Sunday
Aug232009
Last hurrah for Inkster, perhaps Davies also
Sunday, August 23, 2009 at 7:49PM
Writing from Sugar Grove, Ill.
Sunday, August 23, 2009
Juli Inkster exits the Solheim Cup stage a winner.
Inkster staged a dramatic rally to grab a half point after she was 2 down with five holes to play against Gwladys Nocrea of France. Then she said her eighth Solheim appearance would be her last.
"It is," Inkster said. "I'm not doing a Brett Favre. I want to come out and watch. I've had a great ride and I've had a lot of fun, but it's time for these young girls to come out here and kick booty."
Inkster, 49, is an obvious choice to captain a future American team. To that, she quipped, "I'd love to pick out the clothing and ribbons."
Fittingly, Inkster, with a 2-2 record this week and a 16-10-5 career mark, lowered the American flag in the closing ceremony.
The last for Davies?
Conversely, Laura Davies, the British star who has played in every Solheim Cup, may have made her final appearance in the big show. If that's the case, she leaves the biggest stage in women's golf on a sad note, having lost her only team match on Thursday, and ending up with a halved match against Brittany Lang on Sunday after blowing a 2-up lead with as many holes remaining.
Davies was 3-up lead through 10 holes, that commanding lead the centerpiece of Europe's rousing start. But Lang stormed back with a par to Davies' bogey on the 17th and took the 18th with a birdie, after Davies' second shot hit a tree and crashed into a creek well short of the green.
"It was a really stupid tee shot," Davies said of the 17th. "I should have put the club back in my bag, but I was anxious to get on with it. And my second on the 18th hit the top of the trees and dropped straight down into a water hazard. It was horrific luck.
"Does a halve feel like a loss? One hundred percent."
Davies, 21-17-5 in Solheim play, has said in the past she had no interest in being a Solheim Cup captain, and reiterated that on Sunday, pointing to captain Alison Nicholas.
"No," Davies said. "Poor Al's been put through a hedge backwards this week. It looks like hard work, and I've always shied away from hard work."
Davies has been known to place a bet or two, and said when asked if she'd bet on a future captaincy, "Any money you like, I'll never be the captain."
No rudder for the captain
Unlike the Ryder Cup, where the host captain has a huge say in the course setup, Beth Daniel had no official say in how the LPGA set up Rich Harvest Farms. It seems she had no unofficial say, either.
"Nothing," Daniel said before the Solheim Cup was complete. "I'm making my statement, and I have made it to the LPGA, that I think the home captain should, but I don't. I have no say in the setup.
"I would set it up, probably, a little bit differently. There are some holes that are too long."
The course was set up as a par 73 playing to a maximum length of 6,673 yards, and it seemed to play every bit of that. The rough began the week at three inches, long for any women's major, including the U.S. Open, and didn't get any shorter.
"The plan by the LPGA was to have the course play hard and fast," said Daniel, a Rich Harvest Farms member. "We've had non-prevailing winds, it's wet, it's damp, it's cold, the ball's not flying as far. It's playing every bit of the almost 6,700 yards. It's a long, difficult golf course. I think we've seen some exceptional golf."
Around Rich Harvest
The gallery of 30,000 brought the three-day total to 83,000, and the weeklong total of 120,000, a Solheim Cup record. … The 2011 Solheim Cup is slated for Killeen Castle, Ireland, on a course designed by Jack Nicklaus. … Michelle Wie played her match in 4-under-par 69 to Helen Alfredsson's 3-under 70. … Wie and fellow captain's pick Juli Inkster accounted for five points of the 16 scored by the U.S.
– Tim Cronin
Sunday, August 23, 2009
Juli Inkster exits the Solheim Cup stage a winner.
Inkster staged a dramatic rally to grab a half point after she was 2 down with five holes to play against Gwladys Nocrea of France. Then she said her eighth Solheim appearance would be her last.
"It is," Inkster said. "I'm not doing a Brett Favre. I want to come out and watch. I've had a great ride and I've had a lot of fun, but it's time for these young girls to come out here and kick booty."
Inkster, 49, is an obvious choice to captain a future American team. To that, she quipped, "I'd love to pick out the clothing and ribbons."
Fittingly, Inkster, with a 2-2 record this week and a 16-10-5 career mark, lowered the American flag in the closing ceremony.
The last for Davies?
Conversely, Laura Davies, the British star who has played in every Solheim Cup, may have made her final appearance in the big show. If that's the case, she leaves the biggest stage in women's golf on a sad note, having lost her only team match on Thursday, and ending up with a halved match against Brittany Lang on Sunday after blowing a 2-up lead with as many holes remaining.
Davies was 3-up lead through 10 holes, that commanding lead the centerpiece of Europe's rousing start. But Lang stormed back with a par to Davies' bogey on the 17th and took the 18th with a birdie, after Davies' second shot hit a tree and crashed into a creek well short of the green.
"It was a really stupid tee shot," Davies said of the 17th. "I should have put the club back in my bag, but I was anxious to get on with it. And my second on the 18th hit the top of the trees and dropped straight down into a water hazard. It was horrific luck.
"Does a halve feel like a loss? One hundred percent."
Davies, 21-17-5 in Solheim play, has said in the past she had no interest in being a Solheim Cup captain, and reiterated that on Sunday, pointing to captain Alison Nicholas.
"No," Davies said. "Poor Al's been put through a hedge backwards this week. It looks like hard work, and I've always shied away from hard work."
Davies has been known to place a bet or two, and said when asked if she'd bet on a future captaincy, "Any money you like, I'll never be the captain."
No rudder for the captain
Unlike the Ryder Cup, where the host captain has a huge say in the course setup, Beth Daniel had no official say in how the LPGA set up Rich Harvest Farms. It seems she had no unofficial say, either.
"Nothing," Daniel said before the Solheim Cup was complete. "I'm making my statement, and I have made it to the LPGA, that I think the home captain should, but I don't. I have no say in the setup.
"I would set it up, probably, a little bit differently. There are some holes that are too long."
The course was set up as a par 73 playing to a maximum length of 6,673 yards, and it seemed to play every bit of that. The rough began the week at three inches, long for any women's major, including the U.S. Open, and didn't get any shorter.
"The plan by the LPGA was to have the course play hard and fast," said Daniel, a Rich Harvest Farms member. "We've had non-prevailing winds, it's wet, it's damp, it's cold, the ball's not flying as far. It's playing every bit of the almost 6,700 yards. It's a long, difficult golf course. I think we've seen some exceptional golf."
Around Rich Harvest
The gallery of 30,000 brought the three-day total to 83,000, and the weeklong total of 120,000, a Solheim Cup record. … The 2011 Solheim Cup is slated for Killeen Castle, Ireland, on a course designed by Jack Nicklaus. … Michelle Wie played her match in 4-under-par 69 to Helen Alfredsson's 3-under 70. … Wie and fellow captain's pick Juli Inkster accounted for five points of the 16 scored by the U.S.
– Tim Cronin
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