Report from the Solheim Cup

[Blue]

I've been hanging out in Chicago for a few days and finally made it out to Rich Harvest Farms tonight for the opening ceremonies.

Here's a little report of what I saw.

First thing: a very long bumper to bumper traffic jam of cars going in the opposite direction away from the course on the lone two-lane road. More about this later. This must have been people leaving after the after exhibition between junior players and veteran players (Lopez, Koch, Sheehan and one other I can't remember). Parked the car and walked across the street and in.

The ceremony had already started and the small viewing area in front of the stage was full. The bleachers were pretty small and apparently had been full for a while. I finally wiggled into a spot where I could see both the stage and the jumbotrons.

The Euros were sitting on the right side of the stage and the Americans on the left side. Rich Lerner from The Golf Channel was MC'ing.

As I got to my secret viewing spot, Alison Nicholas was giving her intro speech. Then she introduced the European team. The biggest applause went to Laura Davies, Catriona Matthew and Suzann Pettersen.

Next up, Beth Daniel who also have a good speech. She told about a time when she and Alison were playing somewhere (Shopright in Atlantic City, perhaps) in 1999 and went out after one round to watch the USA World Cup women's Soccer team at the Meadowlands then went back and played in the tournament again the next day. She said they never imagined they'd meet 10 years later as Solheim captains.

Beth introduced the USA team. Big applause for everyone, but biggest applause for Paula Creamer, Morgan Pressel and Juli Inkster. Huge applause for Inkster -- biggest applause of anyone all night.

Golfers look so different off the course without hats on, with their hair down and without sunglasses. I didn't recognize Nicole Castrale at all.

For the flag raising a player from each European country represented raised that country's flag with the help of a military guy (army I think) who escorted them to the flag pole from the stage. The country's national anthem was sung by a small choir by a group from a local university. Reps, in the order I remember: England - Laura Davies; France - Gwladys Nocera; Scotland - Janice Moody; Spain - Tania Elosegui; Italy - Diana Luna; Norway - Suzann Pettersen; Sweden - Anna Nordqvist; Wales - Becky Brewerton. When Suzann walked across the stage she made some gesture to the American team. I thought it was a friendly taunt, but others seemed to think she was gesturing because she had a cute soldier. After that, everyone seemed to make similar gestures. Anna N. was about a foot taller than her soldier and then he couldn't seem to get the flag raised all the way to the top of the pole. It got a big laugh but the poor guy is probably never going to hear the end of that from the other soldiers.

The American flag was raised by Meg Mallon and Kelly Robbins who kissed their soldier. Everyone sang the national anthem. I was happy that people didn't start cheering half-way through like they sometimes do at other sports events. Just a pet peeve of mine.

Then the Friday morning pairings were announced. I didn't pay too much attention to the European pairings and I'm sure Dottie had a lot to say about all of this on The Golf Channel, which I don't have in my hotel. In general I think the pairings make sense. A lot of people probably are questioning sitting Christina in the morning and playing Juli, but Juli is a team leader and this may be the only match she plays until Sunday. We'll see how she does. Anyway, she put the two best players, Christie and Paula, together in the first match, put Juli with Angela in the second match, the two Brittanys in the third match, and Morgan with Michelle in the last match. Christina, Kristie, Natalie and Nicole sitting out in the morning.

Anyway, the biggest cheer for the pairing announcement came for the Lang-Lincicome-Davies-Brewerton announcement. Even Rich Lerner announced that this was the long hitting group.

Fashion report: Euros were dressed in navy blue pants suits with chartreuse t-shirts (technically a shell I think), flats. Americans in black pants, and peach colored blouses, black heels. At the end of the ceremony, they put on grey jackets. I liked the Euro outfits, very business chic. The American outfits looked like something June Cleever would wear if June Cleever ever wore pants. They weren't even red, white or blue, but that was the least of the problems.

Also, the marroon sleeveless shirt dresses the American's wore in the party at the car museum are on sale in the souvenir tent. I didn't see anyone buying them. A lot of people were buying hats, shirts, jackets, golf balls, etc.

There is a special climate controlled tent with a few of Jerry Rich's cars on display, including a Model A, and a Dusenberg.

After the ceremony ended, both teams walked out through the crowd to much cheering. About half an hour later, Alison Nicholas and Joanne Morley were lingering outside signing autographs and posing for photos.

I didn't get to see much of the course, but I got to see a lot of the area around the course. I spent about an hour just getting out of the parking lot and on to the highway. Rather than having people park in a remote lot and shuttle in, they're having everyone park across the street from the course and walk in. There may be plenty of room for cars to park, but there's not plenty of rooms to funnel all of the cars out of the lot and down the road. This could turn into a big problem on the weekend.

We were allowed to have cameras today. I took some pictures -- real ones not blurry photos from my cell phone. Will post them at some point.

Special note to IceCat: I took Southwest from Logan to Midway. They just started flying this week. It was very efficient.

[Putter]

Thanks for the report Blue - look forward to seeing the pics!

[bangkokbobby]

Awesome report...have a wonderful time!!

[wiefan]

Hi ya blue...good fan dairy...keep it up...have a good time...see ya!!

[NTB]

keep sending great report

[MarinePaul]

Nice report, Blue. Thanks for posting.

[Willie]

Went to the practice round and the course is in great shape. It should be a great testfor the girls. The course is pretty spread out so a lot of walking. Blue is right about traffic. Took over an hour to get out of the parking lot after opening ceremonies last night, and have been waiting in traffic almost an hour to get in and not close to the lot. Hope to see some golf soon.

[NTB]

Thanks Willie

[MarinePaul]

Thanks, Willie, and welcome to the site.

[lumazi]

Thanks for the report. I will try to watch some of the action on TV. Blue and Willie: Have fun this weekend.