We were all on the edge of our seats when Suzann Pettersen holed that six foot putt to win the Solheim Cup. Now Gleneagles are bringing back their offer to allow us ordinary folk to play that course, or one of the other two, for the princely sum of £201.90. Better hurry as we assume it may go up to £202.00 come January!
It’s Manic Monday, so here is a very quick round up of all the results and stories from the weekend on the PGA Tour, European Tour, LPGA and Women’s European Tour.
You couldn’t write the script. It all came down to the last putt on the last green and standing over that putt was none other than, controversial captain’s pick, the superb Suzann Pettersen. With nerves of absolute steel Pettersen stroked the putt right into the centre of the cup and the crowd went wild. Your writer’s children wondered what was going on with their father shouting at the television – “Unbelieveable, totally unbelievable”.
The haggis has been piped in, the Solheim tartan is out in force and the smiles are out, for the meoment. Countdown to the Solheim Cup has begun and may the best team win. This year, of the twenty four players taking part nine of them are rookies, three on Team Europe side and a record six joining Team USA.
The golfing world has lost one of it’s greatest ever characters. Brian Barnes sadly passed away at the age of 74 on Monday after a brief fight with cancer. A larger than life character Barnes will always be remembered as the man who beat Jack Nicklaus twice in one day at Laurel Canyon in 1975 Ryder Cup. The Ryder Cup featured two singles sessions in those days.
Catriona Matthew has made her captain’s picks, the team is decided and now Skechers have revealed the new design for the Team Europe footwear. The GO GOLF Pro 2 will be as comfy as ever and incorporate the statutory Solheim tartan along with the blue and yellow colours of Team Europe.
South Korea’s Hyo Joo Kim holds a one-shot lead over compatriot Sung Hyun Park heading into day four of the Evian Championship. Indeed, Kim has no shortage of company from home as five of the top six players are from South Korea with the only interloper being Shanshan Feng of China.
Paula Creamer was going along nicely in the sun at the Evian Resort in Evian-Les-Bains when the weather took a turn for the worst. Wearing a rather provocative top with ‘Kiss My Putt’ emblazoned across her chest, the American sank a monster putt from the edge of the 12th hole to move the overnight leader to nine under par and one off the lead.
The men’s majors are over and so attention turns to the women, or ladies as they were referred to when I was growing up. We have a double header with the Evian Championship in France this week followed straight away by the Women's British Open. And we thought the men were compressing their majors too much!
Well it’s been a pretty exciting week for golf on the island of Ireland. First, Shane Lowry’s spectacular win at the 148th Open in Northern Ireland and then the magnificent Adare Manor in County Limerick has been announced as host of The Ryder Cup 2026. Not too shabby!
It’s that time of year where some of our favourite kit suppliers go into overdrive launching some of the stuff we have seen the professionals use over the past couple of months or launch new gear ready for the last major of the year. GolfPunk has a look and there are few bits we wouldn’t mind getting our sticky mitts on!
GolfPunk fave Georgia Hall (no less!!) and nine of the past ten Champions will compete at the Women’s British Open for a 40% larger prize fund of $4.5m (circa £3.6m at time of writing) in recognition of the importance of the Championship and women’s golf according to the R&A.
