Wednesday, September 10, 2003

By Doug Ferguson, The Associated Press

They should call themselves the Dream Team.

Seven of them are among the top 11 on the money list. They have combined to win half of the 24 tournaments this year on the LPGA Tour, the latest coming when Karrie Webb of Australia, the youngest woman to complete the career Grand Slam, won for the 29th time.

"That would be one powerful team," Juli Inkster said.

Only it's not a team.

It isn't even a dream, at least not a realistic one.

The Solheim Cup, a showcase event in women's golf, is limited to players from the United States and Europe.

Some of the LPGA's best aren't allowed to play.

Inkster and Annika Sorenstam were among players from both teams who took a charter from Tulsa, Okla., to the southern tip of Sweden for this year's matches, which start Friday at Barseback Golf & Country Club.

Webb flew home to Florida to watch on TV.

It will be the first time she has not gone to the Solheim Cup since her rookie year in 1996. Even though she couldn't play, Webb loved watching the drama and pressure from outside the ropes, and she grew so close to the American team that she started getting invited to team dinners.

"I didn't feel comfortable," she said, "because it's an event I know I can't be in."

Joining Webb on the sidelines are Se Ri Pak, Grace Park and Hee-Won Han of South Korea, who have won six times this year; three-time winner Candie Kung of Taiwan; Rachel Teske, a fellow Aussie who has won twice; and rookie sensation Lorena Ochoa of Mexico.

The PGA Tour had this problem nearly 10 years ago when it discovered its best international players -- Greg Norman, Nick Price and Vijay Singh -- were from countries outside of Europe.

The answer was The Presidents Cup.

"I think the Solheim Cup is a good event and it's great for those players who are part of it," Pak said. "I would hope someday soon we can have a competition similar to what the men have with the Presidents Cup."

For the LPGA Tour, it's not that simple.

Commissioner Ty Votaw has considered several options, but all come with a cost.

The Karsten Solheim family, which owns Ping Golf, foots the bill for the matches and likes the format the way it is. Votaw is not about to risk that sponsorship.

There was talk five years ago about expanding the teams to make it the United States against the world, a notion met with disdain by Laura Davies and the rest of the Europeans. Besides, that would be a mismatch nowadays. Americans went 17 consecutive events on the LPGA Tour without winning.

"We'd have to have some draft choices," Inkster said. "If we could have Mexico [Ochoa] and Canada [Lorie Kane], maybe that would work."

Still, Inkster is equally cautious about tinkering with success. While relatively new to golf -- the Solheim Cup only began in 1990 -- it has been building momentum and now rivals the U.S. Women's Open as the biggest event in women's golf.

Samuel Ryder could not have envisioned golf becoming such a global game when he pitched the idea of matches between Britain and the United States in 1927. It wasn't until 52 years later that Europe was invited to the Ryder Cup, in part due to the emergence of Seve Ballesteros.

Webb showed up only six years after the Solheim Cup began. Pak arrived two years later.

It's not too late to change.

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