The Solheim Cup brings out the absolute worst in all of us – and that’s why it’s the best

I am absolutely buzzing for the Solheim Cup.

As if there isn’t enough tension in the air with the fact the Americans have gone longer than they ever have without the trophy in their possession, there’s the anticipation that there is almost always a controversial moment in this tournament.

Even better, it almost always involves a fallout between players.

Who can forget Annika’s chip? Or Carlota’s drop? Or Nelly’s birdie-turned-eagle? There’s one I’m deliberately leaving out – but we’ll come back to it in a bit.

The Solheim Cup just feels like it could, at any moment, spill over into complete mayhem. And it makes it so much more compelling.

Don’t get me wrong, the Ryder Cup is still my favourite sporting occasion outside of the 2009 Conference play-off final – but as entertaining and spellbinding as it is, it’s started to feel a bit like WWE these days.

Maybe I’m just longing for a bygone era when Seve would rip his opponents – and, sometimes, teammates – to shreds.

The legendary Spaniard once said: “I look into eyes, shake their hand, pat their back, and wish them luck, but I am thinking, I am going to bury you.” Can you imagine Viktor Hovland staring down Collin Morikawa with this level of intensity?

Perhaps I – just once more – would like to see a Ryder Cup match retroactively referred to as a “War” or a “Battle”. But the players are all mates and any provocation in those matches often feels forced.

As frustrating as the PGA Tour-LIV Golf fallout has been, one hope I did have was perhaps it might see the return of a bit of needle to the Ryder Cup. Sadly, that hasn’t happened, and even the recently-announced “grudge match” that will see Rory McIlroy and Scottie Scheffler take on Bryson DeChambeau and Brooks Koepka won’t do anything to change that.

We discussed this on the latest episode of The bunkered Podcast, but you know full well it will be a cringe-fest from start to finish. McIlroy will be making dad jokes or discussing his favourite pizza outlets, Scheffler will just want to play golf, DeChambeau will dominate proceedings with his YouTube personality act, and Koepka will be told in his ear to do the eye roll. (Typing that out, I’m actually starting to really look forward to it now.)

Sorry, where were we?

Oh yes, the Solheim Cup.

This week’s showdown has all the ingredients to be the best yet.

Team Europe is unbeaten in the last three, having won in 2019 and ’21 before the first tie in the competition’s history saw them retain the trophy last time out – no, they’re not going for a “four-peat” so please stop saying that – and there’s the added bonus of it being something of a “gimmegate” reunion, if you will.

(If you don’t know what “gimmegate” is, here’s a quick refresher. But hurry back, I’ve more things to say.)

The four players who were part of that scandal are, for the first time since, all involved in a Solheim Cup at the same time.

Suzann Pettersen, who was heavily criticised by opponents and teammates alike that day, is Europe’s captain. Charley Hull is our main threat and poster girl. Brittany Lincicome is one of Stacy Lewis’s assistants. And Alison Lee, who was left in tears by the whole thing, is – somewhat inexplicably – playing in her first Solheim Cup since that fateful day.

“I’m not going to lie, I don’t think about it too often,” she admitted ahead of this week’s showdown at Robert Trent Jones Golf Club in Virginia. “It was a very long time ago.”

But?

“But I would say in the moment it was tough. I was very intimidated at the time. I was a rookie on tour. I didn’t really know any of the girls on my team either. I wasn’t really good friends with them.

“Regardless of everything that happened, I feel like I was so lucky to have a great group of women around me who could support me and be there for me.”

How good is that response? Calm, collected, but with enough of an edge to sense that she’s here to settle old scores.

Why do I love the Solheim Cup? It has everything the Ryder Cup has. Plus an edge.

Bring it on.

Alas

No sooner had we hit publish on this column that we had our first controversy of the 2024 Solheim Cup…

Merger oversight

They say tragedy + time = comedy but the PGA Tour apparently meeting with the Saudis on the anniversary of the September 11, 2001 attacks in New York feels like a deleted Family Guy scene.

Reality check

Joaquin Niemann has – not for even close to the first time – had a little pop at the organisers of the Presidents Cup for not allowing those who chased the Saudi Riyal.  

The creators and organisers and owners of the Presidents Cup?  

The PGA Tour. 

On which players contracted to LIV Golf are not allowed to compete. 

While we’re on the subject…

I think we should all come together and agree that Joaquín Niemann isn't allowed to comment on the state of professional golf until he manages to tie Michael Block for career Top 15 finishes in majors. Currently 1-0 Blockie despite Joaco playing three times as many majors. https://t.co/7INM4z4ELd

— Ramble (@GolfRamble) September 10, 2024

And finally…

As you know I like to finish my column each week with a nod to the brilliant work carried out by my colleagues over the past few days.

First up, here’s John Turnbull bringing us the news about Happy Gilmore 2 that we’ve been waiting for!

Ben Parsons, meanwhile, would like to know what’s going on with Jon Rahm, while Lewis Fraser is really in the groove in his latest column. (That joke will work when you read it.)

And how can you not love Justin Rose? It has been a genuine honour following the Englishman’s career and he is not only a fantastic player but a gentleman with it. And this Ode to Justin from Michael McEwan could not sum up my feelings about the man any better.

As always, play well.

Alex Perry is the Associate Editor of bunkered. A journalist for more than 20 years, he has been a golf industry stalwart for the majority of his career and, in a five-year spell at ESPN, covered every sporting event you can think of. He completed his own Grand Slam at the 2023 Masters, having fallen in love with the sport at his hometown club of Okehampton and on the links of nearby Bude & North Cornwall.

Associate Editor