Solheim 2013: Getting Cup and Crown

USA vs Europe – who will win the 2013 Solheim Cup?

Jon Rizzi | Colorado AvidGolfer

Two 12-woman teams from the United States and Europe will square off at Colorado Golf Club this month, and the best woman player in the world—a woman who with a victory at the Ricoh Women’s British Open would have made golf history— won’t be competing. Nor will five of the last six winners of the U.S. Women’s Open or four of the last six British Women’s Open champions.

These women are all Asian, and most of them—including juggernaut Inbee Park—come from South Korea, a country roughly the size of Kentucky. The influx, which started after Se Ri Pak won both the 1998 U.S. Women’s Open and LPGA Championship, shows no signs of abating. Thirty-six Koreans currently play on the LPGA Tour; with 21 of them among the top 100 money winners. They represent the largest foreign-born constituency in an American organization where non-Americans have comprised the majority since 2007.

Today’s LPGA Tour resembles the United Nations. Last year seven different flags flew next to the names of the Top Ten money winners, with Old Glory waving alongside only one: Stacy Lewis. Did you know no U.S. woman has topped the LPGA money list since Betsy King in 1993?

Those players haven’t just been Korean. They’ve been Australian, Swedish, British Mexican and Taiwanese. This isn’t an indictment of American women’s golf as much as it is a testament to a game that erases borders and cultural barriers, and a sport that encourages and welcomes the full participation of women. All of which is great for golf.

PING founder Karsten Solheim created the biennial Ryder Cup-style competition between the U.S. and European women in 1990, just before this globalization had occurred. In 1994, the men’s game responded to the rise of non-Europeans with the Presidents Cup, which supplemented the Ryder Cup. In much the same way, the LPGA and LET announced this January the International Crown, an eight-country, 32-player match-play event that will reflect the truly global nature of women’s golf. The first Crown will be contested next July at Maryland’s Caves Valley Golf Club.

What effect this worldly competition will have on the Solheim Cup remains to be seen. Meanwhile, the effect of the Solheim Cup on fans here in Colorado will be huge. The three-day event remains a spectacle unrivaled in women’s golf—and golf in general. The U.S. is looking to avenge a dramatic loss in 2011 and to keep its stateside record perfect. The Europeans want to win consecutive Cups for the first time.

Read our full Solheim Cup section below!

Colorado AvidGolfer is the state’s leading resource for golf and the lifestyle that surrounds it. It publishes eight issues annually and proudly delivers daily content via www.coloradoavidgolfer.com. Jon Rizzi is the founding editor and co-owner of this regional golf-related media company producing magazines, web content, tournaments, events and the Golf Passport.