Does The Solheim Cup Need To Look East?

The latest instalment of team format golf continues this week with the start of the Solheim Cup at Killeen Castle, where Europe will attempt to prise the trophy from the tight grip of America. It’s a hold the USA has had since 2003, and therefore no easy task, especially given the rich experience on the American team. Bearing similarities to that of the one-sided Ryder Cup matches in the 1980s, the home side will need to pull the proverbial rabbit out of the hat if they are to prove the pundits wrong this week.

That said, it’s worth bearing in mind that it’s little more than a week since GB & Ireland reclaimed the Walker Cup whilst wearing the underdogs tag. And while the margin of victory could hardly be described as a landslide, GB & Ireland sustained a strong control of the contest throughout the weekend. The pre-match build up would certainly have lead you to believe the result was a ‘David & Goliath’ moment in golfing terms, and this provides the European Ladies with something positive to feed off this weekend. If those young guys can do it, then why can’t the ladies?

The European Solheim Cup side has a fine blend of youth and experience, with some talented rookies champing at the bit, as well as an assortment of seasoned campaigners to help steer a steady course.  Rookies are often deemed to be the weak link, but when you bear in mind that the last three contests belonged to the USA, perhaps new faces are preferable to those bearing the mental scars of previous encounters. The hope would be that Mel Reid, Sandra Gal, Azahara Munoz and Chistel Boeljon can draw on the wealth of knowledge and experience from the been-here-before names such as Laura Davies and Suzann Peterson. In return the excitement, enthusiasm and positive attitude of the rookies will rub off on the veteran team members. With this in mind, the rookies may prove to be vital for Europe, and with a partisan Irish crowd cheering them on, 2011 may well be the year that another trophy comes back to Europe.

Nevertheless, you still have to concede that the USA have a very strong side, are much fancied to win, and will rightly start as favourites. The trouble is (and this is my worry for the Solheim Cup) that this state of affairs is liable to continue for the foreseeable future and it’s questionable that Europe can deliver sufficient resistance to maintain interest in the event. The wealth of emerging talent in ladies golf lies in Asia, a phenomenon that has only emerged in the years since Karsten Solheim, the visionary behind the Solheim Cup, launched the inaugural event back in 1990.  As the business brains behind a number of pioneering developments in golf, not least the PING brand, it’s fair to assume Karsten Solheim’s motivation for creating the Solheim Cup was as much commercial as it was benevolent. Given the demographics of the female superstars today, the burgeoning market and television audience, I wonder if today he would be advocating the idea of pitting the USA against Asia rather than Europe?

Say what you will, the current talent pool, investment and audience interest in the women’s game in Korea, Japan, Taiwan, etc, would undoubtedly lead to an exposure and financial return that would far outweigh the current format.  Of course it’s obvious why Solheim chose the format he did: Europe v USA was a tried, tested, and successful machine in the men’s game, so there was no reason to see it any differently in the ladies game.  What’s more, twenty one years ago the game was so embryonic in the Far East that even someone as visionary as Solheim would have been hard-pushed to see what the future had in store.

Of course there are no answers to be found in this hypothetical debate, especially since Mr Solheim’s passing in 2000. Nonetheless, I can’t help but wonder what Solheim would have suggested had he been proposing the formation of the Solheim Cup in 2011 as opposed to 1990?  Would he have stuck with tradition and gone with Europe v USA?  As a native Norwegian, perhaps he would have, but then again, a man with his businesses acumen would surely have recognised the greater potential of USA v Asia. Competitively and financially, it makes more sense.

To be honest, ladies golf in Korea, Japan and Taiwan is so strong right now that you may even need to propose that the teams are Asia vs The Rest of The World, just to make it a fair contest – not that the Americans would ever sanction that.  Of course, Europe would still be well represented, whether lining up alongside the Americans or the Asian ladies as their team-mates, such is the talent a few world-class European players possess.

Who knows what the future holds.  Perhaps the powers that be will in time reshuffle the current Solheim Cup system to accommodate the dominant force in ladies golf, in much the same way that GB & Ireland welcomed the extension to Continental Europe in 1979. In many ways it is only fair to try and involve the greatest players in the game in the greatest team showpiece.  Alternatively, as in the men’s game, maybe we’ll see the formation of a ‘Ladies President’s Cup’.  The only problem I foresee with this is that the Solheim Cup doesn’t have the historical depth to protect it that the Ryder Cup enjoys.  However strong the international men’s team in the President’s Cup, the intense rivalry of the Ryder Cup seems impossible to replicate but I question if that would be the case in the ladies’ game.  To me it seems likely that a more competitive USA vs Asia match would quickly become the premier team competition in the ladies game, leaving the Solheim Cup trailing in its wake.

But for now and the foreseeable future, tradition continues as Europe tee up on Friday against the USA in the 12th Solheim Cup matches.  Regardless of what the form book says, there is enough reason to believe Europe can bring home the cup, and I for one will be cheering them on to do so. Good luck ladies.