Golfers getting a taste of team camaraderie this week

Word has it that the Solheim Cup can get pretty wild. By golf standards, anyway.

As play opens this morning at Rich Harvest Farms in Sugar Grove, fans in the gallery will chant U-S-A, U-S-A. Others will yell Eur-ope, Eur-ope. And it will all happen while the American flag and flags from various countries in Europe will be waved like crazy.

Even the golfers themselves will likely show more emotion, fire and personality than they do during a normal tournament because the Solheim Cup is all about team. It's all about bragging rights. It's all about national pride.

Game on.

I went into Thursday's Opening Ceremony thinking that the craziness would officially be unleashed there.

And yes, there was a beach ball or two sailing through the stands prior to the start of the show. And yes, many of the 4,000 fans in attendance were warming up their vocal cords with the U-S-A and Eur-ope chants.

But by golf standards, the rest of the show was, well, pretty standard, pretty low-key. Until the pseudo butt squeeze, that is.

It was a quick moment. Not everyone caught it.

But, for athletes who spend their entire careers flying solo, it illustrated the fun they're having being on a team.

Part of the Opening Ceremony involves the raising of the flag of each country represented in the Solheim Cup. In addition to the United States, there are eight countries from Europe represented.

A golfer from each country was asked to leave the main stage and be escorted down a long walkway by a Northern Illinois ROTC cadet to her respective flagpole. She then raised her flag while her country's national anthem was sung by the Naperville Children's Choir.

When England's Laura Davies left the stage first, she met up with a cadet, put her arm in his arm, and they walked to her flagpole.

Then Gwladys Nocera of France was up. Instead of linking arms with her cadet, she put her arm around him - and heard it from her teammates.

Not to be outdone, Norway's Suzann Pettersen went a step further and pretended - yes, pretended - to grab her cadet's backside before linking arms.

Scandalous? Possibly. A great laugh back at the players' quarters? Definitely.

And that's what a big part of the Solheim Cup is to these players.

Clearly, there will be unforgettable moments this weekend that will happen on the golf course. But it's moments like that near squeeze, moments like the ping-pong games that the women play against each other in the players' quarters during their down time that they will remember for the rest of their lives.

As an athlete who has only played team sports, I've always been intrigued with the idea of being solely responsible for my own destiny, just like golfers and tennis players are.

But at the same time, I'd never want to trade the very special experience of being on a team and being a teammate.

Good for these world-class golfers that they're getting a taste of it.

"I grew up playing team sports my whole life before golf, and to have the opportunity again to be on a team is just overwhelming at times," said Meg Mallon, an assistant captain for the U.S. squad. "I love it. It's a goal for so many golfers to make this team because they really want to experience the team part of it, just being on a team."

Mallon added her own funny memory when she and fellow assistant U.S. captain Kelly Robbins simultaneously kissed their ROTC cadet on the cheek as they made their way to raise the American flag.

Not bad, but let's face it. It probably didn't get the laughs in the team quarters that the pretend moment did.

pbabcock@dailyherald.com <div class="infoBox"> <h1>More Coverage</h1> <div class="infoBoxContent"> <div class="infoArea"> <h2>Photo Galleries</h2> <ul class="gallery"> <li><a href="/story/?id=315268">Thursday images from the Solheim Cup </a></li> <li><a href="/story/?id=314990">Wednesday images from the Solheim Cup </a></li> <li><a href="/story/?id=314617">Tuesday images from the Solheim Cup </a></li> <li><a href="/story/?id=314310">Monday images from the Solheim Cup </a></li> </ul> <h2>Video</h2> <ul class="video"> <li><a href="http://www.dailyherald.com/multimedia/?category=18&type=video&item=3">Solheim Cup Opening </a></li> <li><a href="http://www.dailyherald.com/multimedia/?category=18&type=video&item=2">Solheim Cup After Sundown party </a></li> </ul> <h2>Related links</h2> <ul class="moreWeb"> <li><a href="/packages/2009/solheimcup/">Complete Daily Herald coverage of the Solheim Cup</a></li> </ul> </div> </div> </div>