Michelle Wie leads US to Solheim Cup victory
The U.S. beat Europe 16-12 to win the 2009 Solheim Cup. The Sunday singles matches were much closer than the score suggests, with spirited play on both sides. Although the LPGA has faced turmoil and loss of sponsors this year, the Solheim Cup proved how compelling women’s professional golf can be. It’s too bad that Solheim is every other year, because an event like this may well be the best TV event for the women’s tour.
Without a doubt, Michelle Wie was the big story of the week. Although on the team as a captain’s pick by Beth Daniels, Wie turned out to be the MVP of the US team, going 3-0-1. Wie put on display an arsenal of prodigious drives, creative short game, and pressure putting. She showed signs of brilliance that people had predicted since she was 13 years old. (For The Golf Blog’s first post on Michelle at age 14, click here.) This week may be the week that is the start of something really good–check that, really great–for Michelle Wie’s career. The work with David Leadbetter and recently with Dave Stockto–the 2 Davids–for putting may be all coming together. Watch out!
Other memories: It was nice to see veterans Julie Inkster and Laura Davies both play well today. It was their last Solheim Cup as players (officially from Inkster, but not from Davies). And maybe, just maybe, it was one too many for them, given their erratic play earlier. Today both played decent but it had some ugly moments. Inkster was down most of the day, rallied to take a lead, but then plunked her approach in the water to secure only a halve. By contrast, Davies was up for the most of the day, but hit a poor shot on 17 and found the water on 18 to secure only a halve. For both veterans of the Solheim Cup, the shaky finishes were even more shaky than Tom Watson’s finish at the British. Age catches up!
Christina Kim is another big story. She’s charismatic and a character. She played well all week (except Friday afternoon), and really motivated the crowd.
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