It was the first time it seemed that we were dead and buried and we have come back to life and won”. The veteran and tireless Laura Davies described perfectly the outcome of one of the most brilliant -for the Europeans, of course- Solheim Cups in history. “The other times we haven’t won easily, but in this one we had three matches left in the field and we needed to score in all three. Normally, the Americans are in that situation, they bounce back and win. So it was definitely our most exciting win. We’ve won the tournament four times, but this one beats all the others.” And Davies was speaking with full knowledge of the facts, as the 48-year-old English player, who has 81 international victories, including four majors, and was the first European to earn the honor of being ranked number one in the world, has played in every edition of the Solheim Cup, twelve, since 1990.
Europe had tasted victory in the Solheim Cup again since 2003 (17.5 – 10.5 in Sweden) with a narrow 15-13 win over their American rivals in an epic duel played on the green and very wet fairways of Killen Castle, in County Meath, Ireland. The first of the four European victories in the tournament took place at Scotland’s Loch Lomond Golf Club in 2000 (14.5 – 11.5), and the second at the Dalmahoy Hotel Golf and Country Club in Edinburgh, Scotland, in 1992 (11.5 – 6.5: there were fewer points at stake at the time).
On this occasion, after having passed the first two days of foursomes and fourballs with a result of a tie at 8 points (the Europeans scored 4.5 on Friday and 3.5 on Saturday, and the Americans, just the other way around), came the dreaded and expected singles, where, as always, the biennial tournament is decided.
The captain of the European squad, Alison Nicholas, knew how to play her cards very well and relied on the young player from Malaga for the last matches. Azahara was one of the four players not automatically classified by the rankings that Nicholas had chosen to be part of the team. And the young Malaga girl did not disappoint that confidence, but also became the European heroine with her decisive victory over Angela Stanford. The outcome of the intercontinental duel hinged on the last three games and all of them were settled in favor of Nicholas’ girls, much to the despair of rival captain Rosie Jones and her players. Azahara scored the deciding point in the final match by beating Stanford by one hole.
In the penultimate match, Sweden’s Caroline Hedwall, who was two down with two holes to play against Ryann O’Toole, won the last two to snatch a vital half point. The drama and hope had begun half an hour earlier when Norway’s Suzann Pettersen rallied from one down with three to play and then beat media personality Michelle Wie by one hole. The world number two had two birdies in the last three holes, holing from a minimum of 2.5 meters. Pettersen won for the first time in singles.
It was a delight to see the joy exhibited by the team from the Old Continent and all the fans who suffered and enjoyed as never before a show full of emotion. And with those girls so full of enthusiasm was the spirit of Seve, the great captain of European golf. A poster of him, put up by Alison Nicholas, was on the wall of their locker room. “Seve is an inspiration to all of us,” the captain said after the victory was consummated. “What he did for the sport and his passion and charisma is an example to everyone,” she added. Alison recalled that Seve sent a message to the team last year and said that “I grew up watching Seve and was inspired by him, as was most of the team, although some are a little younger.”
Alison was confident that this epic triumph will serve to boost the currently sluggish European Women’s Tour (LET Tour). “It has shown that we have a great pool of quality players in Europe,” she said.
The point is that it has been a fabulous experience of European women’s golf and that our only representative in the tournament has played a crucial role. Azahara knew how to temper her nerves and, with her crucial birdie on the 17th, led Europe to glory once again. Even more meritorious is the triumph of the Old Continent if we take into account the position of our golfers in the world ranking, where only Suzann Pettersen has made a place in the top ten, places of honor monopolized by Asians and Americans.
It is a pity that the European Women’s Tour is not in good health as far as sponsors are concerned. Investors have folded their wings and have left this Tour, which has been struggling financially for a few years now, rather scrawny. And it is a pity because women’s golf is as spectacular as its male counterpart, and deserves better treatment.
Much of the ‘blame’ for this situation lies with the media, especially television stations, which barely dedicate a few crumbs of their time -if they dedicate anything at all- to the broadcasting of women’s tournaments. And let alone if we stick to Spain. Television programmers, it is clear, are looking for good audience levels -the famous share- that attract advertisers, but they should take into account that golf in our country has more than 300,000 members and a few thousand more who practice it without federation affiliation.
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