Europe leave it late to win Solheim Cup in Killeen Castle thriller!

Europe, led by Alison Nicholas, performed a late smash-and-grab in the singles matches to wrestle the Solheim Cup back from the United States team at Killeen Castle, Ireland and claim their first win in the competition since 2003.

With the match delicately poised at 8 points apiece, a day of drama lay ahead for both teams and so it turned out during a rain-lashed final day which forced three suspensions of play.

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A look at Europe’s Solheim Cup team

Last week, European captain Alison Nicholas announced the team that will attempt to wrest the Solheim Cup back from the United States later in the month at Killeen Castle, Ireland.

Where Nicolas’ opposite number Rosie Jones has named a strong side to defend the trophy, Nicholas’ team contains a few more unknown quantities but nonetheless, the European Team is a strong one with no less than four of the team being captain’s wild-card selections.

So who will represent Europe at Kileen Castle?

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Nicholas calls up Sorenstam, Morley for Solheim Cup duty

Annika Sorenstam and Joanne Morley will form part of team captain Alison Nicholas’ backroom team for next year’s Solheim Cup match against the United States at Killeen Castle in Co. Meath, Ireland.

Swedish player Sorenstam – the event’s all-time leading points scorer – and Englishwoman Morley will take the role of Nicholas’ vice-captains for the biennial event.

Sorenstam played in eight consecutive Solheim Cup matches from 1994 to 2007 and won 89 tournaments across the women’s Tours in her career, before stepping away from competitive golf at the end of the 2008 season to focus on her business interests and to start a family.

Morley, meanwhile, has won twice on the Ladies’ European Tour and competed in the 1996 Solheim cup. The former player was one of Nicholas’ vice-captains in the 2009 loss to the United States and reprises her role.

Sorenstam was reportedly shocked to receive a call from Nicholas, and claimed she hadn’t expected to receive a call but was delighted to get involved, although she needed some time to mull it over.

“I was a little quiet on the phone when Alison asked me because I was totally surprised,” Sorenstam told the media. “She asked me and I said, ‘Could you give me 24 hours?’

“I knew my answer would be yes but I wanted to make sure I could live up to her expectations with my schedule and fulfil my role properly. I’m looking forward to being with the players again, not inside the ropes, but closer. I can help from past experience.”

Meanwhile, captain Alison Nicholas said:

“I am thrilled, humbled and honoured that Joanne and Annika have accepted my invitation to be my vice-captains for The 2011 Solheim Cup matches at Killeen Castle in Ireland.”

Sorenstam is currently consulting on the construction of a new 18-hole golf course in Belek, Turkey. The course, to be named the Olivion Golf Resort is Sorenstam’s first in Europe and ninth worldwide. It is due to be open for play in 2012.

Rosie Jones named 2011 US Solheim Cup captain

The victorious United States Solheim Cup team will have a new captain when they next clash with Europe in 2011 at Killeen Castle, County Meath.

13-time LPGA Tour winner and seven-time Solheim Cup veteran Rosie Jones will take over the reins vacated by Beth Daniel after being selected by a committee comprised of the past three US team captains, as well as the LPGA Board Chairman, President of the LPGA Executive Committee, and the LPGA Commissioner.

“The Solheim Cup has been a huge part of my career as a player and now it will be even more exciting as I prepare for what promises to be another great Solheim Cup in Ireland,” she said in a news release.

Jones played in the first US Solheim Cup team in 1990 and sank the winning putt for the United States in 2002. In a career spanning three decades, she has represented her country seven times and last played in the bi-annual match in 2005 where she went unbeaten in three matches as the US beat Europe by three points to win the Cup.

Jones has a haul of 12 points from her seven Solheim Cup appearances and has a 3-3-1 singles record.

The European team will again be captained by Alison Nicholas.

Europe have won all three Solheim Cup matches played on British soil, with the 2011 renewal being the 12th staging of the match. The US lead Europe 8-3 in the series.

Solheim Cup captains reject calls for change

While they might have been rivals as their respective teams did battle across the fairways of Sugar Grove, Illinois for the Solheim Cup, captains Beth Daniels and Alison Nicholas have united away from the course to shoot down suggestions that the Solheim Cup format be revamped.

After the United States lifted the trophy for the eighth time in all and the third time in succession, there were calls to revamp and strengthen the team tournament by the added inclusion of Asian players, which were rejected by both captains as being unnecessary.

Since its inception in 1990, the United States team have won all but three renewals of the bi-annial women’s equivalent of the Ryder Cup and both captains agree the event is a spectacle that shouldn’t be tampered with for fear of ruining the tournament altogether.

“This is such a unique event and it’s just great,” Daniel said after her team had maintained their unbeaten Cup record on home soil with a 16-12 victory. “The two teams get really fired up for it and I just don’t think that it needs to be changed at all.”

The competition’s creator, Norwegian-American golf club manufacturer Karsten Solheim wanted to produce an event which mirrored the Ryder Cup that pitched teams from Europe against the United States and Alison Nicolas, the captain of the defeated European side suggested the tournament should remain in its current format.

“I think you would destroy the competition completely. It’s been built up over a period of time and it’s unique. Hopefully we’ll keep the same format… the passion and intensity of this competition is fantastic. You’d take it away if they changed that. And you cannot recreate something like this. It’s the showcase of women’s golf.”