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U.S. Wins Solheim Cup

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In weather more conducive to curling up by a nice fire than playing golf, the US team overcame a one point deficit heading into the singles matches and retain possession of the Solheim Cup.

Looking like anything but "chokin’ freakin’ dogs" the red clad ladies played a lot of marvelous golf in becoming only the second visiting team to retain the cup.  This event had it all; wind, rain, cold, great shots, poor shots, and Dottie Pepper. Say what you will about Ms. Pepper she will forever be associated with the Solheim cup as much for her mouth as for her play.  Her "chokin’ freakin’ dogs" comment was so much in character I’m surprised anyone took offense.  After all, this is the same woman who blurted "Yeah" when Laura Davies, her opponent during a match, missed a putt.  Her visage adorned a punching bag in the European team room for another set of matches.  She’s intense, outspoken, and very very wrapped up in this event.  If her comment bothered you, get over it.  She’d have said the same thing about herself if it was deserved in her opinion.

The singles started off  with Catriona Matthew defeating Laura Diaz 3 & 2 in the opening match, but the scoreboard was soon awash in red.  "It was the best I’d played all week," said Matthew, who claimed the winning point for Europe in the win at Barseback in Sweden four years ago. "It’s just a pity that the team didn’t win."

Nicole Castrale got the clinching point defeating Bettina Hauert by a similar 3 & 2 score.  "This is just awesome," said Castrale, who has enjoyed a breakthrough season with her first LPGA victory at the Ginn Tribute in Florida in June. "I played really well and this is one of the best years of my life."  The 28-year-old had her husband, Craig, as her caddie, and she added: "This is my first Solheim and it has surpassed all expectations."

Paula Creamer defeated Maria Hjorth 2 & 1 to put the US over the 14 1/2 point total needed to win the Cup outright. Creamer, who was also a star of the 2005 win at Crooked Stick, said: "I’ve always said that winning the Solheim is better than winning a tournament, and I say it again." 

Morgan Pressel defeated Annika Sorenstam 2 & 1 to capture her first full point, benefiting from a couple of short putt misses by Ms Sorenstam.  Pressel summed up her debut. "It was a whole lot of fun. The win over Annika was my first full point and it’s always exciting and special to play against, and beat, one of the world’s best players."

Laura Davies smothered Brittany Lincicome 4 & 3 for the other European victory. “I’ve played really well today and didn’t give Brittany too many chances, which was important to get a point on the board,” said Davies, who scored 2 ½ points for the European Team and has tallied 23 points in her 10 Solheim Cup appearances. “None of us feel like losers. We lost to a better team today. They were a very good team. They had some good team spirit out there and beat us.”

Stacy Prammanasudh defeated Suzann Pettersen 2 up, to give the U.S. Team their fourth point in singles matches, just minutes after two-time Solheim Cup member Angela Stanford posted a 3 and 2 victory over Trish Johnson to push the U.S. Team into a 10 ½ to 9 ½ overall lead for the first time since the end of Saturday’s morning foursome matches.

Sherri Steinhauer earned a halve when Becky Brewerton had to hit a shot left handed from up against a tree on the 18th hole and could only bat the ball into the bleachers. 

Juli Inkster, Pat Hurst, and Natalie Gulbis all won points for the Americans.  It was all summed up rather nicely by Ms. Pressel’s grandfather.  "Without this sounding wrong, the feeling was that our team had the better players," said Pressel’s grandfather, Herb Krickstein, who watched all week from the gallery. "When it comes down to singles, there’s no hiding anybody, and that really shows."

Even though the event was televised at 2AM (with repeats in the evening) it was fun to watch.  My congratulations to both teams for a well played match.  Thank you Dottie Pepper for being Dottie Pepper.  It’s always nice to run across someone who gets wrapped up in the game.  ( Tell me you’ve never said similar things to your TV when your favorite sports team mucks up a game!)

1 Comment

1 Comment

  1. John Dortmunder

    Sep 24, 2007 at 5:26 pm

    I think Pepper is overly emotional and it is the reason she is no longer playing the game. I suspect that Morgan Pressel will suffer the same fate if she doesn’t learn to relax a bit more.

