Category Archives: Solheim Cup

Solheim Cup 2026 (September 11 – September 13)

Posted on by
Reply

The Walker Cup is in the books and GB&I won so now my focus is on the Solheim Cup. Team Europe is hosting at Bernardus Golf in the Netherlands. The Opening Ceremony is Thursday September 10 (the 7th, 8th, and 9th are practice round days). The days of competition are Friday, Saturday and Sunday and are covered by the Golf Channel.

HOW TO WATCH – Live Coverage of the golf will air on Golf Channel as follows:

Opening Ceremony on Thursday will only be streamed on Golf Channel “Digital” (app is best option) at 11 am EST.

Day One: Friday, September 11, 1:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. (Foursome are the morning matches, Four Ball afternoon matches)

Day Two: Saturday, September 12, 1:30 am to 1:00 p.m. (Foursome are the morning matches, Four Ball afternoon matches)

Day Three: Sunday, September. 13, 1:30 a.m. to Noon (Singles – 12 Matches)

TEAM USA – Captain of the team is Angela Stanford. The golf channel provided a video as to why it might be a struggle for the USA to win this year. Basically some players having physical issues or just playing poorly. And it was noted that the USA has only one top ten player in the world on the team which is Nelly Korda. I was also surprised by the captains picks of Rose Zhang, Megan Khang and Lindy Duncan. Zhang has been having back issues, Khang has not been playing well missing the cut in her last eight events and Duncan is just an unknown. Duncan is 35 years old and one of the oldest “rookies” in Solheim Cup USA team history. Let’s hope she is good at match play.

One thing that surprised me was some of the hateful things on social media regarding TEAM USA because six of the ten players are of Asian heritage and comments have been focused on the “look” of the team; but these ladies are all AMERICANS!

TEAM EUROPE – Captain of the team is Anna Nordquist. It was also noted by golf channel analyst Paige Mackenzie that Team Europe only has two players in the top 10 world rankings (Lottie Woad #7 and Charley Hull #8). I think given it is a home game for Europe and given how good players like Woad and Hull are at match play; there is a slight advantage for Team Europe even if it looks like neither team is stacked this year.

Pillow Fight or Exciting Competition – I think the big question is will this Solheim Cup be “must see TV” for golf fans? There does not seem to be much excitement for the Solheim Cup this year. I’ll be watching and hoping the players on both teams rise to the occasion and make it worth our while to watch.

SIDE BAR : Ping Junior Solheim Cup

Also, the Junior Solheim Cup is conducted on the 7th and 8th with the top female amateur golfers ages 12 to 18. This is an important distinction because the top college players are not part of this event so you don’t have too many of the top players in the World Amateur Golf Rankings. The USA has one top player – Asterisk Talley (#8 in WAGR and #1 in the AJGA rankings) and Europe has zero players in the top 20 WAGR. The youngest is Kelly Zhang (USA) at the age of 14. The youngest on Europe’s team is 15; Lana Guyot (Switzerland).

Of note, Morgan Pressel is the team captain for the USA and Anna Van Dam is the European Captain; Van Dam also happens to be from the Netherlands.

Team USA has dominated in the last three PING Jr. Solheim Cups so I expect the USA to win this year.

Note: I checked the scores this evening (9/7/2026) before posting this blog entry; the USA is up on day one with 9 1/2 points to Europe’s 2 1/2 points. And the USA only needs 12 points to retain the cup. Tomorrow are the single matches; I actually feel bad for the young golfers on Team Europe. Of course, the USA Team at the Walker Cup had a nice lead going into the afternoon single matches and GB&I won so miracles do happen.

Women’s Golf – Top Five LPGA Player Moments in 2024

Posted on by
1

If you are a fan of golf or like watching golf and you don’t watch the women play you are truly missing out on great entertainment.

Here are my top five for women’s golf in 2024

These players had big years and/or big events:

(1) Nelly Korda – The #1 player in the women’s world rankings had an incredible start to 2024. She won six out of her first seven starts on tour; five wins in a row and one won the first major of the year. And Korda, after not playing because of a “minor neck injury” comes back in November and wins the “The Annika driven by Gainbridge at Pelican.” Of note, no LPGA golfer has had six or more wins in a season since 2013 when Inbee Park had six wins.

