morgan pressel

It worked last time for the Americans. With a roster laden with rookies, they rolled to a victory in the 2005 Solheim Cup as the youngsters paved the way with improbable performances.

Of course, Natalie Gulbis, Paula Creamer and others enjoyed a safety net that would make a high-wire act envious. Buoyed by chemistry from veterans, urged on by adoring crowds, they free-wheeled and high-stepped at home in Carmel, Indiana, the heart of flag-waving America.

Beginning Friday, the United States is to field what is arguably an even less-experienced team at Halmstad Golf Club in Halmstad, Sweden. Three rookies qualified off the Solheim Cup points list: Morgan Pressel, Stacy Prammanasudh and Brittany Lincicome. Another first-timer, Nicole Castrale, was a controversial captain's pick.

The Americans also have two other new faces since the last Solheim Cup, although neither is a rookie. Sherri Steinhauer was on three Solheim Cup teams, in 1994, 1998 and 2000, and Angela Stanford played in 2003, but neither made the team two years ago.

This also will not be a red, white and blue picnic. Above all, the Americans will have to contend with playing on foreign soil - and in Annika Sorenstam's homeland. Sophie Gustafson, Maria Hjorth and Linda Wessberg, as well as the European team's captain, Helen Alfredsson, are also Swedes. Suzann Pettersen of Norway and Iben Tinning of Denmark add to the European team's Scandinavian roots.

"It's going to be interesting - someone like a Natalie Gulbis, a Paula Creamer, they are not used to people rooting against them," said Betsy King, the U.S. captain. "They are always the fan favorite, and I think that will be interesting to see how they react to that."

The United States has a 6-3 edge in the biennial series and has never lost at home. The Americans have won once in Europe, but the visiting team rarely neutralizes the home galleries in the Solheim Cup or the men's equivalent, the Ryder Cup.

"You try to make them understand that this is different than any other tournament," King said of her rookies. "They'll be rooting against you sometimes and cheering your mistakes."

"European crowds are very vocal," she added. "Our goal this week will be to silence that crowd. We're definitely coming over here as the underdog."

While both teams would like to shun the role of being the favorite, Alfredsson agrees her team has a huge, intangible edge.

"When you're in the States, you can feel the energy of the people going to the American players," she said. "It's hard sometimes. Being on home soil definitely helps. We'll feel that this time."

In 2005, Creamer, Gulbis and Christina Kim were first-timers on a mission and struck a chord for golf's next generation, combining for nine points. Creamer had a 3-1-1 record and Gulbis was 3-1. Kim was 2-1-1, and although she was 13th on the points list this year and possessed that precious experience, she was left off the team, essentially in favor of Castrale.

King fueled debate with that selection, although Castrale just missed qualifying outright at No. 11 on the points list and broke through for her first LPGA Tour victory this year. King also picked Laura Diaz, 14th on the points list and a three-time Solheim Cup player, to add veteran depth.

"The only way she is controversial is that she's a rookie," said Beth Daniel, an assistant U.S. captain, referring to Castrale. "She won this year, and when you're a tournament winner, you know the pressure you have to deal with."

In 2005, Creamer set the rookie bar high by confidently predicting a victory - at the press conference to announce the American team, saying the Europeans "better get ready, because they're going to get beat." She walked the talk, and in the Sunday singles matches, asked her captain, Nancy Lopez, to go out early against the European star Laura Davies. Creamer blitzed Davies, 7 and 5, setting the tone for an American romp.

Pressel, a fiery player in her second pro season, would be the most likely to make a Creamer-like impact this time around. She won an LPGA Tour major this year, the Kraft Nabisco Championship, for her first career victory.

"We've got a very young team," said the veteran Juli Inkster. "The only way this young team gains any experience is by playing. They're our future. These girls are going to play five, six, seven Solheim Cups. It gives them a chance to get their feet wet."

At 47, Inkster is making her seventh Solheim Cup appearance and is a likely future captain. Indeed, the Solheim Cup rookies who have sought her counsel in recent years are not much older than her two daughters, Hayley, 17, and Cori, 13.
In this, the healthiest spot to live in Sweden, Morgan Pressel and Paula Creamer are the blemish-free epitome of American women's golf, where faces as well as swings can secure one's fortune. Of a team blessed with the finest ponytails in the sport, theirs seem a bit longer, blonder and more luxuriant than those of anyone else.

When the tenth edition of the Solheim Cup starts tomorrow, the United States team of 2007 are seeking to become only the second to win abroad and most eyes will be focused on their youthful branch, as defined by Pressel, a 19-year-old from Boca Raton, Florida ― the home of Chris Evert, who won the French Open and Wimbledon in her teens � and where Pressel's uncle, Aaron Krickstein, coaches at the St Andrews Club, a further twist on tennis meets golf.

Krickstein remains the youngest player to win a title on the ATP Tour, as a 16-year-old in Tel Aviv in 1983, and the youngest to break into the world's top ten, a year later. Phenomena are nothing new in the household and it was hardly a surprise when, in winning the Kraft Nabisco Championship in Rancho Mirage, California, in the spring, Pressel became the youngest champion in LPGA history.

