Solheim Cup

I'll be the first to admit that until a few years ago, the Solheim Cup wasn't an event that was on my golf-viewing radar. Honestly, I can't even tell you if I knew for sure what the Solheim Cup was. Of course I knew it was some kind of team competition similar to the Ryder Cup, but I don't know that I could have told you it was an LPGA event, amateur event, or heck, even an Olympic event.

But that all changed a few years ago when the new crop of stars entered the fray, and we all saw players like Christina Kim, Paula Creamer and Natalie Gulbis donning little US flag tattoos on their cheeks and whooping it up with the crowd, chanting USA, USA, USA.

It was a welcome site, and one that had been lacking at the time in events like the Ryder Cup and Presidents Cup. Those events had become stale in comparison, at least to us on this side of the pond (likely because we were losing). No one seemed to care, none of the stars seemed like they really wanted to be there, and a lot of them wanted to get paid for their participation. Tiger and Phil couldn't play together, we couldn't find a formula that worked, and it was just getting old.

I became a life long fan of a lot of LPGA stars that week, and a life long fan of the Solheim Cup. In this day and age, when a lot of times it seems the only personalities we see on the PGA Tour are all the same... it's good to see a great crop of talent, on both sides of the pond, who are still able to get fired up and are noticeably proud to be able to represent their countries in one of the most unique events in golf.