    JMO.

    JD

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Tour Rundown: Bend, but don’t break

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I’m going to gush in this intro paragraph, to get the emo stuff done early. I’ve not pulled harder for a professional to win, than Cameron Young. I coach golf in New York state, and each spring, my best golfers head to a state championship in Poughkeepsie. I first saw Cameron there as a 9th grade student. I saw him three more times after that. I reconnecected with Coach Haas from Wake Forest, an old interview subject from my days on the Old Gold and Black, the Wake newspaper. He was there to watch Cameron. After four years at Wake Forest, Young won on the Korn Ferry Tour, made it to the big tour, almost won two majors, almost won five other events, and finally got the chalice about 25 minutes from the Wake campus. Congratulations, Cameron. You truly are a glass of the finest. #MotherSoDear

OK, let’s move on to the Tour Rundown. The major championship season closed this week in Wales, with the Women’s Open championship. The PGA Tour bounced through Greensboror, N.C., while the PGA Tour Americas hit TO (aka, Toronto) for a long-winded event. The Korn Ferry lads made a stop in Utah, one of just two events for that tour in August. The many-events, golf season is winding down, as we ease from summer toward fall in the northern hemisphere. Let’s bask in the glory of an August sunrise, and run down a quartet of events from the first weekend of the eighth month.

LET/LPGA @ Women’s Open: Miyu bends, but she doesn’t break

Royal Porthcawl was not a known commodity in the major tournament community. The Welsh links had served as host to men’s senior opens, men’s amateurs, and Curtis and Walker Cups in prior years, but never an Open championship for the women or the men. The last-kept secret in UK golf was revealed once again to the world this week, as the best female golfers took to the sandy stage.

Mao Saigo, Grace Kim, Maja Stark, and Minjee Lee hoped to add a second major title to previous wins this season, but only Lee was able to finish inside the top ten. The 2025 playing of the Women’s Open gave us a new-faces gallery from day one. The Kordas and Thitikulls were nowhere to be found, and it was the Mayashitas, Katsus, and Lim Kims that secured the Cymru spotlight. The first round lead was held at 67 by two golfers. One of them battled to the end, while the other posted 81 on day two, and missed the cut. Sitting one shot behind was Miyu Yamashita.

On day two, Yamashita posted the round of the tournament. Her 65 moved her to the front of the aisle, in just her fourth turn around a women’s Open championship. With the pre-event favorites drifting off pace, followers narrowed into two camps: those on the side of an underdog, and others hoping for a weekend charge from back in the pack. In the end, we had a bit of both.

On Saturday, Yamashita bent with 74 on Saturday, offering rays of hope to her pursuing pack. England’s Charley Hull made a run on Sunday closing within one shot before tailing off to a T2 finish with Minami Katsu. Katsu posted the other 65 of the week, on Saturday, but could not overtake her countrywoman, Yamashita. wunderkind Lottie Woad needed one round in the 60s to find her pace, but could only must close-to’s, ending on 284 and a tie with Minjee for eighth.

On Sunday, Yamashita put away the thoughts of Saturday’s struggles, with three-under 33 on the outward half. She closed in plus-one 37, but still won by two, for a first Major and LPGA title.

PGA Tour @ Wyndham: Young gathers first title near home

Cameron Young grew up along the Hudson river, above metro New York, but he also calls Winston-Salem home. He spent four years as a student and athlete at Wake Forest University, then embarked on tour. This week in Greensboro, after a bit of a break, Young opened with 63-62, and revved the engine of Is this the week once more. Runner-up finishes at the Open, the PGA, and a handful of PGA Tour events had followers wonder when the day would come.

On Saturday, Young continued his torrid pace with 65, giving him a five-shot advantage over his closest pursuer. Sunday saw the Scarborough native open with bogey, then reel off five consecutive birdies to remind folks that his time had, at last, arrived. Pars to the 16th, before two harmless bogeys coming home, made Young the 1000th winner of an official PGA Tour event (dating back to before there was a PGA Tour) throughout history. What’s next? I have a suspicion, but I’m not letting on. Mac Meissner closed with 66 to finish solo 2nd, while Mark Hubbard and Alex Noren tied for third.

