Americans rally for Solheim Cup victory

Writing from Sugar Grove, Ill.
Sunday, August 23, 2009

There was a point early Sunday afternoon at Rich Harvest Farms when the European team not only had the lead in the 11th Solheim Cup Match, but appeared ready to score a dominating victory over the hosts from the United States.

Every match was on the course. The Europeans led in five of them and were all square with the Americans in three others. If every match ended as it stood, the visitors would win the Cup by a one-point margin.

Then, as European captain Alison Nicholas put it, “Unfortunately, the momentum changed in about a half-hour and went the Americans’ way.”

There, the momentum stayed.

Here, the Cup stays. The American rally, a barrage of birdies spurred on by roar after roar from the gallery of about 30,000, brought the U.S. LPGA team a 16-12 victory in the biennial match for the coveted crystal.

The big 3-up lead held by big Laura Davies? It evaporated, Brittany Lang fighting back for a half point against the freewheeling Brit by winning the last two holes.

The 2-up lead France’s Gwladys Nocera held over captain’s pick Juli Inkster with five holes to play? It vanished, wiped out by three straight birdies from the 49-year-old veteran, who scored a half point and then announced her Solheim Cup farewell.

Lang and Inkster were in the middle of the lineup. The first three Americans out, Paula Creamer, Angela Stanford and Michelle Wie, won their matches – Wie finished the week an undefeated 3-0-1, the 19-year-old crafting the best record of any American – to break the 8-all tie that existed after Saturday’s matches, and rev up the Americans in the gallery.

Then the comebacks commenced. The combination of results and racket broke the momentum of the Europeans, and then their hearts.

“It was tough, especially when they were rallying,” said England’s Janice Moodie, who halved her anchor match with Natalie Gulbis, squandering a 3-up lead on the Floridian with five holes to play. “You hear cheers, and then nothing when you hit a good shot. So you think, ‘Silence is golden.’ ”

There were several thousand European fans on hand, and they could be heard from start to finish. But the Americans outnumbered them by about 8 to 1, not that it mattered in the early going.

“Most of the day, it didn’t look like it was gonna happen,” U.S. captain Beth Daniel said. “But on the 12th, 13th, 14th holes, they turned this thing around. Juli Inkster’s comeback was pretty darn gutsy, and our first three players were huge.

“The halves by Inkster and Lang were huge at that part of the day,” Daniel allowed. “If we don’t win those two halves, we don’t win the Solheim Cup.”

They built on the foundation stablished by the first three Americans in the lineup. They, like the others, were greeted on the first tee by an atmosphere that combined an Ohio State-Michigan football game with the F.A. Cup Final, all of it taking place during the first lap of the Indianapolis 500.

Angela Stanford knocked off Wales’ Becky Brewerton 5 and 4, putting the first point on the board with Brewerton winning only one hole. Creamer broke a tie with Suzann Pettersen by winning the 10th, 12th and 14th holes.

Wie played a monumental match with Sweden’s Helen Alfredsson, building a 3-up lead before seeing Alfredsson square the match with a rally. Wie then won the 15th hole with a birdie and the 16th with a par, hanging on for a 1-up triumph.

“Helen’s the best, so tough to beat,” Wie said.

Wie authored the shot of the day, and in response to a brilliant one. Alfredsson had hammered her second shot on the par 5 second hole to within four feet of the cup. Wie, with 213 yards left, hit her second to within three feet. The crowd, which applauded Alfredsson’s fine shot mildly, went wild for Wie.

“That second shot was the best shot I’ve ever hit ever,” Wie said. “Helen, she stuck it. She was playing great.”

Alfredsson missed the eagle putt, after which Wie made hers to go 1-up. A birdie on the par-3 third followed, and another birdie on the par-4 sixth put Wie three holes ahead.

Then Alfredsson rallied, winning the eighth, ninth and 11th holes to square the match. Wie answered with a birdie to win the 15th, and used a par to win the 16th to go dormie 2. Alfredsson won the 17th with a par to keep the match alive, but matching pars at the last brought Wie the victory.

“She’s a great, fantastic player,” Alfredsson said.

Wie’s win was the third point on the board. Then Catriona Matthew posted Europe’s first win – and one of only two on the day – by knocking off Kristy McPherson 3 and 2. But the halved match by Lang, Brittany Lincicome’s win over Sophie Gustafson and the halved match by Inkster went up in an 11-minute span.

“I kept talking to myself,” Inkster said of her mindset when she was 2-down. “It’s two holes. If you can’t win two holes, you don’t belong here.”

The holes were won. The U.S. suddenly led 13-10 on the scoreboard, and had a 15 1/2-12 1/2 edge when incomplete matches were considered.

