Tag: Solheim Cup

Michelle Wie West named assistant captain for 2021 Solheim Cup

2021 Solheim Cup captain, Pat Hurst, has selected Michelle Wie West to be an assistant captain for the event. Wie West, 30, recently gave birth to her first child, a daughter named Makenna, and has taken time off from competing on the LPGA Tour. Wie West has not competed in an LPGA event since the 2019 KPMG Women’s PGA Championship, where she missed the cut. Having competed in five previous Solheim Cups, she hopes to help other players feel comfortable in the event. She has helped the U.S. Team win in 2009, 2015, and 2017. Wie West joins Angela Stanford as an assistant captain on Hurst’s squad. The 2021 Solheim Cup will be contested Sept. 4-6 at Inverness Club in Toledo, Ohio.

2021 Solheim Cup captain, Pat Hurst, has selected Michelle Wie West to be an assistant captain for the event. Wie West, 30, recently gave birth to her first child, a daughter named Makenna, and has taken time off from competing on the LPGA Tour. Wie West has not competed in an LPGA event since the 2019 KPMG Women’s PGA Championship, where she missed the cut. Having competed in five previous Solheim Cups, she hopes to help other players feel comfortable in the event. She has helped the U.S. Team win in 2009, 2015, and 2017. Wie West joins Angela Stanford as an assistant captain on Hurst’s squad. The 2021 Solheim Cup will be contested Sept. 4-6 at Inverness Club in Toledo, Ohio.

Michelle Wie West named assistant captain for 2021 Solheim Cup

New mom Michelle Wie West has been named an assistant captain for the 2021 U.S. Solheim Cup team.

Michelle Wie West didn’t sit around waiting for a call. When she heard that Pat Hurst was going to be the 2021 Solheim Cup captain, Wie West texted her “Pod Mom” saying that she’d love to be an assistant captain.

Hurst didn’t give the nod right away, but Wie West got her wish.

“All the players love her,” said Hurst. “They respect her, and that’s what I need.”

It doesn’t seem all that long ago that Wie West was a mystery to most. When she competed on her first Solheim Cup team in 2009, it marked the first time players got to know the former phenom away from an entourage. They discovered that the “kid” could hang. And her passion shone through in a rousing 3-0-1 Cup debut.

Juli Inkster was so impressed that she predicted a Wie West victory on the LPGA before the year was out. Wie West proved her correct in November at the Lorena Ochoa Invitational.

Morgan Pressel (left) and Michelle Wie share a laugh during a team photo shoot prior to the 2013 Solheim Cup at Colorado Golf Club.

“I won my first LPGA tournament after I played in the Solheim,” said Wie West on a media conference call, “and I don’t know if I hadn’t had that experience if that was going to happen that year.”

Wie West, 30, gave birth to daughter Makenna on June 19 and has posted several pictures with her on the range in recent weeks. The five-time LPGA winner confirmed that she still wants to continue playing on the LPGA, even in 2020 if possible, but her return mostly comes down to safety.

“It just depends really on the state of the world more than the state of my game at this point, unfortunately,” she said.

A silver lining to the pandemic break is that husband Jonnie West, an executive with the Golden State Warriors, will be mostly be her side through the end of the year.

“One positive thing that happened, there was a scenario where if (the Warriors) went to Orlando in the bubble and I was home by myself,” said Wie West, “I was quarantined, my parents couldn’t come, I could have been a single mother for a couple months all by myself, and that was a scary thought.”

Her parents, Bo and B.J., are in town now and Wie West took full advantage, recently playing 18 holes for the first time in a long time.

“I had to pump after nine holes,” she said, laughing.

Practice time on the range looks a bit different too these days. Wie West said she hits two balls and then goes over to check on McKenna before returning to hit two more.

The dream of hoisting hoisting a trophy on the 18th along with Makenna fuels Wie West to keep competing. She wants what Tiger Woods enjoyed at Augusta National last year.

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That being said, she’s now more impressed than ever by what LPGA moms who have come before her have accomplished, notably Suzann Pettersen at last year’s Solheim Cup in Scotland and Catriona Matthew winning the Women’s British Open 11 weeks after giving birth to her second daughter. Wie West marveled at the idea, noting that she’s barely hitting driver 220 yards now.

For two Solheim Cups, Wie West was in Hurst’s player pod and greatly benefited from her nurturing approach. Wie West hopes that she can help other players feel comfortable too, given that she’s likely experienced every emotion there is in her five Solheim Cup appearances.