Korn Ferry Tour @ Utah Championship: Are you Suri it’s Julian?

Who knows exactly when the flower will bloom? Julian Suri played a solid careet at Duke University, then paid his dues on the world’s minor tours for three years. He won twice on two tours in Europe, in 2017. Since then, the grind has continued for the journeyman from New York city. At age 34, Suri broke through in Beehive state, outlasting another grinder (Spencer Levin) and four others, by two shots.

Taylor Montgomery began the week with 62, then posted 64, then 68, and finally, 70. That final round was his undoing. He finished in that second-place tie, two back of the leader. Trace Crowe, Barend Botha, and Kensei Hirata made up the last of the almost quintet. As for Suri, his Sunday play was sublime. His nines were 32 and 31, with his only radar blip a bogey at ten. He closed in style with one final birdie, to double his winning margin. Hogan bloomed late…might Suri?

PGA Tour Americas @ Osprey Valley Open presented by Votorantim Cimentos – CBM Aggregates

Some tournament names run longer than others. This week in Toronto, at the Heathlands course at TPC Toronto, we might have seen the longest tournament title in recorded history. The OVOPBVCCBMA was a splendid affair. It saw three rounds of 62 on Thursday, but of those early risers, only Drew Goodman would stick around until the end. 64 was the low tally on day two, and two of those legionnaires managed to finish inside the top three at week’s end. Saturday brought a 63 from Patrick Newcomb, and he would follow with 64 on Sunday, to finish solo fourth.

Who, then, ended up winning the acronym of the year? It turns out that Carson Bacha had the right stuff in TeeOhhh. Bacha and Jay Card III posted 63 and 64, respectively, on day four, to tie for medalist honors at 23-under 261. Nathan Franks was one shot adrift, despite also closing with 63. If you didn’t go low on Sunday, it was about the check, not the championship.

Bacha and JC3 returned to the 18th hole twice in overtime. Card nearly chipped in from the thick stuff for birdie, while Bacha peeked and shoved a ten-feet attempt at the win. On the second go-round, Card was long with his approach, into the native grasses once more. He was unable to escape, and a routine par from the fairway was enough to earn the former Auburn golfers a first KFT title.

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Photos from the 2025 Wyndham Championship

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GolfWRX is live this week from the final event of the PGA Tour’s regular season, the Wyndham Championship.

Photos are flowing into the forums from Sedgefield Country Club, where we already have a GolfWRX spirit animal Adam Schenk WITB and plenty of putters for your viewing pleasure.

Check out links to all our photos below, which we’ll continue to update as more arrive.

General Albums

WITB Albums

Pullout Albums

See what GolfWRXers are saying and join the discussion in the forums.

 

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BK’s Breakdowns: Kurt Kitayama’s Winning WITB, 3M Open

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Kurt Kitayama just won his 2nd PGA Tour event at the 3M Open. Kurt is a Bridgestone staffer but with just the ball and bag. Here are the rest of the clubs he used to secure a win at the 2025 3M Open.

Driver: Titleist GT3 (11 degrees, D1 SureFit setting)
Shaft: Graphite Design Tour AD VF 7 TX

3-wood: Titleist GT1 3Tour (14.5 degrees, A3 SureFit setting)
Shaft: Graphite Design Tour AD DI 8 TX

7-wood: Titleist GT1 (21 degrees, A1 SureFit setting)
Shaft: Graphite Design Tour AD DI 9 TX

Irons: TaylorMade P7CB (4), TaylorMade P7MB (5-PW)
Shafts: True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue X100

Wedges: Titleist Vokey Design SM10 (52-12F, 56-14F), Vokey Design WedgeWorks (60-K*)
Shafts: True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue S400

Putter: Scotty Cameron Studio Style Newport 2 Tour Prototype
Grip: SuperStroke Zenergy 1.0PT

Grips: Golf Pride Tour Velvet

Ball: Bridgestone Tour B XS (with Mindset)

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