Yogi Berra’s axiom aside, it was over before it was over. Morgan Pressel’s 3 and 2 victory over Anna Nordqvist, which came about when Nordqvist missed a 10-foot par-saver on the 16th hole, made it official a few minutes after Christina Kim walked to the 17th tee dormie 2, assuring the U.S. of another half-point. She ended up beating Spain’s Tania Elosegui 2 up.

The news of the American victory – the third straight for the Yanks – spread around the course quickly. Kim was actually one of the last two know. She figured it out when she saw Wie waving a big American flag by the 18th green.

“It’s the most unbelievable thing in the world,” Kim said, choking back tears.

“I knew we had the half-point from Christina going dormie,” Pressel said. “It was awesome.”

In short order came the group hug on the 18th green, and the closing ceremony, where each member of the American team held the crystal high. After that, the celebration was expected to continue in the lodge adjacent to the practice range. This time, Daniel, who admitted to waking at 4:11 a.m. the last few mornings, might still be up at that hour, and have plenty of company.

“We’ll be good until tomorrow morning,” Pressel said. “We’ll be tired tomorrow.”

– Tim Cronin

Last hurrah for Inkster, perhaps Davies also

Writing from Sugar Grove, Ill.
Sunday, August 23, 2009

Juli Inkster exits the Solheim Cup stage a winner.

Inkster staged a dramatic rally to grab a half point after she was 2 down with five holes to play against Gwladys Nocrea of France. Then she said her eighth Solheim appearance would be her last.

“It is,” Inkster said. “I’m not doing a Brett Favre. I want to come out and watch. I’ve had a great ride and I’ve had a lot of fun, but it’s time for these young girls to come out here and kick booty.”

Inkster, 49, is an obvious choice to captain a future American team. To that, she quipped, “I’d love to pick out the clothing and ribbons.”

Fittingly, Inkster, with a 2-2 record this week and a 16-10-5 career mark, lowered the American flag in the closing ceremony.

The last for Davies?

Conversely, Laura Davies, the British star who has played in every Solheim Cup, may have made her final appearance in the big show. If that’s the case, she leaves the biggest stage in women’s golf on a sad note, having lost her only team match on Thursday, and ending up with a halved match against Brittany Lang on Sunday after blowing a 2-up lead with as many holes remaining.

Davies was 3-up lead through 10 holes, that commanding lead the centerpiece of Europe’s rousing start. But Lang stormed back with a par to Davies’ bogey on the 17th and took the 18th with a birdie, after Davies’ second shot hit a tree and crashed into a creek well short of the green.

“It was a really stupid tee shot,” Davies said of the 17th. “I should have put the club back in my bag, but I was anxious to get on with it. And my second on the 18th hit the top of the trees and dropped straight down into a water hazard. It was horrific luck.

“Does a halve feel like a loss? One hundred percent.”

Davies, 21-17-5 in Solheim play, has said in the past she had no interest in being a Solheim Cup captain, and reiterated that on Sunday, pointing to captain Alison Nicholas.

“No,” Davies said. “Poor Al’s been put through a hedge backwards this week. It looks like hard work, and I’ve always shied away from hard work.”

Davies has been known to place a bet or two, and said when asked if she’d bet on a future captaincy, “Any money you like, I’ll never be the captain.”

No rudder for the captain

Unlike the Ryder Cup, where the host captain has a huge say in the course setup, Beth Daniel had no official say in how the LPGA set up Rich Harvest Farms. It seems she had no unofficial say, either.

“Nothing,” Daniel said before the Solheim Cup was complete. “I’m making my statement, and I have made it to the LPGA, that I think the home captain should, but I don’t. I have no say in the setup.

“I would set it up, probably, a little bit differently. There are some holes that are too long.”

The course was set up as a par 73 playing to a maximum length of 6,673 yards, and it seemed to play every bit of that. The rough began the week at three inches, long for any women’s major, including the U.S. Open, and didn’t get any shorter.

“The plan by the LPGA was to have the course play hard and fast,” said Daniel, a Rich Harvest Farms member. “We’ve had non-prevailing winds, it’s wet, it’s damp, it’s cold, the ball’s not flying as far. It’s playing every bit of the almost 6,700 yards. It’s a long, difficult golf course. I think we’ve seen some exceptional golf.”

Around Rich Harvest

The gallery of 30,000 brought the three-day total to 83,000, and the weeklong total of 120,000, a Solheim Cup record. … The 2011 Solheim Cup is slated for Killeen Castle, Ireland, on a course designed by Jack Nicklaus. … Michelle Wie played her match in 4-under-par 69 to Helen Alfredsson’s 3-under 70. … Wie and fellow captain’s pick Juli Inkster accounted for five points of the 16 scored by the U.S.

