In This Issue

Teeing Off:
After winning the 2002 PING Junior Solheim Cup decisively, the United States team now understands the hardships of traveling abroad and attempting to retain the Cup.

View From Chateau:
The PING Junior Solheim Cup Vice Captain shares her thoughts and pictures from this unforgettable event.

The Gallery:
There is always fun to be had on and off the golf course at AJGA events.

The Scoring Tent:
Here are the newly crowned champions from past weeks of AJGA events

News From the Fringe:

2004 AJGA Membership Now Available
Those who renew their AJGA Membership by Oct. 31 will receive an Ahead divot repair player badge set

Happy Trails
The Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail Junior Classic annually marks the end of the AJGA summer schedule and crowns impressive champions

Stars on the Rise
The Nike Golf Junior All-Star Championship and Awards Banquet showcases the Series' top players

Golf Shop Sale
Prices are "falling" at the AJGA Golf Shop during the AJGA Fall Cleanout Sale

Picture of the Week
The Dollar Bill Rule

By the Book
How well do you know the rules of golf? Not as well as Gus Montano, the AJGA director of education. He'll test you here.

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Foreign Feeling

After winning the 2002 PING Junior Solheim Cup decisively, the U.S. team now understands the hardships of traveling abroad and attempting to retain the Cup.

by Steve Ethun

It’s easy to understand the confidence the 2003 U.S. PING Junior Solheim Cup team had as it meandered its way through six time zones to reach this year’s host club. Bokskogen Golf Club in Bara, Sweden, is far from the homes of the 12 girls chosen to represent the United States, but remembering what happened in 2002 made the 13-hour trip all the shorter.

For five of the team’s members – Amanda Blumenherst, Paula Creamer, Brittany Lincicome, Jennifer Pandolfi and Jane Park – the U.S. victory was still fresh in their minds. The remaining seven knew the bar was set high and what was expected of them. Don’t mistake this confidence for stereotypical American arrogance. When winning 17-7 in a two-day team match play event is the only score able to be referenced, the expectations were understandably high.

So when the morning foursome matches came and went on the first day of competition, the U.S. team’s attitude remained upbeat, winning enough to open up a small lead at 3.5 to 2.5.

Lauren Espinosa, Captain Val Skinner and Taylor Leon (l-r) on the first tee of Bokskogen Golf Club.

The highlight of the morning featured the Texas duo of Taylor Leon from Dallas and Lauren Espinosa from Irving against Europeans Adriana Zwank and Maria Hernandez. The match came to its final hole all square. The first-time U.S. PING Junior Solheim Cup members knew they would have to eagle the par-5 in order to win the match. After realizing this on the tee, Leon granted the twosome’s wish by holing out from 70 yards for the eagle and the win.

“We said a few encouraging words to each other and before I knew it, I was throwing up my hands yelling and hugging Lauren,” Leon said. “I have never felt so excited and so overjoyed in my life, knowing that Lauren and I helped out our team.”

“We were excited that we came all the way to Sweden and were able to lead after the first morning,” Beth Reuter said, vice captain to the LPGA’s Val Skinner. “We wanted to keep the confidence going into the afternoon.”

Skinner (right) escorts the U.S. junior team into the opening ceremonies of the Solheim Cup.

For the United States, even with identical pairings in the afternoon, something didn’t click during the four-ball matches. Maybe it was the massive time change setting in, or the food that looked a world apart from what the players were used to, or the four-club wind that haunted them all day. No matter the reasons, Europe won four of six matches and took the lead for the first time in the PING Junior Solheim Cup’s short history.

“We weren’t too worried because we knew we would be strong during singles matches,” Reuter explained. “Although we were a point down, we were ready to make it up.”

Also for the first time in the event’s history, perhaps, it was the European squad that had the confidence it needed for the victory – and it showed during the morning singles matches on the final day of competition. The squad won three of the first four matches out of the gate, burying the U.S. squad in a hole it was unable to dig out of the rest of the day.

Although the Americans won five of the final eight matches that morning, it was simply not enough.

“I think the girls were surprised and probably not ready to lose,” Reuter said. “It took a while to set in, but it was a good eye-opener for them. There was a lot we took for granted like the time change, food, weather or even playing in meters. So we all realized then how difficult it must have been last year when the Europeans had to play in the United States.”

News of Note:

• Before the U.S. PING Junior Solheim Cup Team departed for Sweden, the team learned that Morgan Pressel would not be able to participate due to the passing of her mother, Kathryn Krickstein Pressel, who lost her battle with cancer.
  
  “I think what motivated me and our team was Morgan,” Paula Creamer, U.S. team member, said. “We all wanted to play for her because she couldn’t make it. All of our thoughts and prayers were with her and her family.”
• Allison Goodman, Pressel’s replacement, found out she made the team when her mother came to her San Diego high school to alert her of what happened. “Are you sure they have the right person?” she asked.
  
  Goodman certainly deserved the honor. In 2003, she won the AJGA Marshallia Ranch Junior Classic, finished tied for second at the AJGA Boyne Highlands Junior and finished tied for third at the AJGA PING Junior at Sunriver Resort. Proving she belonged, Goodman was the only American to go undefeated at this year’s PING Junior Solheim Cup.