So it is no surprise that Korda won player of the year in 2024.

(2) Lauren Caughlin – a journey woman on the LPGA tour had the year of her professional life in 2024. Caughlin is 31 years old and has been on tour since 2018. In July, winning the Canadian Women’s Open was her first tour win in 103rd starts on tour. One month later she won the ISPS Handa Women’s Scottish Open.

Caughlin with her excellent play met a personal goal to qualify for The Solheim Cup that was contested in her home state of Virginia just an hour from her home. The pressure of playing for a home town crowd and as a rookie on the biggest stage in women’s golf could have been too much for some golfers but not Caughlin. She showed up to the Solheim and once again had the “week of her professional life” winning all three of her team matches and garnering a tie for her singles match. This is a stellar record for a “rookie” Solheim Cup member.

(3) Lydia Ko

Ko had pressure all year with the golf analysts constantly asking will this be the tournament that Ko wins and get’s the one point she needs to enter the LPGA Hall of Fame. The LPGA Hall of Fame has the most difficult criteria of all sports hall of fame (it’s not voted on, it’s all points); requiring 27 points.

Per the LPGA website the criteria is:

1. Must have won/been awarded at least one of the following – an LPGA major championship, the Vare Trophy or Rolex Player of the Year honors; and2. 

2.Must have accumulated a total of 27 points, which are awarded as follows – one point for each LPGA official tournament win, two points for each LPGA major tournament win and one point for each Vare Trophy or Rolex Player of the Year honor earned.3. 

3. One point for an Olympic gold medal

Per Golf Digest, “Ko is a 15-time winner, including two majors and three season-ending awards. She earned 70 percent of her 20 points in two years—2019 and 2021.”

Her quest for the LPGA Hall of Fame was a storybook ending when she won the Gold Medal at the Olympics; and giving her the point she needed to be in the LPGA Hall of Fame.

(4) Rose Zhang – Zhang was the most decorated player in women’s amateur golf; including winning back-to-back NCAA Individual National Championships and winning the August National Women’s Amateur in April 2023. Zhang held the position of the #1 female amateur golfer in the world for over two-and-a-half years (or 141 weeks at #1).

In May 2023, Zhang turns Pro and she wins her first LPGA tour event at the Cognizant Founders Cup (she is the player that stopped Nelly Korda’s win streak of five wins in a row). After that 2023 was rather quiet and she did not perform well at the Solheim Cup in Spain with two ties and a loss.

In early 2024 she seemed to still be missing that spark but the spark caught on fire at the Solheim Cup in the USA. Zhang won all four matches. And she is the only player in Solheim history to win all four matches and never have to play the final holes (17 and 18). There have only been eight players to have a 4-0-0 record at a Solheim Cup and only two other American’s have achieved this accomplishment (Dottie Pepper in 1998 and Morgan Pressel in 2011). Zhang also won 28 holes only lost 8; no player has been that dominant in the last 20 years.

It’s worth noting the scores for Zhang’s four matches: She won 3&2, 3&2, 5&4, and her singles match was 6&4 (ending her match against Carlota Ciganda on the 14th hole).

(4) Soleim Cup Players – The 2024 Solheim Cup was everything a golf fan wants in a competition – great play and a competition that goes down to the end; which is stressful but fun to watch. The USA won 15 1/2 points to Europe 12 1/2 points.

The points don’t tell the whole story but for those that don’t normally follow match play. The current holder of the Solheim Cup (Europe) only needed 14 to maintain possession and the USA needed 14 1/2 points to win (take possession) of the cup. The last meeting (2023 in Spain) of the teams was heart braking because the teams tied (14 points each) therefore Europe “won” because they won the cup in the previous meeting in 2021 in Ohio at Inverness.

Along with Rose Zhang, Khang (3-0-0), Coughlin (3-0-1) and Andrea Lee (2-0-1) were the other Americans to go undefeated (since they tied and did not lose one match). It is the second time the U.S. team had that many undefeated players at one Solheim Cup.

So do yourself a favor and watch the LPGA in 2025.

It’s Here – Back to Back Solheim Cup and Ryder Cup in 2023

Posted on by
2

We have the pandemic to thank for the Solheim Cup and Ryder Cup being contested in the same year and back-to-back. If you love team competition and golf then this fall is your time to enjoy hours and hours of match play from across the pond.