– Tim Cronin

It’s all even heading to Solheim singles

Writing from Sugar Grove, Ill.
Saturday, August 22, 2009

The American and European Solheim Cup teams played past sunset on Saturday at Rich Harvest Farms, and decided nothing.

Nearly 12 hours of play saw the European team win the day, and force an 8-all tie heading into Sunday’s dozen singles matches.

The day’s action finished with drama in the gloaming, when Michelle Wie missed a 15-foot birdie putt to win the evening’s final alternate shot match, followed by Europe’s Maria Hjorth, missing a 6-footer that would have forced a halve.

Instead, the two conceded pars created a win for the U.S. LPGA players, and a deadlock after the 16 doubles matches.

“My hands were shaking,” Wie said of her putt, which just edged the right side of the cup as several hundred fans crowded around the final green, straining to see the hole.

She and Hjorth completed play at 7:50 p.m., four minutes after sunset in Rockford, which is 46 miles to the northwest. It was far darker than it appeared on television, thanks to Golf Channel’s high definition cameras and big lenses.

Europe won the morning best-ball play 2 1/2-1 1/2, and split with the Americans in the afternoon. The morning play, which extended into the afternoon thanks to matches that lasted up to 6 hours 3 minutes, made the 11th competition a 6-all deadlock heading to the alternate shot play. Now it’s deadlocked going to the final day’s singles, the competition the U.S. traditionally has dominated.

Europe has won the singles three times in the previous 10 Solhiems, but only once when they’ve trailed or were tied entering the final day. That was in 1998, at Muirfield Village Golf Club in Dublin, Ohio. The U.S., ahead after two days, still won the match.

“Each of us has to go out and beat our opponent to a pulp tomorrow,” Morgan Pressel said. “We all have to think there aren’t 12 matches, there are one.”

The U.S. can retain the cup by splitting Sunday’s play. Europe needs 6 1/2 points to win.

The pairings, with records for the week, and the European player listed first:
10:05 a.m.: Suzann Pettersen (1-3) vs. Paula Creamer (2-1)
10:15 a.m.: Becky Brewerton (2-1) vs. Angela Stanford (0-2-1)
10:25 a.m.: Helen Alfredsson (1-2) vs. Michelle Wie (2-0-1)
10:35 a.m.: Laura Davies (0-1) vs. Brittany Lang (1-0-1)
10:45 a.m.: Gwladys Nocera (3-0) vs. Juli Inkster (1-2)
10:55 a.m.: Catriona Matthew (0-1-2) vs. Kristy McPherson (1-2)
11:05 a.m.: Sophie Gustafson (1-2) vs. Brittany Lincicome (1-2)
11:15 a.m.: Diana Luna (0-0-1) vs. Nicole Castrale (0-2)
11:25 a.m.: Tania Elosegui (1-1) vs. Christina Kim (2-1)
11:35 a.m.: Maria Hjorth (2-1-1) vs. Cristie Kerr (2-1)
11:45 a.m.: Anna Nordqvist (2-1) vs. Morgan Pressel (1-0-1)
11:55 a.m.: Janice Moodie (1-1) vs. Natalie Gulbis (1-1)

Often in team matches, the outcome comes down to the lesser-known players, rather than the stars, and that could be the case again on Sunday. The Luna-Castrale match could be critical. So might Nordqvist-Pressel, a matchup of a cool Swede and a tough Floridian.

Saturday’s nearly 12 hours of play was filled with amazing shots, not the least of which was Cristie Kerr’s hacky flop shot out of ankle-deep rough behind the 17th green, with a pond on the other side. With misadventures on both sides, it set up a double-bogey putt by Wie, who made it to halve the hole, but that halve was critical.

“That lie was ridiculous,” Kerr said. “I thought the only way to get it close was to hit the hole, and I hit the shot better than I thought. It’s probably one of the best flop shots I ever hit in my life.”

By the time that match was at the 18th, the light was fading fast. It wasn’t much better when Kristy McPherson and Morgan Pressel closed out Helen Alfredsson and Suzann Pettersen, 2 up.

“We probably shouldn’t have played, but nobody wanted to come back at 6 a.m. to play one hole,” McPherson said, forgetting that both teams are staying in a lodge between the first tee and the practice range, and could have snuck out at dawn and finished in their pajamas if they wanted to.

Besides, McPherson drilled her approach to six feet at the last, and Pressel converted the putt for birdie and the win.

“The 18th hole hasn’t been kind to us this week, but we won a couple matches there this afternoon,” Pressel said.