Wie West joins Angela Stanford as an assistant on Hurst’s squad. The 2021 Solheim Cup will be contested Sept. 4-6 at Inverness Club in Toledo, Ohio. Next week the LPGA restarts its season at Inverness at the new Drive On Championship where prominent Americans Nelly Korda, Danielle Kang, Lexi Thompson, Jessica Korda and Stanford are among those in the field. Hurst won’t be onsite for the competition, however, as it’s closed to spectators.

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Curtis Cup gets new date clear of Solheim Cup on 2021 schedule

The Curtis Cup has a new date on the golf schedule once again, this time clear of the Solheim Cup.

The 2021 amateur golf calendar now has a slightly different look.

This year’s Curtis Cup — a women’s amateur event where the best players from the United States take on a team of players from Great Britain & Ireland — at Conwy Golf Club in Wales was originally pushed back to Sept. 3-5, 2021, due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The problem? There was already a rather large event that week across the pond.

The Solheim Cup – the top professional women’s players from the U.S. against the best from Europe – was already slated to be played at Inverness Club in Ohio that week. The Junior Solheim Cup is that same week, forcing some players to decide between the Junior Solheim and Curtis cups.

The Solution? The Curtis Cup has been moved to Aug. 26-28, 2021.

“We have listened to the feedback we received about the rescheduled dates for the Curtis Cup in 2021 and looked again at the schedule,” said the R&A’s Duncan Weir. “We have moved the match forward by a week and introduced a Saturday finish to enable it to slot in ahead of the Solheim Cup.”

The U.S. has won 29 matches to Great Britain & Ireland’s 8. The 1936, 1958 and 1994 matches were tied.

Solheim assistant helps grow inaugural Grace Cup out of longstanding Shady Oaks game

Angela Stanford and Gerina Piller were among the players instrumental in getting the Grace Cup started at Shady Oaks Country Club.

With all the big Cups now slated for 2021 (Ryder, Solheim, Walker and Curtis), the calendar was cleared for a new cup to emerge. This one won’t be televised, but there will be team uniforms. Team towels. Even pencils have been made. On Wednesday night, hype videos from Ryder Cup captain Steve Stricker and Solheim Cup captain Pat Hurst were shown at the team reveal.

On Friday afternoon, players from Team Burke and Team Demaret picked up their packets for this weekend’s inaugural Grace Cup.

“It has grown legs that I couldn’t have imagined,” said Barry Metcalf, organizer and commissioner of “The One,” a weekend game for members at Shady Oaks Country Club in Fort Worth, Texas.

It was on a giant text thread that someone first tossed out the idea of putting together a Ryder Cup/Solheim Cup format. It just so happens that two Solheim Cup players were on that thread – Angela Stanford and Gerina Piller – along with fellow LPGA players Cheyenne Knight and Kim Kaufman.

“The ball started rolling so fast it was like an avalanche,” said Stanford, who became a member at Shady Oaks in 2000.

There was a time when Stanford was the only woman who played in The One, which got its name because tee times usually started at 1 p.m. It’s so hot these days, though, that they moved it to the morning. It’s now more like “The Ten.”

With COVID-19 putting a halt to the LPGA’s schedule, the four tour players who are members at Shady Oaks now play regularly in the weekend game. Metcalf said they average around 20 players each week and the group’s average handicap index is 3.6. If they have an odd number of players, the group that’s short gets Ben Hogan, who plays to a +3. Hogan, of course, was a member at Shady Oaks and played more than a few rounds with the Cup’s namesake John Grace, who at 72 years old also plays to a +3.

John Grace plays his tee shot on the fifth hole during the Round of 64 at the 2018 U.S. Senior Amateur at Eugene Country Club in Eugene, Oregon. (Photo: USGA/J.D. Cuban)

Grace is a member of both the Texas and Michigan golf halls of fame. He has competed in 44 USGA championships, finishing runner-up at the 1974 U.S. Amateur and 2009 U.S. Senior Amateur. A two-time competitor at the Masters, Grace competed in two USGA championships at Eugene Country Club – the 1964 U.S. Junior and the 2018 U.S. Senior Am.

With Shady Oaks in the midst of an extensive renovation, The One has moved to nearby Hawks Creek Golf Club and Squaw Creek most weekends. Grace recently fired a tidy 63 at Squaw Creek.

It’s no wonder the group named the cup after him.