Dates for each Cup: The official days of competition run Friday through Sunday.

Solheim Cup Competition days: Friday, September 22 – Saturday, September 23 – Sunday, September 24. Golf Channel coverage is from 2 am to 1 pm on Friday and Saturday and 5 am to 11 am on Sunday.

Ryder Cup Competition days: Friday, September 29 – Saturday, September 30 – Sunday, Oct 1. The Ryder Cup gets more TV coverage (including the Junior Ryder Cup and opening ceremony on Thursday). You can find all the times on How to Watch the Ryder Cup on the website.

I assume you will also be able to see replays on YouTube.

Note: When the 2020 Ryder Cup was moved to 2021 (due to Covid), it meant that the Ryder Cup would now be played on “odd” years and therefore be the same year as the Solheim Cup. The LPGA and LET decided to move from their traditional odd years to even so that do not have to “complete” every year with the Ryder Cup. They could not move the 2023 event so their only solution was to not wait 2 years to wait for the next Solheim Cup so there will be a 2024 Solheim cup, in the USA.

My thought was that it would be amazing if the men’s and women’s tours could work together to have one big “match play week” where they combine the events and also add some mixed match events into the event.

If you are interested in a bit of insight, read the overviews below.

SOLHEIM CUP OVERVIEW

The Solheim cup is much “younger” than the Ryder Cup since the first competition was in 1990. The record stands with the USA 10 wins and Europe 7 wins. Team Europe has won the last two cups.

The Solheim Cup is being contested in Andalucia, Spain at Finca Cortesin. The European Captain is Suzanne Petterson and the USA Captain is Stacy Lewis. Details can be found on the Solheim Cup website but let’s look at the players.

Team USA players: I would say that there were no really big surprises in the captain picks from Lewis. Rose Zhang is the new star on the LPGA (winning her first professional tournament her first week on the LPGA) and as a recent college graduate she has played a lot of match play. The other captain picks were all next in qualifying points.

The players earned points starting at the Portland Classic in 2021. The USA has the recent number one ranked player, Lilia Vu and the US Open Champion in Allisen Curpuz. Rose Zang is the new star on the LPGA and has a steller match play record from college. Watching the LPGA tournaments the last few weeks it appears most players are coming into Solheim in great form. For example, Megan Kang just won her first tournament on tour (the Canadian Open). The two players that are struggling are Jennifer Kupcho and Lexi Thompson. In fact, Lexi Thompson has had seven missed cuts in her last 9 tournaments and her best showing was a T31 at the Founders Cup in May. She is on the team because of all the Solheim cup points she accumulated in 2021. But both Kupcho and Thompson love match play and so hopefully they will rise to the occasion.

  • Lilia (automatic qualifier)
  • Nelly Korda (automatic qualifier)
  • Allisen Corpuz (automatic qualifier)
  • Megan Kang (automatic qualifier)
  • Jennifer Kupcho (automatic qualifier)
  • Danielle Kang (automatic qualifier)
  • Lexi Thompson (automatic qualifier)
  • Andrea Lee (automatic qualifier)
  • Rose Zhang (captain’s pick)
  • Alley Ewing (captain’s pick)
  • Angel Yin (captain’s pick)
  • Cheyenne Knight (captain’s pick)

Team Europe players: Suzanne Petersen has stated this is the best European team ever and that’s a big statement given the Europeans have won the last two Solheim Cups. Only time will tell if it is the best team “ever” but she does have a stellar list of players. Celine Boutier (#4 in the world who won back-to-back at Evian Championship and the Scottish Open), Charley Hull with an 11-5-3 Solheim Cup Record and Leona McGuire with a 4-0-1 record from 2021. It is interesting that there are five swedes on her team and three of them were captains picks. The big surprise was Carolina Hedwall because she’s not highly ranked but she is a fierce competitor and did well in past Solheim cups.

