We finally know where the inaugural Senior Women’s Open (conducted by the USGA) will be staged in 2018. The 2019 site has also been selected.
Chicago Golf Club, which hosted its first two USGA championships in 1897, has been selected as the 2018 site and Pine Needles in North Carolina, a Donald Ross creation which has hosted several U.S. Women’s Opens, will be the 2019 venue.
Has the drama associated with the team captain become an indispensable part of these international team golf competitions? If not, perhaps the restoration of the practice of having a playing captain would boost U.S. morale. With a playing captain, the American players might become a true team instead of independent agents who must be herded by a captain who is not of their own choosing and represents an arbitrary appendage to the team. The American downfall appears to have begun here at Oak Hill C.C. in Rochester in 1995. They were cocky then, too, come to think of it.
Pat Bradley and Alison Nicholas halved their Handa Cup match at Old Waverly G.C. today. The U.S. won 28-20 and snatched back the Cup they lost last year in Nashville. See the Handa Cup scores here. Nancy Lopez served as Captain of the American Team and Sally Little of South Africa was Captain of the World Team.
Pat Bradley sinks a putt on 18 to halve her match with Alison Nicholas. Credit: The Legends Tour
Sherri Steinhauer closes out her match on 18 and clinches the Cup. Credit: The Legends Tour
The final score was 28-20. Although tied at 12-12 following team play on Saturday, the Americans dominated the singles on Sunday and won back the Cup they lost last year at Hermitage Golf Course in Nashville, TN. In the marquee singles match, American Juli Inkster defeated Laura Davies 67-68. Interesting note: LPGA Hall of Famer Pat Bradley halved her match with Alison Nicholas, thus earning the Americans one point, on the same day her nephew Keegan lost his Ryder Cup singles match in Scotland.
Here were the Sunday singles match-ups and scores:
Trish Johnson’s 67 bests Laurie Rinker’s 71
Beth Daniel’s 72 bests Lorie Kane’s 74
Juli Inkster’s 67 bests Laura Davies’ 68
Wendy Doolan’s 69 bests Val Skinner’s 80
Barb Mucha’s 71 bests Dawn Coe-Jones’ 73
Sherri Turner and Jenny Lidback halve their match with both shooting 74
Christa Johnson’s 71 bests Mieko Nomura’s 75
Meg Mallon’s 68 bests Jane Crafter’s 70
Pat Bradley and Alison Nicholas halve their match with both shooting 74
Sherri Steinhauer’s 69 bests Alicia Dibos’ 70
Liselotte Neumann’s 68 bests Rosie Jones’ 70
Nancy Scranton’s 74 bests Helen Alfredsson’s 75
See The Legends Tour’s Facebook page for dozens of great photos from today’s play.
U.S. Team Captain Nancy Lopez had the option of placing herself into the lineup for today’s Handa Cup matches at Old Waverly G.C. but she declined to do so. Instead, all twelve American regulars will see action in Saturday’s team matches.
Jan Stephenson is also sitting out Saturday’s matches although it is unclear whether it is due to necessity (e.g. she had to withdraw) or a decision by World Team Captain Sally Little to bench her.
Will fans see either of them tee it up for Sunday’s singles matches?
Old Waverly Golf Club
Jan Stephenson
With the Handa Cup’s kickoff tomorrow at Old Waverly G.C., we will likely learn of the Saturday morning team pairings this evening. If the respective captains, Nancy Lopez and Sally Little, have a bold strategy for the day’s play, it may be evident in the pairings.
It would be difficult to resist the temptation to pair Laura Davies and Alison Nicholas for the sake of both sheer intimidation and tradition, a tradition that began at the first Solheim Cup at Lake Nona in 1990. The pairing of Nicholas and Davies defeated Lopez and Pat Bradley in the very first match. However, Sally Little may wish to spread the talent around and use Davies in a different pairing with a less experienced partner. Davies has been maintaining her hectic golf schedule and it can probably be assumed that Davies and Juli Inkster are the two top players this year. Both have been keeping their games sharp in regular tour play. I’ll predict Davies and Neumann. Liselotte’s short game would complement Laura’s distance.
A playing partner to keep the great Jan Stephenson from getting too hard on herself might be another Little goal. I would go with Alfredsson and Stephenson and then Nicholas and Trish Johnson, who just won on the LET thus becoming the oldest winner ever on either the LPGA Tour or LET. Crafter’s putting might pair well with Wendy Doolan.
On the American side, Lopez might be enticed by the idea of Inkster-Daniel and Jones-Steinhauer pairings out of the gate as power-pairings to score a quick couple of points Saturday morning.
Perhaps Captain Lopez will also put Pat Bradley and Sherri Turner out together. Their experience and wisdom would be complementary and, personality-wise, it would appear to be a comfortable combination. Sherri’s distance would also complement Pat’s iron play and short game.
Why keep speculating though? We shall soon know.
8:54 PM Update: Well, as it turned out, Inkster-Mallon will be the U.S. Team’s power-pairing for Saturday’s morning and afternoon matches. The World’s power-pairing will be Laura Davies and Trish Johnson in both Saturday matches. It appears that Captain Lopez is playing the same U.S. pairings in the afternoon while Sally Little “mixed it up” a bit more by reshuffling some of her pairings.
Nicholas is paired with Coe-Jones in the morning and Helen Alfredsson in the afternoon. Assistant World Captain Coe-Jones is apparently substituting for Jan Stephenson who is not scheduled to play Saturday. (There is no mention of this on the Legends Tour site.)
Bringing LPGA Legends Back to Rochester, NY 