First tee tradition lives on as Solheim fans crank up the volume
Oh, they tried.
Singing "We all love the European team" to the strains of the Beatles' "Yellow Submarine" off printed songsheets, a small band of European supporters in the bleachers behind the first tee at Rich Harvest Farms tried to make their presence felt early Friday morning.
It didn't go too well.
They were simply outnumbered.
Just as American team members and coaches had been saying for weeks, the first tee during Friday's opening round of play in the 2009 Solheim Cup was the place to be thanks to a vocal, passionate and just plain fun group of American backers.
"This is the ah-ha moment," executive director Kelly Hyne said, beaming as she looked up at the madness.
The partisan crowd chanted for its country, its colors and its players, going wild when the first set of American players - Paula Creamer and Cristie Kerr - walked onto the tee box.
But when Europe's Sophie Gustafson stepped up to hit the first shot of Solheim Cup competition, it was amazing to behold how a crowd so boisterous could get so quite so quickly so that all that could be heard were the flags above the bleachers fluttering in the strong breeze.
Soaking in all the flavor a few feet from the first tee was Kathy Whitworth, perhaps the greatest player in LPGA history and the captain of the first two U.S. Solheim Cup teams.
The Hall of Famer, the eight-time LPGA Tour money leader and the seven-time LPGA Player of the Year winner was there when the discussions of creating the Solheim Cup began, and she was there when only a few hundred fans showed up to watch the inaugural event.
Now she was here in Sugar Grove for the 11th edition of the highly successful franchise.
"When we first started discussing this in 1989-90 with the Solheim family we didn't know where we were going with this and if it was going to work because the European Tour was not all that strong," Whitworth said. "The first Solheim was a little raggedy around the ears I guess, but we thought it was so much fun.
"The second Solheim, the Europeans won and I think that established that it was going to be a good competition."
And now it has become quite a monster.
Before the final group - featuring Michelle Wie and Morgan Pressel - hit the tee, the four American players not participating in the morning competition went up in the stands high-fiving and leading cheers, whipping an already boisterous crowd into a frenzy.
Whitworth, along with the handful of VIPs on the tee box, was loving every minute of it.
"I don't think anyone knew where it was going to go. Like today, this is great," the soft-spoken Texan said. "And it keeps growing and getting better. I had absolutely no idea that it was going to turn out like this. It's great fun to see.
"And it's just the happening every two years. The players gear up for it. That's all they talk about."
Joining Whitworth this week at RHF were a couple of members of her inaugural U.S. team.
Care to guess what they were talking about?
"This is great to see, but I tell you what, I wouldn't give up those early days," Whitworth said with a smile. "I just loved it. I wouldn't trade that for anything."