THE golfing focus will soon be on the Inverness Club in Toledo, with the Ohio venue playing host to the 17th staging of the Solheim Cup between the US women’s team and Team Europe.
The tournament began in 1990, running in alternate years to the men’s equivalent, the Ryder Cup, but this year the two are being played within weeks of each other due to the Covid pandemic forcing the postponement of the Ryder Cup in 2020, reports Sport Pickup.
First up of the big transatlantic clashes – both being played on American turf – is the Solheim Cup, with the Sportsbooks having the home team as 8/15 (-189) favourites to reclaim the trophy they lost at Gleneagles in Scotland in 2019, a game that went all the way to the final singles match. The US appeared on course to retain the trophy but Team Europe won the final three singles to claim an unlikely 14½-13½ success.
Revenge will be utmost in the mind of US captain Pat Hurst, who will be determined not to follow in the footsteps of Meg Mallon – the only US skipper not to win the tournament on home soil. Despite Mallon winning four majors, including a US Open at the age of 41, she will always be remembered as the captain who lost a home Solheim Cup, and in doing so saw Team Europe record the biggest margin of victory in the history of the tournament with an 18-10 win.
Illinois sports books don’t envisage another Colorado Golf Club disaster for the home team, with Team Europe available at 9/4 (+225) to retain the trophy; anyone thinking it’s just too tough to separate the sides and likes an ambitious bet, the draw is available at 12/1 (+1200). Past results suggest a tie is unlikely with none in the history of the tournament, and only two occasions when the two sides have been separated by one point.
The competition format is the same as the Ryder Cup with two teams of 12, the captain selecting various pairings to play the first two days of foursomes and fourballs. Foursomes have the two players playing alternate shots with fourballs, as the name suggests, having each pair playing their own ball – best score wins. CNN
The tournament ends with 12 singles matches on the final day, with how you draw your players – frontload with your best golfers or keep the top stars for later games – crucial to the final result.
Team Europe go into the clash on the back of an encouraging British Open, with four of their team finishing in the top ten including winner Anna Nordqvist of Sweden. The US were less successful with runner-up Lizette Salas the only American top-ten finisher.
But the American team contains two of the best golfers in the world, with Nelly Korda topping the Rolex rankings and world No.7 Danielle Kang; Nordqvist is the highest ranked European in 16th spot. Korda, 23, won her first major at the Women’s PGA in June before following it up with the gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics.
The tournament is named after American golf designer Karsten Solheim, who was the driving force behind the biennial event. His family emigrated to the US in 1913 when Karsten was a toddler and he is most famous for his golf club manufacturing company that became PING.