Krickstein was brilliant but extremely shy; the same cannot be said of his niece, who is not afraid of speaking her mind, or letting loose her emotions on the course. She is being spoken of as the team's "spark plug".

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Creamer is two years older and has experienced the special vibes of match-play golf with a nation's honour on the line and beat Laura Davies, the event's veteran, 7 and 5 at Crooked Stick in Carmel, Indiana, the most emphatic of the singles wins that helped to secure the 15?-12? victory for the US and gave them a 6-3 head-to-head advantage that they are hugely favoured to improve upon this weekend. Together, Creamer and Pressel make a photogenic, charismatic twosome, although whether they will be paired by Betsy King, the US captain, in either of tomorrow's opening-day foursomes and four-balls remains to be seen.

Pressel has made each of her teammates a bag and ribbons with their names embroidered on, so there is nothing wrong with her handicraft skills. They may be needed when the big shots have to be played over the handsomely tough 6,615-yard Halm-stad course.

King said that this event will be her last hurrah in cup terms, but that, as a woman, she reserved the right to change her mind. There was a glint of satisfaction when Creamer said that when the captain talked, the young ones were enraptured.

"It is going to be fascinating for players like Morgan, Paula and for Natalie Gulbis, fan favourites everywhere they go in the United States, to be in the away team," King said. "But they are all very competitive. Paula worked out last night, Natalie was up at 5 working out this morning and Morgan has probably hit as many balls in her lifetime as I have in mine and I'm 52." Strategically placed in the perfectly manicured practice bunker were a couple of miniature plastic dump trucks, some little pails and shovels and the beginnings of a couple of sand castles.

Yes, folks, these Solheim Cup kids are young.

Fans will get a great look at where women's golf has been and where it's heading when the Americans take on the Europeans in the Solheim Cup starting Friday.

On the one hand, there are Laura Davies and Juli Inkster, two 40-somethings who still have the game to play at the highest level.

On the other, there are Natalie Gulbis, Morgan Pressel, Paula Creamer and Brittany Lincicome ― none of whom have hit 25 and all of whom are trying to take their sport to new places.

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"Our team has got a lot of heart and spunk and a lot of ribbons and scrunchies," Inkster said Thursday when asked about the general state of the American team.

One of the most telling stories of the week had little to do with golf, much more to do with the quest to make it more popular. Creamer and United States captain Betsy King were standing outside signing autographs. Creamer saw King mindlessly scribbling and asked her if she signed her name legibly enough for fans to read once they got the autographs home.

"She said, 'I want to make sure that everybody can read it when I write it,'" King said. "She said, 'When you sign things for people, then they can relate to you better. They kind of get the whole picture.' Obviously, it benefits them personally, but it also benefits the tour and they're interested in helping the tour as a whole."

Gulbis has her own TV show. She, Creamer and 29-year-old Cristie Kerr made appearances at the Oscars earlier this year. A bunch of them do magazine covers, calendar shoots and have appeared as runway models.

The LPGA has moved beyond trying to deny any hint of sex appeal and embraced the idea of having its youngest, brightest stars selling to the masses. It's an arrangement everyone can benefit from.

"So many young Americans is helping the tour," Davies said. "If the LPGA is strong, women's golf is strong."

Of course, without some game to go along with their PR savvy, this would not be a conversation.

But that hasn't been an issue. At 19, Morgan Pressel is making her Solheim Cup debut. She became the youngest major winner earlier this year when she took the Nabisco. Creamer is 21 and reached the $1 million mark in earnings faster than anyone in history. Gulbis is 24 and has 23 top-20 finishes. On the European side, 26-year-old Suzann Pettersen won the McDonalds LPGA Championship this year for her first major.

What can someone like Davies, who has played in every Solheim Cup since it was founded in 1990, offer this week to players who have experience and success beyond their years?

"It's a bit of encouragement here and there," Davies said. "They've all won tournaments. They know what it's all about."

She conceded, however, that the first tee box at the Solheim Cup will come as something of a shock. There's something about playing for your country and your teammates that adds pressure.

"I want to win this for Juli Inkster," said Kerr, this year's U.S. Open champion. "I don't know how many cups she's going to be on in the future, and especially on foreign soil. This is pretty good inspiration for me."

King and Europe captain Helen Alfredsson released the pairings late Thursday for opening-day matches. The first two days consist of 16 team matches and the tournament closes with 12 singles matches. As defending champions, the Americans need 14 of the 28 points to retain the cup. Europe needs 14 1/2. Only once has the cup been won by the visitor ― in 1996, when the Americans won in Wales.

The marquee match in the opening session pits Davies and Becky Brewerton against Creamer and Inkster in foursomes. Also, Kerr and Pat Hurst play Pettersen and Sophie Gustafson; Gulbis and Pressel play Gwladys Nocera and Maria Hjorth; and Annika Sorenstam and Catriona Matthew play Sherri Steinhauer and Laura Diaz.

Sorenstam, still not at 100 percent because of a bad back and neck, said she isn't sure if she'll play five matches this weekend.

Davies, on the other hand, says she hopes she's called on for all five. The 43-year-old, with 67 career victories, will never be mistaken for Gulbis or Pressel, but doesn't think the sport has passed her by.