  • Celine Boutier (automatic qualifier)
  • Marja Stark (automatic qualifier)
  • Charlie Hull (automatic qualifier)
  • Leona McGuire (automatic qualifier)
  • Georgia Hall (automatic qualifier)
  • Linn Grant (automatic qualifier)
  • Carlota Ciganda (automatic qualifier)
  • Anna Nordquist (automatic qualifier)
  • Madelene Sagstrom (captain’s pick)
  • Gemma Dryburgh (captain’s pick)
  • Emily Pedersen (captain’s pick)
  • Carolina Hedwall (captain’s pick)

Morning Foursomes

The Morning Foursomes for Friday were announced today (Thursday) at the opening ceremony. I am a bit surprised to see Lexi going out first; and Rose Zhang, Lilia Vu are not playing. I’m not sure what Stacey Lewis is thinking. Let’s hope she sees something in the player stats that made these morning pairings make sense. On the European side, Suzanne Petterson has stacked her foursomes with Lin Grant, Celine Boutier, Leona Maguire, and Charley Hull.

RYDER CUP OVERVIEW

The Ryder Cup was first played in 1927 and the record stands as USA 27 wins and Europe 14 wins. If you love golf history you can read about every Ryder Cup on the Ryder Cup Website.

The Ryder Cup is being contested in Rome, Italy at the Marco Simone Golf & Country Club. The European Captain is Luke Donald and the USA Captain is Zach Johnson. Details can be found on the Ryder Cup Website but, as we did with the Solheim Cup, let’s look at the players.

Team USA Players: If you are a golf fan you know the most controversial pick was Justin Thompas (JT). He has played well below his normal standards this year but was picked because of his stellar match play record. Hopefully, JT plays well but I can’t imagine the pressure he must feel given so many feel he did not deserve to be on this team.

  • Scottie Scheffler (automatic qualifier)
  • Max Homa (automatic qualifier)
  • Brian Harman (automatic qualifier)
  • Patrick Cantlay (automatic qualifier)
  • Wyndham Clark (automatic qualifier)
  • Xander Schauffele (automatic qualifier)
  • Brooks Keopka (captains pick)
  • Sam Shepard (captain’s pick)
  • Rickie Fowler (captain’s pick)
  • Collin Morikawa (captain’s pick)
  • Jordan Spieth (captain’s pick)
  • Justin Thomas (captain’s pick)

Team Europe Players: The European team is solid and they have a few players that are coming into this Ryder Cup is exceptional form. There is Viktor Hovland who won the FedEx Cup and Ludvig Aberg who, like Rose Zhang, was a college star that came on tour and won quickly. I think the United States will face a very tough European team.

  • Viktor Hovland (automatic qualifier)
  • Rory McIIroy (automatic qualifier)
  • Jon Rahm (automatic qualifier)
  • Matt Fitzpatrick (automatic qualifier)
  • Tyrrell Hatton (automatic qualifier)
  • Robert MacIntyre (automatic qualifier)
  • Ludvig Aberg (captain’s pick)
  • Tommy Fleetwood (captain’s pick)
  • Nicolai Højgaard (captain’s pick)
  • Shane Lowry (captain’s pick)
  • Justin Rose (captain’s pick)
  • Sepp Straka (captain’s pick)

So grab your cup of morning coffee (or tea, in my case) and sit back and enjoy the golf. Hopefully the matches will be great battles and make each cup exciting and closely contested.

Tis’ the Season of Match Play

Posted on by
2

If you love to watch match play then this is the time for you to make excuses to watch a lot of golf on TV. However to watch live you better be an early riser since all the events are in Europe in 2023. I assume the Golf Channel will have plenty of coverage leading up to the actual match play days but below is information on how to watch the actual match days (USA information only).

September 2 & 3: The Walker Cup

The Walker Cup is the amateur match play event with the top males amateur golfers from the United States and Great Britain & Ireland. It is organized by the USGA (the governing body of golf in the United States) and the R&A (the governing body of golf for the rest of the world and headquartered in St. Andrews, Scotland).

You can view the Walker Cup on the Golf Channel. The event is being contended at The Old Course at St. Andrews so that is a treat to see as a golf fan.

Day 1: Saturday, September 2 starting at 8 am (est) Also, it will be rebroadcasted Saturday night at 9 pm est.

Day 2: Sunday, September 3, starting at 8 am (est) to 2 pm on Golf Channel.

