, then lost the lead on the second day with the Europeans standing at 8 1/2 to 7 1/2. The singles match play events on the third day made the difference with the US pulling ahead by four points in the totals. (image left: Paula Creamer and Julie Inkster hoist the Solheim Cup)
I was pleasantly surprised by just how competitive the ladies were. From their faces and body language, it’s apparent that they surrender nothing to the men in terms of spirit. They all wanted very much to win.
The US Team may have been fired up by television commentator Dottie Pepper, who called them “freakin’ chokin’ dogs” in a segment that apparently was never intended to be aired. Team Captain Betsy King fired back, saying “You usually retire when you can’t play any more. That is why you become a television commentator.”
There is no truth to the rumor that the two will participate in a pay-per-view jello wrestling contest.
I thought the Golf Channel did a pretty good job covering the event, broadcasting it live in the morning, and then offering a replay during Prime Time. Given the time diffferences, you can’t ask for any more than that. My one complaint is that there were too many shots of putts and not enough from the fairway or tee. Each hole in match play is, of course, won on the final putt, but its the other shots that get them there.
So congratulations to the ladies (on both sides), to Ping for its sponsorship and to the Golf Channel for yeoman’s work.
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So what do you think about the bruhaha over Pepper’s comments? I’m not one to trash talk. On the other hand, it seems like the U.S. team had some members who were a little thin-skinned. If you participate in the cup, it means that you are at the top of the game. So some high demands are to be expected, are they not?
I watched the first two rounds which was pretty exciting. Did anyone else feel like the technical aspect of the broadcast was a little lacking? It seemed like there were quite a bit of little problems like graphic errors, camera mix-ups, etc… Of course there are always a few hiccups in a live golfing event (the field of play is exceptionally large compared to most sporting events), but there should be no excuse for posting the points incorrectly. I wonder if some of the difficulties were due to this being televised from Sweden? I bet the hardware stuff (electrical, broadcast) posed some issues.