The afternoon split was preceded by Europe’s big push in the morning, which began with Diana Luna’s grabbing a half-point for the visitors with a 15-foot birdie putt on the par-5 18th. Luna, the only player on either team who didn’t play on Friday, and Catriona Matthew teamed to rally from a 2-down deficit against Angela Stanford and Brittany Lang with as many holes to play. Matthew birdied the par-4 17th, then Luna sank the birdie at the last, while Stanford and Lang could only manage pars on each hole.

“Catriona said, ‘Knock it in for the glory,’ ” Luna said. “It’s just amazing.”

“We were kind of down for most of the day, and just found it the last two holes, really,” Matthew said.

The last two morning matches also went to the final hole, which the Euros may want to take home with them. Anna Nordqvist wants at least 20 feet of it. That was the length of her birdie putt that locked up a 1-up victory for her and Suzann Pettersen over Americans Nicole Castrale and Cristie Kerr.

Maria Hjorth and Gwladys Nocera captured a 1-up outcome over Brittany Lincicome and Kristy McPherson in the final morning four-ball. Hjorth birdied the par-3 16th, dropping her tee shot one foot from the cup for the lead, then all four players parred the last two holes.

The long American win was a whopper. Christina Kim and Wie took a 5 and 4 victory over Helen Alfredsson and Tania Elosegui in the morning’s first match. Wie made five birdies and never had a five on her card in 14 holes.

Slow play in the best ball match was endemic. It took Kim and Co. almost three hours to make the turn, and they were the pacesetters. The final match, with Hjorth, Nocera, Lincicome and McPherson, was played in 6 hours 3 minutes, perhaps a record for sloth in international competition.

“Someone said it was an 8-mile walk,” Europe’s Becky Brewerton said. “There are a hell of a lot of long walks.”

But there were also shuttles between some greens and tees just because it was so long. Six hours for a foursome? That’s more like Harborside International, the unofficial Chicago home of the six-hour round.

Sunday’s singles will be quicker. Won’t they?

– Tim Cronin

Next up, a Continental Cup?

Writing from Sugar Grove, Ill.
Saturday, August 22, 2009

Jerry Rich, owner of Rich Harvest Farms and the man who cajoled, prodded and finally convinced the LPGA to bring the 11th Solheim Cup Match to his backyard golf course, let the word go forth Saturday morning that he’s open to another competition playing through.

It’s called the Continental Cup, Rich said, explaining that it would be a three-team competition involving teams from the Americas, Europe and Africa, and Asia and Australia.

It’s something that LPGA staffers haven’t even heard of. That doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist, at least in the mind of Rich and executives from the LPGA, the hierarchy of which has been in turmoil in recent months. With the Solheim played in odd-numbered years, the Continental Cup would logically take place in even-numbered years.

Rich, speaking on WSCR-AM, was enthused about the concept. He didn’t say as much, but, with galleries at Rich Harvest exceeding expectations, he’s probably interested in hosting the inaugural tournament.

The concept, which some think should be applied to the Solheim Cup itself, would bring in many women’s golf stars, including Mexico’s Lorena Ocoha and the posse of South Koreans who have come to dominate the LPGA money list in recent years.

Missing in action

Laura Davies wasn’t in the lineup for either session on Saturday, a first for the most experienced European player on hand. And she wasn’t all that happy about it.

“You want to be involved in the action,” she told Golf Channel.

She may have told Europe captain Alison Nicholas as well.

“Laura’s a competitor,” Nicholas said. “She wants to play. She didn’t play in the afternoon because all the other players were just playing so well.

“It’s not easy to leave anyone out. I’ve been in that position myself. But it’s a team game.”

How far is it?

The 10th hole is close to a mile from the 18th green, and seems even farther away, given the circuitous route of the course. At least one of the players has noticed.

“The 10th and 11th, they’re out in the sticks,” said Becky Brewerton, the Welsh representative. Who know they spoke that way across the pond?

Around Rich Harvest

A new traffic pattern improved bringing in the massive galleries on Saturday. A VIP parking lot was converted to general parking, an additional entrance was created for the main lot, and alternate routes were used, bringing Friday’s maximum delay of two hours down to next to nothing, even though at least 30,000 people were on hand again. … Galleries proper have been announced as 25,000 on Friday, 27,000 on Saturday, and 90,000 including the practice days. That doesn’t include support personnel. … Gates open at 8 a.m. Sunday, an hour earlier than originally scheduled.

– Tim Cronin

Europeans tie Solheim Cup after Saturday morning snailfest

Writing from Sugar Grove, Ill.
Saturday, August 22, 2009

The 11th Solheim Cup Match is dead even.