“He actually got a little choked up,” said Stanford of Grace’s reaction to the name reveal.

Knight describes the Shady Oaks members as a second family. They were thrilled, of course, to see Knight claim her first LPGA title in Texas last fall at the Volunteers of America Classic.

When Stanford was coming down the stretch a couple of years ago at Evian, Metcalf said they pushed back tee times for their Sunday game to watch her finish.

“There was not a dry eye in the pro shop when she won,” he said.

Stanford, 42, was recently named assistant Solheim Cup captain for 2021 and said the weekly games at Shady have helped keep her in competition shape.

“It really makes me show up and play well,” she said, “because I don’t want to let these guys down.”

Members of “The One” game pose at Squaw Creek (courtesy Angela Stanford).

Knight and Piller are captaining Team Burke together while Stanford and Kaufman are in charge of Team Demaret. They are fitting names given that this year’s U.S. Women’s Open will be held at Champions Golf Club in Houston, which Burke and Demaret built.

“Everyone is flabbergasted that they actually keep playing with us,” said Metcalf of his LPGA pals.

Metcalf started working in the bag room at Shady Oaks while studying at TCU and later joined. He loved the history of the club. No tee times. Players can hop in a cart and play 18 holes in the evening in around two hours.

It’s a low-key place, where golf IQs run high and respect for the game runs deep. And this summer, a global pandemic just happened to bring them all a little closer.

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Angela Stanford named assistant captain for 2021 Solheim Cup

LPGA star Angela Stanford was named assistant captain for the 2021 Solheim Cup by captain Pat Hurst.

Angela Stanford was hitting balls in her new at-home hitting bay when Pat Hurst called on April 21. Stanford went back and looked up the date recently because keeping a secret for that long isn’t easy to do.

At last, she can tell the world that she’ll be by Hurst’s side in the role of assistant captain at next year’s Solheim Cup.

“I told (Hurst) it was kind of between tears and total excitement,” Stanford told a group of reporters, “and it was so hard because when you’re in quarantine, I was bouncing off the walls the rest of the night and there was nobody there to enjoy that with me.”

Assistant captains play a more visible role in the pod system, which three-time captain Juli Inkster put in place for the 2015 campaign and Hurst will continue. Each assistant is assigned a pod of players based on personality, and back then, Stanford was actually in Hurst’s pod. Stanford played a vital role in Team USA’s memorable comeback that year, earning the winning point against Suzann Pettersen in Germany.

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“That morning when I walked out on the putting green,” said Stanford, “I remember looking at my caddie and saying, ‘Hey, this is my turn. This is it. Let’s go.’ It felt so good from start to finish, one of the best rounds I’ve ever played in my life … it’s a memory that’s hard to put into words. I kind of get chills just thinking about it.”

A member of six Solheim Cup teams, the 42-year-old Stanford has six career LPGA victories, including the 2018 Evian Championship. Hurst and Stanford paired together in the 2007 Solheim Cup, defeating Iben Tinning and Bettina Hauert, 4 and 2, in foursomes. Stanford said Hurst took her under her wing early on in her LPGA career.

“Angela and I are pretty similar in a lot of ways,” said Hurst. “We both have a passion for the game. We love the red, white and blue, playing for our country. Angela, even playing for TCU, she’s just the biggest supporter of them, and she’s that way with representing the United States. That’s the way I am and that’s the way she is. … She’s level – she’s determined. I wouldn’t say level-headed; let me rephrase that.

“She wants to win. That’s … I see that in me.”

When asked about being a playing assistant at the Inverness Club in Toledo, Ohio, next September, Stanford said she’s at peace with whatever happens.

“I’m still a professional golfer and I’m still going tee it up and try to win golf tournaments,” she said, “and whatever that means in 2021, that’s what that means.”

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Juli Inkster passes Solheim torch to best friend Pat Hurst: “This is your time.”

Pat Hurst served as Juli Inkster’s assistant captain on three different occasions, but Inkster won’t be returning the favor.

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It’s tough asking anyone to fill Juli Inkster’s signature Converse shoes. The LPGA legend could’ve captained at the Solheim Cup forever with few complaints.

But if anyone knows how to be a team player, it’s Inkster. And when her great friend, Pat Hurst, was given the nod to be Team USA’s captain in 2021 at Inverness, Inkster made it known that she’d be stepping aside. Hurst served as Inkster’s assistant captain on three different occasions, but Inkster won’t be returning the favor.

“It needs to be about Pat,” Inkster said.

