Why Ryder Cup and Solheim Cup ought to all the time be in successive weeks

The Solheim Cup begins Friday at Finca Cortesín in Southern Spain, the place the 12 greatest European feminine golfers sq. off towards the 12 best American gamers.

It’s the LPGA equal of the Ryder Cup, which begins the next Friday, on Sept. 29, in Rome, Italy.

This marks the primary time since 2002 that the Solheim and Ryder Cups had been contested in back-to-back weeks.

But, it needs to be performed in back-to-back weeks each two years for the foreseeable future.

Why Ryder Cup, Solheim Cup needs to be performed in successive weeks

It will be good for the sport of golf.

Stacy Lewis, the captain of this 12 months’s U.S. Solheim Cup group, agrees.

“I really suppose for the great of the sport… I believe two weeks like this may very well be actually cool if we may proceed it for the long run,” Lewis mentioned Wednesday. “I really actually like them in the identical 12 months, if we will get some frequent floor and do it collectively.”

Photograph by Stuart Franklin/Getty Photos

Golf’s organizing our bodies have talked about ‘rising the sport’ repeatedly on the ladies’s facet for years.

Having the Ryder Cup following the Solheim Cup would accomplish simply that.

Undoubtedly, the Ryder Cup is likely one of the most beloved tournaments in sports activities. Golfers play for way more than simply themselves.

They play for one another.

They play for the followers.

They play for his or her nation.

The identical mantra applies to the Solheim Cup.

“The Solheim Cups have been my absolute favourite weeks on tour and this week has even been a lot extra particular,” mentioned Natalie Gulbis, one of many vice-captains for the American facet. “The gamers are unimaginable, and our captain and my fellow captains have been such a pleasure to work with.”

There’s immense ardour for this competitors on the ladies’s facet. That love for the Solheim Cup will likely be exemplified additional in 2023 due to the Ryder Cup that follows.

Everybody in golf has talked concerning the Ryder Cup for months, primarily due to how LIV Golf will affect the biennial competitors.

The 2023 Ryder Cup very nicely may very well be probably the most anticipated version in its illustrious historical past, which solely helps these taking part in within the Solheim Cup this week.

Golf followers will get a way of the monumental competitors that exists between the U.S. and Europe by tuning into the 2023 Solheim Cup. Plus, it is going to assist present perspective on the ladies’s sport.

Photograph by Angel Martinez/Getty Photos

Nevertheless, the powers that be have determined that the Solheim Cup will return in 2024, not 2025, which is when the subsequent Ryder Cup is scheduled.

Match organizers wished to schedule the Solheim and Ryder Cups in reverse years, therefore the change. Curiously, this transfer appears opposite to serving to develop the ladies’s sport.

Alas, subsequent 12 months’s Solheim Cup will likely be at Robert Trent Jones Golf Membership in Northern Virginia, whereas the 2025 Ryder Cup will likely be at Bethpage Black on Lengthy Island.

Unexpected circumstances pressured these preliminary modifications to the schedule. The 2002 competitions had an analogous destiny.

In 2001, the U.S. and European groups had been getting ready to play within the Ryder Cup at The Belfry in England.

Then Sept. 11 occurred, and the governing our bodies rightfully postponed the Ryder Cup to September 2002.

19 years later, in 2020, with the COVID-19 pandemic raging, organizers postponed the 2020 Ryder Cup at Whistling Straits to September 2021.

Two years in the past, the Solheim Cup was contested in early September, whereas the Ryder Cup occurred on the finish of the month.

This 12 months, they happen in consecutive weeks, and that ought to stay the case without end.

Use the Ryder Cup to assist the Solheim Cup and provides the perfect feminine gamers the platform they need to shine on a world stage.

It’s a simple choice to make.

Jack Milko is a golf employees author for SB Nation’s Taking part in By way of. You’ll be able to observe him on Twitter @jack_milko for extra golf protection. Be sure you try @_PlayingThrough too.