MEDINAH, Ill. – My email friend Sam wants me to start a movement.
Here is what he wrote a couple of weeks ago:
Hello, Mr. Piastowski.
Week after week during the golf season as we watch the LPGA tournaments, we mostly see players from Korea, Thailand, Japan and China dominating the rankings.
When Nelly Korda plays, we almost always see her in the top three or five. Besides Nelly, there aren’t many others from the US or Europe to challenge the players from the countries above.
Well-recognized journalists like you should start a movement to encourage the LPGA Tour to organize a new Cup that will pit the best of the Asia-Pacific and other parts of the world against the United States/Europe.
Without a doubt, the Solheim Cup has a long history and is a well-promoted event. But that doesn’t change the fact that many of the best women’s players today come from elsewhere.
So let’s start a movement. OK, what do we need? First the truth, which is this:
Have you seen what an international women’s team would look like? It doesn’t just include the players the world ranking. Is it is it the world ranking. Below is a potential list of 12 women, plus a sub (which is included for a reason, which we’ll get to in a sec):
Jeeno Thitikul, Thailand, world no. 2
Haeran Ryu, Korea, World No. 3
Hyojoo Kim, Korea, World No. 4
Miyu Yamashita, Japan, World No. 5
Ruoning Yin, China, World No. 6
Sei Young Kim, Korea, World No. 9
Hannah Green, Australia, World No. 10
Brooke Henderson, Canada, World No. 11
Lydia Ko, New Zealand, World No. 12
Shiho Kuwaki, Japan, No. 13
Gaby Lopez, Mexico, world No. 14
Minsol Kim, Korea, World No. 15
Minjee Lee, Australia, world No. 16
On Tuesday afternoon, I scribbled out that list on a notepad and showed it to Ryan Fox of New Zealand.
“Is No. 16 the worst?” Fox said. “This would be the strongest team on paper of any of the teams — team USA, men’s team USA, whatever.
“Maybe that’s why they don’t do it.”
Maybe The thing is, here is it an International team – a men’s International. This week at Medinah Country ClubFox and 11 other of the best golfers outside of Europe play their event, the Presidents’ Cupwhere you will meet a dozen of the best Americans. And there is also the Solheim Cupwhich pits 12 American women against 12 European women – and had its last game two weeks ago, leading to Sam’s email. But there is no international team of 12 women. Because there is no international women’s event of 12 women.
Here is it a four-woman, eight-team event with international players – the Hanwha Lifeplus Corona Internationaland next year, it will be played at the Lake Merced Golf Club in California. But why no International version of the Solheim? One answer may come from the TV ratings – after all, this year’s Solheim, according to the Sports Business Journal. Josh Carpenterit attracted just 179,000 viewers to Golf Channel on Saturday and 170,000 on Sunday (By comparison, Sunday’s singles in the 2025 Ryder Cup at Bethpage Black reached 5.3 million viewers). But it was also played in the Netherlands, which is six hours ahead of the East Coast, and is played on the first week of the NFL season, which dominates everyone. You would also think, however, that an international women’s event would go well in the golf-crazy countries of the international side.
What about an international mixed event – six men and six women -? It’s a good idea, and it’s often suggested during the years of the Presidents Cup, due to uneven results (the Internationals have won only once in 15 attempts). Actually, I asked my email friend Sam, and he thought it could work, before adding: “It could be a disservice to those players. They need to show their talents on a woman from Europe / USA. The members of the international men’s team will also say, of course, that they believe they can close the gap in the record on their own.
But what our movement really needs is high-profile support, and here at Medinah we have it again and again.
From Fox. By Corey Conners. By Adam Scott. By Nick Taylor. By Si Woo Kim. By Tom Kim. From the international captain of those players this week, Geoff Ogilvy. To save you time, trust us that Si Woo Kim’s thoughts on a potential women’s team mirror everyone else’s: “These are a beast.”
But what about the brother of the 13th woman on the list? I also showed the list to Min Woo Lee of the Internationals.
“She’s a beautiful – yes, I mean the worst player is my sister, and she’s 16th in the world,” he said.
“Yeah, that would be a pretty good team.”
Even the Americans were on board. Xander Schauffele said he thought sponsors might buy it.
What our movement really needs is some spice.
And we have this too.
I showed the list to Wyndham Clark of the United States
“Yes, we had stress,” he said. “I mean, it’s basically two to 16 (in the world). Yeah, it would be tough.
“Maybe we shouldn’t do it because we’ll probably lose.”
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