Even now, it’s difficult to talk about 50-year-old Hurst as a captain without talking about Inkster. Hurst actually went to school at San Jose State on the Juli Inkster Scholarship. The pair became fast friends after teaming up to represent the U.S. at the World Cup in the mid-2000s.

They played countless practice rounds together on the LPGA. Inkster calls Hurst, who won six times on the LPGA, the “skins queen.”

“We love sports,” said Inkster of their bond. “We love family. We love a cocktail.”

The two moms from Northern California travel well together. No one worries about who’s picking up the check. Inkster knows that whatever she says to Pat won’t leave Pat.

Such friendships are invaluable in any walk off life, but especially in the high-stakes, nomadic life of a tour player.

It’s difficult to believe that anyone has come into the role of captain more prepared than Hurst. She played on five U.S. Solheim Cup teams, compiling a 10-7-3 record. And during the course of her three stints with Inkster, she’s had a front-row seat to three of the biggest, most compelling Cups in women’s golf history. Not to mention transitioning in a new generation of players.

“It was a journey together,” said Inkster. “I really didn’t make a decision unless I talked to Pat about it.”

Perhaps the burden of following Inkster was lessened a bit by the sting of defeat in Scotland. The first three-time captain in the history of the Solheim Cup didn’t sweep.

But even then, Hurst learned something. She watched Inkster handle a five-alarm fire controversy in Germany, where the Americans orchestrated the greatest comeback in Solheim Cup history. At Gleneagles, she watched Inkster teach a team full of rookies how to gracefully handle a heart-breaking loss.

“Basically she said, ‘Look, the sun is going to come up tomorrow,’ ” said Hurst.

Many of the core values Inkster held as captain will carry on with Hurst. Chief among them is an emphasis on fun.

“She wants them to enjoy what the Solheim experience should be,” Inkster said.

Hurst will be more organized than Inkster. She’ll be on top of the little things. She won’t dance on the first tee. And if there’s a pond somewhere at Inverness, don’t expect her to swim.

She famously waded into the lake at Mission Hills after winning the 1998 Nabisco Dinah Shore Invitational because she can’t swim. To be fair though, Hurst did leap in last year at the ANA Junior Inspiration after her playing partner, Cindy Kou, won the event.

Hurst plans to carry on the pod system that Inkster adopted from Paul Azinger’s 2008 Ryder Cup stint. Because Hurst has a full-time job as assistant coach at her college alma mater, she’ll have to get out on the road these next two years to scout the talent.

Brittany Lincicome was at Morgan Pressel’s charity event earlier in the week and said players were over the moon when they heard that Hurst was selected captain.

“We all freaked out,” she said.

While in some ways the Inkster era is over, it’s almost certain that the Hall of Famer will be out there as a helper, driving around a golf cart and delivering anything that might be needed – a banana, intel, a hug.

They’ll be in constant contact, per usual. Only this time, Hurst will step into the spotlight.

“This is your journey,” Inkster told her friend. “This is your time. Make it your own.”

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Pat Hurst named U.S. Solheim Cup captain for 2021

Pat Hurst represented the U.S. in five Solheim Cups (1998, 2000, 2002, 2005 and 2007) and compiled a 10-7-3 record.

After three stints as assistant captain, Pat Hurst will step into the role of U.S. Solheim Cup captain for the 2021 contest at Inverness Club in Toledo, Ohio, following in the footsteps of close friend Juli Inkster.

Hurst, a six-time winner on the LPGA, including the 1998 Nabisco Dinah Shore Invitational, competed on tour from 1995 to 2015. The mother of two currently works as an assistant coach at her alma mater, San Jose State.

In a letter posted on LPGA.com, the 50-year-old Hurst explained that she was in the car, waiting to a few errands with her husband, Jeff, when LPGA commissioner Mike Whan called and offered the job. Hurst said she might have stopped breathing for a bit while Whan talked.

“Deep down I hoped for that same opportunity,” said Hurst “A chance to take what I’d learned from Juli and put my personal touch on it.”

Hurst represented the U.S. in five Solheim Cups (1998, 2000, 2002, 2005 and 2007) and compiled a 10-7-3 record.

She plans to continue using the pod system that Inkster adapted from Paul Azinger’s 2008 Ryder Cup stint.