After a morning of incomprehensibly slow play, the Europeans have rallied to tie the match at 6 points each going into Saturday afternoon’s alternate shot matches.

The Europeans halved the second best-ball match of the morning and won the last two, climbing back from a one point deficit through 12 of the weekend’s 28 matches.

Diana Luna started the comeback for the Europeans, grabbing a half-point with a 15-foot birdie putt on the par-5 18th. Luna, the only player on either team who didn’t play on Friday, and Catriona Matthew teamed to rally from a 2-down deficit against Angela Stanford and Brittany Lang with as many holes to play. Matthew birdied the par-4 17th, then Luna sank the birdie at the last, while Stanford and Lang could only manage pars on each hole.

“Catriona said, ‘Knock it in for the glory,’ ” Luna said. “It’s just amazing.”

“We were kind of down for most of the day, and just found it the last two holes, really,” Matthew said.

The last two morning matches also went to Rich Harvest Farms’ final hole, which the Euros may want to take home with them. Anna Nordqvist wants at least 20 feet of it. That was the length of her birdie putt that locked up a 1-up victory for her and Suzann Pettersen over Americans Nicole Castrale and Cristie Kerr.

Maria Hjorth and Gwladys Nocera captured a 1-up outcome over Brittany Lincicome and Kristy McPherson in the final morning four-ball. Hjorth birdied the par-3 16th, dropping her tee shot one foot from the cup for the lead, then all four players parred the last two holes.

The long American win was a whopper. Christina Kim and Michelle Wie took a 5 and 4 victory over Helen Alfredsson and Tania Elosegui in the morning’s first match. Wie made five birdies and never had a five on her card in 14 holes.

Slow play in the best ball match was endemic. It took Kim and Co. almost three hours to make the turn, and they were the pacesetters. The final match, with Hjorth, Nocera, Lincicome and McPherson, was played in 6 hours 3 minutes, perhaps a record for sloth in international competition.

A full report and notebook after the afternoon matches. The last alternate shot match starts at 3:55 p.m. Chicago time. Sunset is 7:41 p.m. Can Jerry Rich call the folks at Musco Lighting before then?

– Tim Cronin

Solheim a smash hit; Americans take lead

Friday, August 21, 2009
Writing from Sugar Grove, Ill.

They came, they saw, they chanted, they yelled, they sang, they roared.

The story of the first day of the 11th Solheim Cup Match was as much the gallery – the 30,000-strong gallery that came to Rich Harvest Farms, the ultra-private course an area code west of downtown Chicago – as it was the competition itself.

Friday’s eight matches decided little. The U.S. LPGA squad has a 4 1/2-3 1/2 over the representatives of the Ladies European Tour advantage entering Saturday’s eight matches, which, like Friday’s, will be split evenly between best-ball and alternate shot affairs.

“One point is nothing,” said American veteran Juli Inkster, whose alternate-shot victory with Paula Creamer in the afternoon made her the leading U.S. point-winner in Solheim Cup history.

After all the birdies and brilliant approaches and creative recovery shots, it was the crowd that impressed. Fans from two continents and all 50 states arrived early and stayed late. They created the largest traffic jam in the history of Sugar Grove, one that delayed arrivals for as much as two hours. Then they whooped it up.

How loud was it? Michelle Wie’s goosebump meter went on tilt.

“It was like walking down the 18th in contention in a major, times 100,” quoth Wie, golf’s teen queen.

Fellow American Brittany Lang agreed.

“It was nothing like a major, like the U.S. Open,” Lang said. “I enjoyed every second of it, took it all in. I think the crowds make the event.”

They galleries certainly made it loud. The first tee was like an Alabama-Auburn game, with the U.S. and European fans alternately singing and chanting. And that was an hour before the first tee time.

“It was 7 in the morning, I was putting on my shoes (in the lodge adjacent to the practice range), and I heard chants from the first tee,” said American Morgan Pressel.

This feast of golf was expected to be interesting, with the U.S. team dominating, and at least moderately popular. Until about a month ago, half the tickets had been sold to people far from Chicago. Since then, the local crowd came around, and the split was 70-30 in favor of area residents. And that didn’t count Friday’s walkup, which was considerable.

Plus, the hosts didn’t romp, even though Europeans Suzann Pettersen and Sophie Gustafson, billed as the can’t miss visitors, missed twice. Paula Creamer and Cristie Kerr scored a 1 up victory over them in the morning best-ball match, while Natalie Gulbis and Christina Kim beat them 4 and 2 in the afternoon alternate shot competition.

