SOLHEIM CUP 

CROOKED STICK COUNTRY CLUB

CARMEL ID

All daily entries are attributed to The Mole (AKA Deep Divot). 

Monday: Walked the track today and this place is sweet. The course is a little shorter than the way it was played for the US Women's Open and the greens are lightning quick. Nothing special about the track really. Par 5s are reachable for the long ball knockers and some pins are totally inaccessible.

Nobody was out there today apart from Karen Stupples and her cadero Bobby Inman. He's worked many Solheims but never for the Euro team. Hope he does not throw any mysteries in there at clutch moments.

Iben Tinning won the last European tournament before coming to Solheim and Pat Hurst wins the Rail.

Tomorrow is an easy day as most of the players arrive and just a light practice is on the agenda before the madhouse of the Solheim starts. Too many practice rounds and too many mandatory dinners and team meetings. This week drags on and on and by the time Friday gets here you feel like you have been here forever.    

• Wile awaiting more updates from The Mole, I'll be spending the week at the Extended Stay hotel in Tulsa. My original plans were to go to The Solheim but the spike in gas prices derailed that train. One thing I'll make sure to do is to take a long hike each day. I hate how I feel after sitting in the room all day.

Tuesday: Sorry about the delay in writing but its a little busy over here.

Monday was pretty much a nothing day as players and caderos arrived and got back together again after a while. A few dozen cold ones were drank on Sunday night so very thankful for the quiet Monday.

Tuesday was a totally different story though. Now its time to get serious with the practice and the trash talking and walking. It looks like Paula Creamer has set out her stall to be as much of an idiot as possible. She walks past the Euros and just tries to turn her head or just totally ignore anything to do with Europeans. Elli Kuehne did this way back in the day and then got bashed the whole week and never really recovered her game. I don't think that will happen to Creamer but its still a little childish. Good golf should always rule here.

Anyway, the USA team went out to practice first and the crowds are a little thin so not many chants of "USA ALL THE WAY". Maybe Wednesday will be better.

They all went out and played 18 holes followed by the Euros who seemed to just play 9 holes. Maybe resting up for the long weekend ahead. Its pretty hot here, maybe 85 degrees.

• If you noticed at the top of the page I gave "The Mole" an alternative moniker. Since the identity of "Deep Throat" was finally revealed I chose "Deep Divot" an an appropriate alias.

• Walked a good two hours and wondered how much ground I covered. Eight miles by my auto's odometer.

• Deep Divot has sent along a few pics but I'm unable to copy them off the emails. I'll have him try to send them as attachments.

Wednesday: Tuesday was also photo call day for the two teams and the Solheims. I tried to take a few pictures and I especially like the one with the Swedes.

Anyway, its off to the track again. The Euros play 1st today and maybe 18 in store for the caderos followed by the Yanks.

Maybe Paula Creamer will say hello to somebody with yellow and blue today or maybe she will just act her age again.

Thursday: Finally, all the practice and dinners and meetings come to an end and we can get on with the business end of this great week and play some golf. The last practice day was really hot and very humid and seemed to go along in slo-mo. The Yanks were all spread out. Some played and others just hit balls. The Euros played only the back nine with various pairings.

The opening ceremony was a brief affair. Only one hour from start to finish but, in a suit, it felt like a sauna. Amazingly, Nancy Lopez only cried once. It is a constant laughing point this week about how many times this woman cries during her speeches and tells everybody how well the Americans are getting on with each other. ZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

The pairing are finally out and there are some great matches in prospect. Should be a lot of fun out there

I am not sure if this is true but I have heard that Juli Inkster has a finger infection, is on a course of antibiotics, and not doing too well. It does seem strange that she is not playing on Friday morning. Rosie Jones is also a strange one to leave out but no surprise that Captain Nilsmark is not playing any of her rookies Friday morning.

It is getting late here on Thursday night and time to rest up for the war about to begin. Everybody tries to say its just a game and is nice to each other but I can assure you that this week, more than any other Solheim, there has been hardly any words exchanged between players and caddies. This is a very important week and there will be no love lost.

