PARKER — Now that Meg Mallon has survived the stress of choosing her team, she has moved on to watching the 12 golfers who make up the 2013 American team for next week’s Solheim Cup.
As the U.S. captain, Mallon has spent the past two years following along as the golfers moved up and down the rankings used to lock in 10 of her players. After making her two captain’s picks late Sunday after the Women’s British Open, Mallon has spent the past two days watching her team play Colorado Golf Club … well, kind of.
While all 12 players eventually made it to Colorado, three sets of golf clubs are still out there on a tarmac or in an airport locker somewhere between Scotland and Parker.
“I was trying to do some pairings, but we had three of our players whose clubs still have not shown up,” a tired Mallon said Wednesday afternoon. “That’s not good at all. That part of it was a little disappointing. But the other things we needed to get completed, like the clothing fittings with the alterations people coming in, we got that taken care of. Then all the autograph signings. I don’t know how many you can count out, but we got every player to sign everything.”
Most of the American team had arrived in Denver by Monday night, but three players, including Women’s British Open winner Stacy Lewis, were stuck in Newark, N.J., and took a 5:15 a.m. flight Tuesday to get to Denver by 7:30 in the morning. Suddenly Mallon’s boot camp got compressed and discombobulated.
“It was important for them to see the golf course in a quiet atmosphere and take it all in,” Mallon said. “And for the players who didn’t get their clubs, they could at least walk around the course and get their sight lines down. That part is taken care of, and they won’t have to work on that next week.”
Mallon is heading back to her home in Michigan to “decompress and get some sleep,” she said, and both teams will arrive Monday. One player, Jessica Korda, is staying in Colorado the rest of the week, but the rest of the Americans went home.
Judy Rankin, captain of the U.S. teams for the 1996 and 1998 Solheim Cups, said Wednesday during a teleconference that the early practice sessions before the official week will be key in making the players feel more comfortable.
“You are so busy when the Solheim Cup week starts that the fact you know this golf course pretty well going in, I think, is the most important part of being there,” said Rankin, who is an analyst for the Golf Channel, which will air all of the Solheim Cup live. “You don’t have to just grind to learn every hole. I think the practice sessions can be far more relaxed, because you do know the golf course already.”
The teams will have practice rounds Tuesday through Thursday before match play begins Friday morning. European captain Liselotte Neumann had a contingent of prospective players at the course in July to get used to the layout and altitude.
Mallon said getting all the peripheral stuff done this week will help lessen the players’ stress next week.
“Being involved in so many Solheim Cups, I just remember how annoying it was and how much time it took up during the week with everything else that was going on,” she said. “So it was really nice to kick all that out these two days so they don’t have to worry about their clothes and they’ll have a minimal amount of autographs that they’ll have to take care of.”
David Krause: 303-954-1893, dkrause@denverpost.com or
Solheim Cup history
Each Thursday leading up to the Solheim Cup, to be played Aug. 16-18 at Colorado Golf Club in Parker, The Denver Post looks at past competitions:
2011 SOLHEIM CUP
Score: Europe 15, United States 13
Course: Killeen Castle Golf Club in Meath, Ireland
Dates: Sept. 23-25
Captains: Rosie Jones (U.S.) for the first time and Alison Nicholas (Euros) for the second time.
Event: The scores remained close through the first two days of team matches, with Europe holding a one-point lead after the first day, but the teams were tied 8-8 after Day 2 and going into Sunday’s 12 singles matches. Catriona Matthew’s rousing 6-and-5 victory over Paula Creamer in the first match Sunday set the tone for the European team, which went on to win six matches and halved two others. American Cristie Kerr had to concede the final singles match because of a wrist injury.
David Krause, The Denver Post