Creamer, one of four U.S. players to play twice, was the only one to win twice. She teamed with veteran Juli Inkster to beat Catorina Matthew and Janice Moodie 2 and 1 in alternate shot. Creamer sank a 20-foot putt on the 17th hole to win the match after dropping a 30-footer on the seventh hole in the morning to halve a hole against Gustafsson and Pettersen, and rouse the natives.

“It’s pretty easy to ride a stallion,” Inkster said of her 3-0 record with Creamer.

The Americans had a one-point lead after the morning matches largely because Creamer sank a birdie putt on the 16th hole for a 1-up lead on Gustafsson and Pettersen, which proved to be the difference in the match, and because Morgan Pressel and Michelle Wie came back from a 2-down situation to post a halve against Catriona Mathew and Maria Hjorth.

Meanwhile, the two Brittanys, Lang and Lincicome, dominated their morning match against Laura Davies and Becky Brewerton. Lincicome’s 60-footer to win a hole was part of the 5 and 4 rout.

“It was a tough morning, but the girls hung in there,” European captain Alison Nicholas said. “It was looking good early on, and suddenly, it just swung around.”

Which allows U.S. captain Beth Daniel to stick to her plan of sitting all 12 players out of one of the four team matches, to make certain everyone is fresh for Sunday’s singles. That includes Creamer, who has played all five matches in each of her two previous appearances.

“Paula’s a team player,” Daniel said. “I don’t want anybody to play five matches. There are long distances between greens and tees here. Paula said she wanted to play five, and I sat her down and said, ‘Paula, I want you to have some legs left on Sunday.”

Creamer sits out on Saturday morning. But, if Friday is any indication, some 30,000 people will be on hand to hoot and holler anyway.

– Tim Cronin

Europeans keep their heads up

Writing from Sugar Grove, Ill.
Friday, August 21, 2009

When you’ve been skunked twice in as many matches, it’s difficult to keep your head up, but Europe’s Suzann Pettersen tried to on Friday.

“I still think we played a lot of great golf,” Pettersen said of herself and Sophie Gustafson, beaten twice on the first day of the 11th Solheim Cup Match. “The first match came down to the last hole. In the second, we needed to make putts and didn’t make any.”

Pettersen will play with Anna Nordquist on Saturday morning, when competiton resumes with best-ball matches. But Davies will sit out.

“She said she wasn’t on her game,” European captain Alison Nicholas said.

That was evident in the morning on the eighth tee, where Davies, once the biggest hitter in women’s golf, hit the ball with the hosel of the driver. It squirted right, going no more than 125 yards.

A Wie argument

As if play wasn’t slow enough, it took 15 minutes to determine whether or not Michelle Wie was entitled to relief before taking her third shot on the par 5 18th hole in her morning match. Her second shot landed in an area that officials said would be considered ground under repair, but it wasn’t marked as such. The European team objected, and the resulting discussion seemed to involve everybody but the concession workers before Wie was allowed to drop.

“The rules official has said was ground under repair, but wouldn’t be marked,” Wie said. Her shot, from 155 yards out, didn’t reach the green, and she had to settle for an up-and-down par 5 at the last.

On Sky Sports, which carries the Solheim Cup in the United Kingdom, commentators said Wie violated the “integrity of the game,” saying she didn’t know the rules.

Around Rich Harvest

The lone player left on the bench Friday was Europe’s Diana Luna. All 12 Americans played. … It takes 14 points for the U.S. team to retain the cup. The Europeans would have to win 14 1/2 points to take it home. … Sugar Grove police came up with an alternate traffic plan by mid-afternoon, hoping to lessen the long waits fans had to get into the main parking lot. The problem is, all the roads leading to the final two-lane road are also two-lane roads. … At least three people were stung by bees between the 10th and 11th holes when a swarm, perhaps used to a handful of people on the golf course, was disturbed by the cast of thousands. … Saturday’s matches begin at 8 a.m.

– Tim Cronin

Remembering Phil Kosin

Writing from Chicago
Thursday, August 20, 2009

It is 10 days ago that Phil Kosin died after an intense, and intensely private, four-year battle with cancer.

It has been awfully quiet around here ever since.

Kosin loved golf, loved life, loved to talk, loved to be in the middle of it all. Publishing and writing Chicagoland Golf, and taking the air on his Chicagoland Golf radio show, allowed him to do so, and make his love his life’s work.

But he did more than that. He conceived and supported a golf tournament – the Illinois Women’s Open – which has grown to become an indicator of young golf talent in the Midwest. He backed a charity – the Chicago Friends of Golf – that donated clubs, balls and other equipment to younger golfers in the area. He supported young pros occasionally by slipping them some money.

