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Solheim Cup Smack Talk (Video)

By Elizabeth Bethel

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Captain Juli Inkster needs 12 championship-level players who are willing and able to deliver 100% through three days of grueling match play if Team USA has a prayer of regaining control of the Solheim Cup.  She’s not sure she has that.

“I need putters and I don’t have any,” Inkster lamented to Judy Rankin during a drop-in visit to the Golf Channel broadcast booth after the end of her 2nd round at the Canadian Pacific Women’s Open.

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Stacy Lewis, who remains winless in 2015, tops the United States roster in terms of Solheim Cup points and the game she’s delivering right now at the Canadian Pacific Women’s Open is uninspiring.  Nevertheless, it’s a stronger game than I’m seeing from either Lexi Thompson or Cristie Kerr, who are right behind Lewis in Solheim Cup points.

Brittany Lincicome, Morgan Pressel, Angela Stanford, Gerina Piller, Lizette Salas and Brittany Lang would all make the team based on Solheim Cup points and/or Rolex Rankings if the decision was being made today.

But like their European counterparts, the Americans are playing one final event before team rosters are finalized.  This group is probably secure.  They’re all delivering competent games, have made the cut, and will play the weekend in Vancouver.  But Team USA will need to deliver a step beyond competence.

Michelle Wie is presenting Inkster with a serious dilemma.  Although she has a secure spot on Team USA, she’s been plagued with injuries since last May and her game this week in Vancouver isn’t strong.

Will Wie keep herself on the team or will she withdraw?  Wie has missed the cut in Vancouver.  She’s clearly not on her game.  Her 1st and 2nd round stats tell the tale:

Alison Lee is probably the most impressive of the player in the Team USA bubble in terms of immediate performance, but Inkster will have to take a pass on two more experienced players, Paula Creamer and Jessica Korda, in order to include Lee in the roster.

And Lee isn’t the only bubble girl Inkster’s watching.  She also has her eye on Mo Martin, whose accuracy and consistency are legendary, and Austin Ernst, who has been delivering a game that’s more or less equal in strength to Lee’s.

Jessica Korda is facing the reality of her drop in the rankings in a straightforward manner:

"“There are ten spots to be had, and if you can’t play on to those ten spots then you’re not going to play. That’s your own fault. You had the opportunity and two years to qualify. Sometimes that’s the way it happens. I started the season fifth in the rankings and now I’m outside of everything.”"

But Paula Creamer, who has played for Team USA in the last five Solheim Cups, who bleeds red, white and blue, who missed the cut at the Canadian Pacific Women’s Open with an unbelievable 36-hole cumulative score of 8-over par and who is having a perfectly miserable year, is less ready to relinquish hope:

"“I wish I would have played a little bit better, but . . . I know I can do it. There is no reason why I can’t go on and play a good week.”"

We’ll all know soon. Captain Inkster will announce her decisions via Golf Channel on Monday, August 24, 7-8pm ET in a 1-hour special, and follow that up with an appearance on Golf Channel’s Morning Drive on Tuesday, August 25, which will also air Captain Carin Koch’s European Team announcement.

Next: Solheim Cup Watch: Michelle Wie

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