Tag Archives: team golf

Solheim Cup 2026 (September 11 – September 13)

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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.

PGA Tour and LPGA Tour Pros team up at the Grant Thornton Invitational

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This weekend I watched the inaugural event of the Grant Thornton Invitational which was a joint PGA Tour and LPGA Tour event with 16 teams. I really enjoyed the format of the event and seeing the camaraderie within and among the teams. Not to mention the fact that there was some great golf played.

The format was three days of golf. Day one was a scramble, day two were foursomes (alternate shot), and the final day was a modified four-ball where both players tee off, and then they switch balls for their second shots and play that same ball until it is holed. The lower score of the partners is then counted as the team score for the hole.

There were low scores and great shots. After day one the team of Nelly Korda and Tony Finau were leading, day two Lydia Ko and Jason Day shot 66 to take the lead and although other teams came on strong Lydia Ko made a clutch birdie putt on the 18th hole to win the event for team Ko/Day with a 26 under par.

The Canadian team of Brooke Henderson and Corey Conners finished second moving up the leader board by shooting an impressive 9 under, 63 total. And the Swedish team of Madelene Sagström and Ludvig Åberg shot 12 under to move up six places to finish third.

There were teams that every golf fan could get excited about whether it was because they were representing a fan’s country or whether it was a team with two of the most popular pros on each tour; and they did not disappoint. For example, the team of Lexi Thompson and Rickie Fowler gave the crowd a fun moment at the Par 3, 16th when Lexi made a hole-in-one.

I used to watch a ton of golf on TV but this year I just got turned off by the PGA tour/LIV news and really spend more time watching the LPGA, the Majors, Amateur golf (including college golf); and as I mentioned in a previous post YouTube golfers. I really don’t miss watching the weekly PGA tour events.

This mixed tour event is exactly what professional golf needs and I hope that the Grant Thornton Invitational continues for many years. For me, next year, it will be a must watch golf event.