He was a fireman in his youth, and never got over the lure – reporters can do this – of chasing a story, whether it was a fire engine going down the street or a golf rumor found over the next hill.

He was the master of the well-developed argument. As Bill Shean, the emiment Chicago amateur, said, “Some people didn’t like Phil voicing his opinion, but he always backed it up with the facts. When Phil made a point, it wasn’t just an opinion. He had done his research.”

And to your counter-argument, he would often say, correctly, “But I’m right.”

Never boring, Kosin could carry a radio show with 50,000 watts of enthusiasm and storytelling. He filled pages of his newspaper with more of the same, and had the gift of being an excellent photographer.

Yes, it’s awfully quiet around here. He missed last year’s Western Open – a.k.a. the BMW Championship – in St. Louis because it had gotten harder for him to travel. He said he had a bad leg that wasn’t healing, and that was true, but we didn’t know what Paul Harvey called the rest of the story. A few days before he died, Kosin let a few people know it. The night he died, he was still greeting visitors to his hospital room with a one-liner and the classic Kosin eye-roll.

The Solheim Cup starts in hours at Rich Harvest Farms in Sugar Grove. Phil Kosin was one of the first reporters to detail owner Jerry Rich’s quest to build a golf course on his property. As a great supporter of women’s golf, he would have been all over Rich Harvest this week, getting the scoop the rest of us missed.

It will be awfully quiet in that press tent this weekend. The rest of us, who will tell Phil Kosin stories from now until we meet him again, have big shoes to fill.

– Tim Cronin

Raise the flag for Hudson’s Hahn

Writing from Lake Forest, Ill.
Saturday, August 8, 2009

John Hahn is a gritty golfer who probably prefers meat and potatoes over fancy finger food.

The gritty ones are the ones who usually win the Western Amateur. Hahn did so on Saturday afternoon, knocking off another hard-nosed player, Zach Barlow, 3 and 2 in the final match.

Hahn is from Hudson, Ohio, heretofore unknown as a cradle of great golfers. But Hahn’s hometown – the family now lives in Las Vegas – isn’t far from where Ben Curtis, a former British Open champion and Western Am runner-up, grew up. It turns out Hahn and Curtis are acquainted.

Curtis is a grinder. Hahn, likewise.

See a trend developing here?

To win the Western Amateur, one must play eight rounds of golf, give or take a hole or two, in five days. Throw in a practice round or three, and the grind – there’s that word again – can take a toll.

That’s probably why neither Hahn nor Barlow, from downstate Percy, which is a 7-iron from the Ohio River, played their best golf in the final match. They were close to tuckered out, having battled their way through the 36-hole cut, then into the Sweet Sixteen, then through three rounds of match play, some of it conducted in the rain.

Besides, the conditions for the final on Saturday afternoon were the fiercest of the week. The players went to lunch after winning semifinals in cool weather, a drizzle having let up after a few holes. They walked out of the clubhouse into a 92-degree furnace capped by a 22-mph south wind.

Barlow led early, then Hahn turned the tables, winning the third, fourth, fifth and sixth holes. He was 2-up on the ninth tee. The ninth green proved to be the turning point of the match. Barlow, who won the 2008 Illinois Amateur and will be a senior at Illinois this fall, dropped his approach within four feet of the cup. Hahn’s approach was even better, coming to a rest 2 1/2 feet distant.

Barlow saw a nearly straight putt. He didn’t even take a practice stroke. He rapped it. It skidded right and ran a good nine feet by. The gallery of about 175 – 200 when marshals and officials are added in – gasped.

Barlow might have to had his head now not been spinning. He missed the comebacker and three putted. Hahn made his birdie 3 and was 3-up at the turn.

There were more holes to play, but it was academic. The junior-to-be at Kent State would win the 107th Western Am, joining fellow Ohioans Jack Nicklaus and Tom Weiskopf, to name a pair of prominent Buckeyes, on the George Thorne Trophy.

Back to Barlow for a moment. When it was over, he looked back on the drama on the ninth green.

“He had me on the ropes,” Barlow said. “He won 3, 4, 5, 6, rolled off so many in a row, it knocked me back on my heels.”

Hahn saw it as a rush to recover.

“He tried to jam it in,” Hahn said. “That’s how match play works, with the momentum swings. I was on the receiving end of it. That turned the tide.”

So the 20-year-old won the title and the glory. But before he accepted either, there was one order of business. Changing shirts.

He was wearing a Kent State shirt with a Nike logo. The Western Am was sponsored by Callaway, but that wasn’t the reason for the change.

“My dad’s a Titleist rep,” Hahn said.

Smart kid.

