Solheim Cup Certain To Be The Biggest Show In Town

View From The Fairway by Derek Clements

This week Derek offers his thoughts on the forthcoming Solheim Cup which has become one of the biggest events in world golf pushing the reach of the women's game to a global audience.

YOU don’t need me to tell you that those who run LIV Golf are not short on self-belief.

As far as I am concerned, the jury is still out on how on earth it can ever be a sustainable model. There are massive prize funds and golfers such as Jon Rahm have been paid a fortune to sign up.

But how will they ever balance the books? Without massive blue-chip sponsors and a huge TV deal, it seems to me that its Saudi paymasters are continuing to pour money down the drain.

If they are still trying to attract a new TV audience, especially in America, you would think that this is the ideal time of year to do so.

The 2024 PGA Tour season is all but over. This week’s Procore Championship, which is part of the Fall Series, is hardly likely to set the pulses racing. And although the DP World Tour’s Irish Open is also taking place, it is in a different time zone.

But who on earth thought it made any sense whatsoever to stage their penultimate event of the season in Chicago at precisely the same time when the USA will be attempting to wrestle back the Solheim Cup from Europe’s grip?

Suzann Pettersen’s team will be attempting to win the trophy for a fourth successive time after a thrilling 14-14 draw 12 months ago.

Image Credit: Rolex

There are going to be plenty of enticing storylines in Virginia at what has become the biggest event in women’s golf. For starters, there is Lexi Thompson’s final appearance in the event following her shock decision to retire from the sport.

This will be the seventh Solheim Cup for an individual who bleeds red, white and blue and will be doing everything within her power to bring down the curtain in dramatic fashion. Anybody who cares about this sport of our will be glued to the action at Robert Trent Jones Golf Club.

There are some things in life upon which you can depend and one of those is that there will be drama, tears, cheers, improbable shots, missed short putts, a passionate American crowd cheering on Stacy Lewis and her 12 players at every opportunity - and giving the Europeans plenty of stick every step of the way.

There will be controversy - there always is. The action will be gut-wrenching. We will see some of the very best golfers in the women’s game making huge mistakes as the pressure gets to them, and we will no doubt witness holed bunker shots and 60-foot putts being drained.

Americans do not like losing. In truth, neither do Europeans. But Americans REALLY don’t like losing. And Stacy Lewis and her team will be doing everything within their power to try to ensure it does not happen again.

Women’s golf often struggles to attract the right sort of media attention. And the sport’s majors are often played out in front of disappointingly small galleries. There will be no such worries in Virginia.

When the rookies step on to the first tee to hit their opening drives they will be quaking in their golf shoes - and I don’t care who they are or what they have achieved.

Do you honestly believe that the likes of Jon Rahm and Tyrrell Hatton will be feeling any nerves or excitement when they hit their opening shots in Chicago? Will anybody really care who picks up the $5m first prize?

LIV has worked hard to promote its team aspect but the entire thing is contrived. Can you name a LIV Golf team? Do you care who will win the team prize and an obscene bonus at the end of September?

The Solheim Cup and the Ryder Cup are what team golf is all about.

The fans in Virginia will be fully invested, the players will be invested and when the winning putt is holed it will not just be the 12 players involved who are celebrating. It will be the huge army of fans who have lived every single moment of the contest.

The 12 players on the losing side will be absolutely gutted and every single one of them will be vowing to do everything in their power to make the next team in 2026.

And the “teams” who lose out in LIV’s grand finale at the end of September? They will be checking their bank accounts.

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