Solheim Cup preview, golf’s next made-for-TV event

Sign up every week for the unfiltered opinions of our writers and editors as they break down the hottest topics in sports and join the conversation by tweeting us at @golf_com. This week, we preview the Solheim Cup, discuss the newly announced made-for-TV golf tournament, and share our picks for the best deals in golf. And if you’re looking for our writers’ thoughts on last week’s President’s Cup captain’s picks, you can read about here.

The 19th game of Solheim Cup starts Friday through Sunday at the Robert Trent Jones Golf Club in Gainesville, Va. Last year, the USA and Europe tied for the first time in the event’s history, allowing Europe to retain the Cup for the third consecutive meeting. Who wins this year and why?

Josh Sens, senior writer (@joshsens): Team USA. Partly thanks to home-crowd advantage, but also because – with Lex playing in what will most likely be her last, and Korda coming off an epic season, the team has a good balance of fire and youthful experience – seems like the spirits of the game wish it was written.

Sean Zak, senior writer (@sean_zak): Wow, Josh Sens – great soul guy! Throw your tarot cards and see who is playing well. As much as Charley Hull, Esther Hensleit and a few Euros can burn right now, the best player is on Team USA, and so is the second best player in Lilia Vu. Andrea Lee played brilliantly at St. Andrews and Rose Zhang herself is on the verge of another great race. Not to mention pimples who are Lauren Coughlin and Ally Ewing. Team USA is going to win and I fear it may not be close.

Meaning: We are sorry. I promise to ditch the shrooms before our next table and stick strictly to shot data.

Zephyr Melton, assistant editor (@zephyrmelton): I like the Euros to continue their dominance. The Americans may be in solid form, but that hasn’t helped them much of late. When the lights shine brightest in these team events, the Europeans always seem to come out in droves.

Last year it was Spain Carlota Ciganda who stole the showfinishing 4-0 and defeating Nelly Korda 2 and 1 in singles play. Who will be the most important player for each team coming into next week and who will be the MVP of the event?

Meaning: For additional feel-good purposes, I’d like to say Lexi. But I have a sneaky feeling about captain-elect Jennifer Kupcho, on a fiery comeback from her torrid showing in Spain. (The caveat is that records in this format can be misleading, as they depend largely on how your partner and opponents play. For good reason, the MVP is often the main winner, who is not always the player who performed best or meant more to their team)

Zack: The most important? Lilia Vu. She is capable of winning five matches and is in good enough shape to do so. She went 1-3 last year, during the same season where she won two races. That’s not cutting it. The MVP will be Nelly Korda, who will play five games and be favored in each of them. She is well on her way back to dominance after a strange summer, and everything could click this week.

Melts: Gimme Leona Maguire from Team Europe. She has had an uneven 2024 so far, but she has been an absolute stud in this event in the last two matches. I like her to continue that trend and improve on her 7-2-1 Solheim Cup record. As for the Americans, it will be difficult for them to emerge victorious unless Nelly Korda and Lilia Vu play well.

Golfs the next made-for-TV match Rory McIlroy and Scottie Scheffler will face Bryson DeChambeau and Brooks Koepka in December in Las Vegas. What do you think about this match? And will the PGA Tour vs. LIV angle help with ratings?

Meaning: It helps better with ratings because, really, is there any other reason for the match? This is designed to feed directly from golf’s civil war and – outside of the majors, with a deal between the two tournaments nowhere in sight – it’s as close as the two circuits will get to giving the people what they want. Of course, it helps that you have four mega-names with lots of subplots/tensions in their relationships. But more than anything, it’s an extension of the ongoing battle in the men’s pro game. Fans and the media will give it all sorts of made-up meanings as well, using the results as some kind of proof of which tournament is more worthy. Birds will be plentiful. Ratings will be high. And people who already have a lot of money will make more by entertaining the masses with a manufactured ‘meaningful’ event. A perfect dessert for our time.

Zack: It’s truly a compelling matchup, pitting two of the Tour’s best three against two of LIV Golf’s best. You have Mr. Entertainer at Bryson, Mr. Jock at Brooks, Mr. Worldwide in Rory and Mr. It’s as compelling a product as you can get without the names Woods, Mickelson and Spieth. I’m sure it will be marketed as some sort of war, but I hope it isn’t. Because these guys don’t like each other. I hope it will be a proving ground for many things. After all, it’s probably just 12 or 18 holes of fun play.