– Tim Cronin

Vindication in victory for Villegas

Sunday, September 7, 2008
Writing from Town and Country, Mo.

Camilo Villegas shed his runner-up tag with gusto on Sunday.

Cast as a player who dressed better than he finished, the 26-year-old Columbian silenced his critics at Bellerive Country Club, winning the 105th Western Open by outplaying the leaders down the stretch before a gallery that might have reached 40,000.

Villegas’ round of 2-under-par 68 wasn’t the lowest of the day, and wasn’t even the lowest in his threesome. However, it was low enough to annex what’s been dubbed the BMW Championship by two strokes over Dudley Hart, who started the day tied for sixth, five strokes back of Villegas.

“I think it was about time to win,” Villegas said after finishing at 15-under 265, one stroke off the Western Open record set by Tiger Woods last year at Cog Hill. “It was a long, crazy week with the weather, but you know what? I’ll do everything it takes to win a golf tournament.”

Villegas led after all four rounds, the first wire-to-wire Western winner since Woods in 2003, and only the third in the last 74 years. He assumed the third round lead with a birdie on his 17th hole, the fourth of five played Sunday morning because of Saturday’s fog delay, and then fought back final-round challenges by Jim Furyk and Anthony Kim, who were in his threesome.

While Hart barged into second with a closing 5-under 65, totaling 13-under 267, he wasn’t really close enough to scare Villegas. The stylist was playing too well.

“It’s golf,” Villegas said. “You’ve got to worry about everybody, but at the same time, worry about nobody but yourself. I did look at the leaderboard all day. I knew exactly where I was and exactly what I had to do.”

With vivid memories of last Monday’s finish, where Villegas stood second through three rounds and saw Vijay Singh pass everyone with a final round 63, fresh in his mind, Villegas analyzed the situation and formed a strategy with seven holes to play.

“On the 11th tee box, I looked at my caddie and I said, ‘Let’s make three birdies coming in. We’re two ahead. That’s going to make the other guys make five birdies, and if they do, well, that’s good playing.’

“I managed to make two of those, and fortunately, it was good enough.”

Furyk, winner of the Western in 2005 and author of Saturday’s record-shattering 62, was already reeling. He had assumed the lead when Villegas bogeyed the fifth and sixth holes, but bogeyed the ninth himself, moving Villegas back into the lead.

Anthony Kim had started the round four strokes back, flirted with contention on the front nine, and rallied with birdies on the 14th and 15th holes. That was fine, but Villegas had already closed the door to the J.K. Wadley Cup’s case, thanks to sinking back to back birdie putts: He dropped a 10-footer on the par-3 13th and a roller-coaster 36-footer on the par-4 14th. That one went up a hill, came back down, turned right, and tumbled into the cup. Presto! Villegas was 15-under, and would stay that way.

“That’s one you don’t expect,” Villegas said.

“He deserved it, made some key putts when it counted,” said Kim, who tied for third with Furyk, three strokes back. “I just wish I could have finished a little bit stronger.”

The putting performance by Villegas – 51 putts in the last 36 holes, and 108 for the week – also wasn’t bad for a guy who four-putted his ninth hole in the second round.

“It wasn’t the turning points,” Villegas said. “It was the birdie-birdie I came back with. It rattled me in a good way. All of a sudden that four-putt was completely out of my head.”

For Villegas, victory was vindication of the criticism he had to hear.

“Not a closer,” it was said, his three runner-up finishes, at Phoenix, Doral and the Honda Classic, plus thirds in Atlanta and last week in Boston, considered proof of failure rather than success. “All show,” critics said, mocking his “Spiderman”-style of reading putting lines. Sportswriters who dress like rummage sales even criticized his stylish duds.

He couldn’t buy a break – witness last week – but Sunday ended all that.

“I learned what it takes to win (last week),” Villegas said. “And I learned that I’m good enough to win, even though it didn’t happen. I was very patient, very positive. We had one guy (Singh) who came and just killed us that day.”

This time, with Singh coasting to a 44th-place finish and an essentially insurmountable lead in the PGA Tour’s playoff point standings – he has to show up in Atlanta in three weeks to win, but that’s about all he has to do – Villegas was in command, and came through with his first victory in 86 PGA Tour starts.

The first South American to win the Western, Villegas spoke of pride of country, of the party he knows was going on in his hometown of Medellin, Columbia, and how he couldn’t wait to be going back there on Monday.

“There’s a big team behind me,” Villegas gushed. “My family, my friends, all my sponsors here in the States, back in Columbia. They work hard just like I do. They motivate me to keep working, just give it all, because it’s a tough game.”

For four rounds, he made it look easy.

– Tim Cronin