Pat Hurst, Wendy Ward, Julie Inkster and Nancy Lopez at the start of the Opening Ceremony for the 2017 Solheim Cup at Des Moines Golf and Country Club. Photo by Thomas J. Russo/USA TODAY Sports

Hurst wrote that Inkster was the first person she called after getting off the phone with Whan. Inkster captained the U.S. to victories in 2015 and 2017 and came up short in a nail-biter last September in Scotland. Hurst told Golf Channel that Inkster would not be an assistant captain, wanting to give Hurst the chance to do it her own way.

“We’re two different people,” said Hurst, “but we’re also great friends who love and respect each other. I want to bring the best of what Juli brought and do it with my own personality. I think I’ve built a lot of trust with the players. I’ll have my own assistant captains and we will make sure players know that we’re there for them. We’ll take care of the details. We want them to go out, play, have fun and make birdies.”

On the European side, Catriona Matthew will return as captain after her triumphant run back home at Gleneagles.

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Q&A: Juli Inkster on college golf and the new award that bears her name

Golfweek caught up with Juli Inkster and asked her a few questions about college golf and the new award that bears her name.

It’s tough to think of a more beloved figure in the women’s game than Juli Inkster. Before she was an LPGA Hall of Famer and Solheim Cup legend, Inkster enjoyed an extraordinary amateur career. In addition to her three consecutive U.S. Women’s Amateur titles, she won 17 times in college at San Jose State.

The new Juli Inkster Senior Award speaks not only to the quality of a player’s game, but her level of commitment too. The award will be presented to the highest ranked women’s college golfer, as determined by Golfstat and Golfweek/Sagarin rankings, who is in her final year of NCAA eligibility.

The winner will receive a sponsor exemption into the Cambia Portland Classic as well as the chance to spend two days with Inkster during a mentorship retreat.

With so many top-ranked players leaving school mid-season to turn professional, Inkster’s award couldn’t be timelier.

“If I can get one kid to stay in school for another semester,” she said, “it’s great.”

Golfweek recently caught up with Inkster to talk about the award and her time as a Spartan:

GW: What does the essence of the award mean to you? Why is it important?

JI: I think when these universities give these kids a chance at an education and a commitment to their teammates … you know a lot of these universities have a great shot at winning a national championship and then their top studs leave, and I don’t blame them for leaving, it’s just part of the situation, but you go from trying to win a national championship to just trying to fill a roster.

You only have four years to win a national championship, that you can never look back on and try to get back. I think everybody’s always looking at the long-term picture instead of the short-term picture. The LPGA is always going to be there. I just think to have a chance to win a national championship, not only for your university but for your teammates that are still there, that’s kind of why I did it.

GW: What was the most important thing you learned in college?

JI: I learned a lot about myself. Time management – school and golf. Just being a good teammate. Trying to win a national championship. And it was fun. I had fun. College was fun.

GW: Complete this sentence: Back when I was in college…

JI: We never had to work out. I know that much.

You know, it wasn’t as structured as it is now. We didn’t have a time limit on practice. Our coach knew that we were going to practice, so if we didn’t want to go hit balls and we wanted to play, we could do that. If we didn’t want to putt and we just wanted to hit balls, we could do that. … And, I would have to say, we played an amazing schedule. We played against the best teams. That’s because our coach was a great fundraiser, and we had good teams. I never felt short-changed competition-wise. It’s definitely a lot more structured than it was back then.

GW: You’re going to spend a little time with the winner. What are some pearls of wisdom that you plan to pass along?

JI: I think there’s a lot of questions. I’ve talked a lot with Albane Valenzuela and Andrea Lee. Just on tour life, caddies, trying to work out a schedule. Playing in Monday pro-ams versus not playing in Monday pro-ams. Just trying to be yourself and not trying to be anybody else out there. … It’s more just about hanging out, playing some golf, having some dinners. It’s not going to be school. It’s going to be fun. Hopefully get to know them and let them know that I will always be there for them if they ever need anything.

GW: You won 17 times in college. Which victory stands out the most?

JI: I can’t remember any of them. (laughs) The one I know I didn’t win was the NCAAs, and that one kind of gnaws at me because I had a good chance.

GW: Do you think more players need to stay four years in college golf?

JI: It’s hard. I get why these girls leave. I know they probably get a lot of pressure from their parents, and they feel like they’re ready. But what’s one more semester? Depending on what your number is, if you get a high number at qualifying school and you’re getting into everything that’s different. But if you got a lower number and you’re only going to get in one or two tournaments, why not just stay? I just think if you commit to the university, you should stay four years.