I will try to update again after Fridays play

Friday: Just a quick update for the 1st days morning round of foursomes.

The Americans were in total control until around 11AM when the Europeans starting making an unbelievable comeback. It looked for a long time that it was going to be a 3-1 lead for the US and the ended up a 3-1 lead for Europe.

I am not sure if any of you know a lot about the history of Michelle Redman and Suzanne Petterson. At Interlachen, Redman was 5-up with 5 to play and ended up tying the match and this morning she was 4-up with 5 to play and ended up losing. I have a funny feeling that if on Sunday, the singles draw puts Redman against Petterson you should call a  bookie and load up. It will be a lock. I am off to watch which will probably be a stronger showing from the US team after gagging a little this morning.

They will come back strong as they have some great match-ups.

Euro Caderos

The Challengers

Take it if you can!

Saturday: Sorry for the late updates but this place is a madhouse and when I finally arrive back to the hotel I just want to climb in the pit and sleep.

Saturday was comeback day for the US team as expected,  things are perfectly poised for the Sunday singles. The match-ups are going to make this the closest finish in Solheim history with what I think will be a European victory.

Sorry for the short update but I am on my way to the track to watch the action

• Walked the Cedar Ridge course along with Boston Ralph and Pete Smith and it's in perfect shape with very little ground-under to be marked. The only change is the tee on the seventeenth. It was moved about 25 yards to the left straitening the hole out and making it much more playable. It was a nightmare trying to carry the corner bunker on this dog-leg right and still keep it in a fairway that sloped dead into the trees.

•  Hard to believe, but this course has been closed to members for the last week. Have a feeling they're pissed!

• Along with the six miles I walked this morning, it could be the most I walked all year. Got a couple of tired puppies.

• A couple hundred yards have been added to Trump National, The Office Depot venue, stretching it to a more respectable 6100 yards. The tees on the range are now replete with sod but not the landing area.

• Another vacation week is about to end and not soon enough. The sad part is, we only have three more regular season events on the schedule. Unless you have a top player or someone willing to spring for your ticket to Asia, the season is over. Guess what group I'm in? I might hit some PGA or Senior Tour qualifiers and maybe Q-School.

• The order for my replacement laptop was put in on the 30th and should arrive by next week. Hope my back-up lasts that long. Just as I entered my last update, I was hit with 'the blue screen of death' and a loud humming noise!

Sunday: I am sorry for the short note to close this fantastic tournament but today was a bit of a disaster as far as the Euros are concerned.

Looking at the singles pairings on Saturday night, we were licking our chops as it seemed we had a real chance to take down the Yanks for the 1st time on American soil. But as has happened in the past in the US, we were soundly beaten. Juli Inkster and Paula Creamer set the tone for the US team by beating Sophie and Laura. Not picking up points in the 1st five matches is a bit of a bad showing.

There was still hope when Annika, Catriona and Carin came through but, by the time Meg Mallon was in control of her match against Karen Stupples, the point by Nocera and the half by Pettersen was just damage control.

The European team played great golf this week but were just outgunned on Sunday. The real winner this week was the great game of golf.

Both teams put on a spectacular performance of not only golf but gamesmanship and that is rare in team events. A lot of people I am sure, have made many new friends this week and we can all look forward to going back to Sweden in two years to try to win the cup back.

See you out on the links.

• Never did get to see any of the action as The Golf Channel was unavailable at our hotel. I did follow it a bit on the net though.

• Hope you enjoyed the updates from Deep Divot. Obviously, a touch of biased reporting favoring the Euros but deservedly so. When you're toting the bag you have to know where your loyalties lie.

• All settled at the Sleep Inn for the week which will be HQ for many players and caddies. It's one of the better abodes we call home and they love to have us here. One thing though, I'm on the third floor with no open windows yet there is a fly in the room. Please don't email reminding me what they're attracted to! Smart-aleck.