September 22 to 24: The Solheim Cup

The ladies take the stage at Finca Cortesín in Andalucía, Spain. The USA and Europe both have stellar teams so it should be an exiting event. The Solheim cup record is 10 USA and Europe 7 but Europe has won the last two meetings (2019 at Gleneagles in Scotland and 2021 at The Inverness Club in Ohio).

When to watch the coverage live on the Golf Channel

Day 1, Friday: 2 am to 1 pm (est)

Day 2, Saturday: 2 am to 1 pm (est)

Day 3, Sunday: 5 to 11 am (est)

My bet is that there will be replays later in the day if you don’t care about seeing it live.

September 29 to October 1: Ryder Cup

The Ryder Cup is being contested at Marco Simone Golf and Country Club, Rome, Italy. This will be the 44th event with the USA leading in the series (27-14-2) but Europe has won nine of the last 13 editions of the Ryder Cup. The first 39 years the matches were between the USA and GB&I (Great Britain and Ireland) but in 1979 the GB&I team was expanded to include all of Europe; thus making the matches more competitive.

It is early to confirm but here is the broadcast schedule I found online:

Friday, September 29 – USA Network, 1:30 am to Noon (est)

Saturday, September 30 – USA Network, 1:30 to 3 am (est) and NBC 3 am to Noon (est)

Sunday, October 1 – 5:30 am to 1 PM (est) on NBC

Side Bar: There is also the Junior Solheim Cup and Junior Ryder Cup but they are not televised. You can follow the scoring online at the respective websites for the events.

September 2021 is Match Play Month – Solheim Cup and Ryder Cup!

Posted on by
Reply

Last week the Curtis Cup, the amateur competition between USA and GB&I (conducted by the USA and R&A), took place. If you missed it and want to watch, it was streamed live on YouTube and is still available. The USA started out poorly but came back with a furry and won seven of the eight singles matches the last day to retain the cup. This is the first time the USA Curtis Cup team has won on European soil since 2008. As a person that enjoys watching match play, this got me really excited for the professional match play events coming in September.

In September we will be treated with The Solheim Cup and Ryder Cup. Normally theses events do not fall in the same year, but because of the COVID-19 Pandemic the Ryder Cup did not take place in 2020.

September 4 – 6: The Solheim Cup – How to Watch

There may be ways to stream the coverage online but I could not find it so I am sharing the broadcast information. The Solheim Cup can be viewed (in the USA) on Golf Channel (GC) and NBC. Here is the schedule from the Golf Channel website.

TV schedule: Saturday, Day 1 foursomes and fourballs: 7:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. (GC), 12:30-2:30 p.m. (NBC), 2:30-6 p.m. (GC); Sunday, Day 2 foursomes and fourballs: 7:30 a.m. – noon (GC), noon-1:30 p.m. (NBC), 1:30-6 p.m. (GC); Sunday, Day 3 singles: noon-6 p.m. (GC)

Will the USA Win?

In 2017 it was an exciting cup in Scotland at Gleneagles, it appeared the USA was going to win until Suzanne Peterson made a memorable putt and won the cup for Europe (and then announced her retirement on the green as she celebrated.) Europe won 14 1/2 to 13 1/2.

The USA has a strong team! The number one player in the women’s game, Nelly Korda is playing well and her sister is back too. In 2017 Nelly and her sister Jessica won both their matches so I assume we will see that winning duo again. Overall, with great players and a home field advantage the USA are heavy favorites to win at Inverness in Ohio.

September 24 – 26: The Ryder Cup – How to Watch

According to the Ryder Cup Website, featured matches will be streamed live on the site. The broadcast schedule listed on the Ryder Cup site is as follows:

Friday, Sept. 24GOLF8:30 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Saturday, Sept. 25GOLF8:30 a.m. to 9 a.m.
Saturday, Sept. 25NBC9 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Sunday, Sept. 26NBCNoon to 6 p.m.

In 2018 the Ryder Cup was in France and Europe beat the USA 17 1/2 to 10 1/2. Who will win in 2021at Whistling Straits? On paper the USA has the edge but golf analyst’s are questioning if the USA can come together as a “team” given the personality issues (e.g., Brooks Koepka and Bryson DeChambeau). I think the men should be able to put aside their egos for one week for the good of the team. The big question, will team Europe do as they have in the past and rise to the occasion and win on US soil?

As they say in broadcasting “stay tuned!”