Solheim 2011: Simply the best

Reflecting on three days in Ireland with a magnificent conclusion

Celebrating with Suzann

I THINK it’s fair to say that this was the best yet. I have managed to play in all 12 Solheim Cups, and have won four times, but this was different.

There were three matches left out on the course and we needed something from all of them and, in the past, that is something that would have suited the Americans but not us. But we pulled it off and it was brilliant.

Going into the matches I likened us to Manchester United while they were Barcelona. We had a great team and we needed the star names to stand out.

Our leading player is, without doubt, Suzann Pettersen. There isn’t too much between the rest of us, on our day. And how Suzann delivered, which paved the way for two rookies, Caroline Hedwall and Azahara Munoz, to finish the job.

I was out in the fourth singles against my old friend Juli Inkster. I had never played Juli on a Sunday of the Solheim before so I told her at the start of the week to go for the fourth slot and I would request the same.

I wasn’t sure if she was winding me up but it all worked out nicely.

Walking off the 18th, with the match halved, I couldn’t help but feel like I had let a full point slip away a bit having been ahead playing the last.

There was a definite plan to the week not to play anyone in every session but I would still love to be involved all the time.

Juli was in the greenside bunker but I then got a bit of a flyer and found another bit of sand to the right of the pin. To be fair she played an incredible shot to save her par and, if it is to be her last match, what a way to bow out.

We both felt like we had our chances but it wasn’t exactly a day for low scoring, to say the least.

My week began on the Friday lunchtime after being overlooked for the opening foursomes. There was a definite plan to the week not to play anyone in every session but I would still love to be involved all the time.

For some reason Ali doesn’t seem to trust me in the foursomes so Mel Reid and I were pitted against Paula Creamer and Morgan Pressel in the afternoon.

We were down early on, finally sneaked ahead at the 15th but then watched Paula and Morgan birdie the last two.

Come Saturday afternoon, thankfully, it wasn’t quite so close when we beat Brittany Lang and Michelle Wie 4&3.

Again we were first out and you do feel an extra responsibility to get some blue on the board and get the momentum rolling. It was special for Mel as it was her first point and it allowed me to overtake Annika Sorenstam as the leading points scorer.

We both played really nicely – Mel was reading my putts for me and I was knocking most of them in.

The week before the matches I went to the storage shed, on the instruction of my caddy, Johnny, to dig out an old putter which had been good to me. It’s a Maruman I used in the mid 90s and I won quite a few tournaments with it.

There are about 270 in the shed, and about 12 of this particular model, but I recognised it straightaway.

Compared to today’s models it might not look the best but it rolls a treat and it did wonders for my confidence so it was a good move. It was great to get the record out of the way before the singles as you don’t really need any additional pressure on a Sunday.

There is enough of that already and, thankfully, we were able to handle it. Like I said it feels brilliant.

13th time lucky?

I would absolutely love to play in the next matches in Colorado when we defend and, hopefully, win over there for the first time. Now it’s finished you start all over again and begin thinking about your schedule to making the team. The team is getting younger, I am getting older but it makes it all the more fun if you can pull it off

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