SOLHEIM CUP/USA v Europe:AMERICAN IDOLS Paula Creamer and Christie Kerr will strike the first blows for the reigning champions when the latest edition of the Solheim Cup gets underway at Rich Harvest Farms, near Chicago, later today.
The high-powered pairing, the top two US players in the world rankings, will come up against the equally high-profile duo of Suzann Pettersen and Sophie Gustafson in the morning fourballs.
Both captains, Beth Daniel and Alison Nicholas, opted to top-load their selections in a effort to get early points on the board but there will be just as much, if not more, interest in the bottom match where Michelle Wie will get her first taste of the Solheim Cup.
The wildcard pick, finally coming close to justifying the hype that greeted her emergence on the world stage, joins Morgan Pressel and will tackle British Open winner Catriona Matthew and Maria Hjorth.
The European team face a tall order to win back a trophy they last got their hands on in 2003 but may have seen their fortunes improve in recent days. Rank outsiders coming into the tournament, a series of storms in the Chicago area over the last week could play into the visitor’s hands.
With the longest course in Solheim history playing even longer than it’s 6,670 yards, there is a feeling that the big-hitting Europeans could gain an early advantage.
It’s a theme Daniel, keen to unburden her team of the massive weight of expectation, has been warming to. “I would say the advantage is almost to Europe,” she said. “I think Europe is a longer team, they were in 2007, they were in 2005. So the length of this golf course probably does favour Europe a little bit.”
The question of what to do, meanwhile, when plans of joining your dream golf course go awry is one that occupied the mind of Rich Harvest owner Jerry Rich. Well, if you have the time, inclination and – more importantly – millions in the bank the answer is simple. You build your own.
That’s exactly what the multi-millionaire set about doing when his overtures to join the famed Augusta National fell on deaf ears.
Set on a sprawling 1,800-acre estate the course is Rich’s own piece of golfing nirvana, a personal playground where he can live the dream.
The genesis of the course can be traced back to the mid 1980s and a visit to Magnolia Lane. So enamoured was Rich with Augusta National that he immediately set about trying to gain membership.
When he was politely, but firmly, informed that a green jacket wasn’t an option, Rich set about creating a new ‘Augusta’ in his own back yard.
“I asked a member how one became a member,” Rich recalls of that trip to Georgia. “He said, ‘You don’t ask, you get invited.‘I didn’t get it, so I asked for an application. The member said, ‘We don’t have one, and Jerry, I wish you wouldn’t ask any more questions’.
“That’s when I understood. When I got home, I told my wife, Betty Ann, ‘I don’t think I’m ever going to become a member at Augusta National. We’ll build our own course.‘”
Rich started immediately with three holes, then added another three holes with multiple tee boxes so each hole could be played in different ways. But Rich had bigger plans. He set about acquiring neighbouring farms in the Sugar Grove area, 10 in all, in order to build a true 18-hole championship layout.
His dream was finally realised in the late 1990s. Nominally an ‘inland links’, Rich Harvest Farms is, in essence, a classic parkland with towering elms and oak framing all but a handful of holes.
Given that only 5,000 rounds take place here a year, it comes as little surprise that the conditioning is immaculate. Attention to detail is key and there is barely a blade of grass out of place.
Curiously, for a course that is hosting the biggest event in the women’s game, there are precious few female members among the great and the good at Rich Harvest Farms. US captain Daniel is believed to have been issued an invitation but you are more likely to find Worms – Wives of Registered Members, that is – in the clubhouse.
Today’s Fourballs: The Draw
(USA names first)
Creamer Kerr v Pettersen Gustafson
Stanford Inkster v Elosegui Alfredsson
Lang Lincicome v Davies Brewerton
Pressel Wie v Matthew Hjorth