Melts: I’m certainly intrigued by the event, and having a LIV-PGA Tour angle should do a great job adding hype to the match. Will that be enough to generate some much-needed upside? I am suspicious.

Does the PGA Tour vs. LIV draw hint that the two sides could be getting closer to a deal? Or at least learn how to coexist? How valuable can mini-treaties like this be to the future of pro golf?

Meaning: Does anyone, even the main actors themselves, have any idea how far or close they are to the deal? With so many moving parts and parties to appease, I get the sense that even those directly involved aren’t sure what a final deal would look like. Meanwhile, a match like this looks like a search for ways to coexist profitably. Purists may not see it as a great sign for the golf pro, but if you look at the game purely as an entertainment product, it seems like a smart move to me.

Zack: Let’s call this a mini-treatise then. I think it’s valid in the sense that the ratings will improve from the last game: a Skins game with Rory vs. Lexi Thompson vs. Max Homa vs. Rose Zhang. I think it’s worth putting the LIV players on the same playing field as the Tour stars in December (when they might normally be out of the public eye). I think it’s worth doing it all in a non-major championship. Will any “no” from the boardroom bring him closer to “yes”? I don’t think so.

Melts: I’m a little tired of analyzing every little thing in golf in the context of the Tour vs. LIV battle. The truth is, no one knows what will come next, except for a select few in the negotiations. I’m not putting too much stock in this event being a harbinger of things to come.

Speaking to LIV Golf, it released its dates and venues for the first four tournaments of 2025, and while they will all be played internationally, they will all be played during the same weeks as some of the PGA Tour’s biggest events – WM Phoenix Open, Genesis Invitational, Arnold Palmer Invitational and The Players Championship. Why would LIV Golf plan these to compete directly with the Tour? Does it matter?

Meaning: At first glance, you could read it as a bow from LIV, especially going up against the tough Phoenix Open, which is probably the closest the Tour offers to the atmosphere of a LIV event. But I don’t think it’s worth making too much sense of any of that, other than to point out that LIV is going on, fueled by an endless budget, and that those dates in those places fit in pretty well. As a serious contender for the Tour’s mainstream audience, it doesn’t seem like much more than a lot of spit in the wind.

Zack: LIV can’t compete with the tour for eyeballs, but I suppose it can try to influence the ratings the tour is most proud of? He can also put on the best events he can and produce social clips of players drinking beers without shoes during weeks where the PGA Tour is cool, laid back and relaxed on the Riviera. It won’t matter, after all, for the tournaments on the ground during these weeks, because the international time zones where LIV will be played means they won’t be competing directly. And at the end of the day, there are about 10-15 golfers at LIV that fans really want to watch. And there are at least two to three times on the PGA Tour.

Melts: Truth be told, it doesn’t really matter when LIV plans their events as it ties in with the tour events. While the tournament ratings may be low, they still dwarf the number of eyeballs LIV draws. I’m sure there’s a deeper meaning to this scheduling decision, but ultimately it doesn’t change the fact that LIV doesn’t move the needle.

Last week, we published our first list of America’s best golf courses you can play for $100 or less. What is the best course by this criteria – whether it’s on this list or not – that you’ve ever played?

Meaning: Since I just made this case on our site on Friday, I’ll have to stay with George Wright, just outside of Boston. A wonderful muni designed by Donald Ross under the care of a wonderful superintendent who has made the most of a minimal maintenance budget. It’s a great walk and a fun challenge in a green space that takes you away from the urban noise, even though it’s less than 8 miles from the city center.

Zak: It’s hard to think of a better golf course for $35 than Aiken Golf Club, in Aiken, SC It’s that simple and that good. Driveable par-4s, long par-3s, pines, tight lies, tight greens, tall pines and elevation changes. And all 35 minutes drive from Augusta, Ga. If you’re bringing the clubs on a Masters trip in early April, you better not miss this one.

Melts: Zak is correct in his assessment of Aiken. I played it for the first time this spring and absolutely loved it. As far as the best deals in my neck of the woods, it’s hard to beat the $75 green fee for NY residents at Bethpage Black. Being able to put it together at a major championship and future Ryder Cup host for less than $100 is an incredible bargain.