This is the week of the Solheim Cup Championships, played every other year between the United States and Europe for the ladies. I have one intrinsic problem with the event. It really does not invite or pit the best women on the planet playing in a team event— Korea, Japan and other assorted countries are left out in the cold. It works for the men, with the Ryder Cup, because Europe is loaded with great men golfers. We know how great the American men are, so once again, the Ryder Cup works.
The Solheim Cup would be dramatically better if they made it a 3 team “tournament, inviting “the rest of the world” to participate—that way the greats from the Far East, Australia, Canada, etc., could be a part of the event. It would make for a true international competition and would have much more world appeal. As it is right now, most avid golfers would be hard pressed to name more than a couple of European players. I would take that one step further even after reading their names coming up with the country they are from would be another task of magnitude.
To prove my point, you don’t have to look any further than the latest Rolex Ranking—the official ranking of women golfers around the world to find that 7 of the top ten are all non-Solheim Cup eligible players and 12 of the top 20—including the number one ranked player on earth In Bee Park of Korea are non Solheim Cuppers.
This is totally not to say the Solheim Cup may indeed be compelling competition, but just not the best players competing.
The wonderful, well meaning men and women who run the world of women’s professional golf need to take a real hard look at this because the way it is set up right now – interest levels could not go much lower than they are currently.
By the way, I am picking the Americans to demolish the Europeans. The Europeans feature 6 rookies to the Solheim, and playing on U.S. soil in Colorado, I favor the Yanks.