CASARES, Spain — The Solheim Cup is all about the very best feminine golfers on this planet, however because it pertains to the opening tee pictures of this week’s matches, the highest quote was delivered by a person. 

Spanish legend Jose Maria Olazabal ushered the Solheim Cup trophy to the raucous 1st tee earlier than dawn Friday morning, and shortly he had management of the mic. As Linn Grant and Maja Stark stood inside earshot simply ft away, Olazabal was requested a stunningly pertinent query: How do you deal with tee pictures on this chaos?

“I don’t understand how you deal with them,” Olazabal mentioned. “I used to be shaking like a leaf. Tee it up, swing…and shut your eyes.”

It stays one in all golf’s most blatant truisms: there’s simply nothing like the first tee at these staff occasions. 

Spectators poured into the grounds at 6 a.m. right here within the south of Spain, two hours earlier than dawn. Possibly a dozen of them went to the driving vary, which is specified by such an intimate manner you may attain out and seize the clubhead of the professionals swinging in entrance of you. Everybody else, it appeared, was on a beeline for the first tee grandstand, the place a mixture of 80s hits and European DJ mixes thumped by live performance audio system. 

“Merely the Finest” by Tina Turner appears to be Suzann Pettersen’s favourite tune. Earlier this week she bellowed it at her European gamers throughout observe rounds. Then she used it as her entrance music Friday morning, dancing her manner down the blue carpet runway. Women and men in full-body banana fits whipped themselves right into a frenzy. Their pink, white and blue counterparts had been within the subsequent part over, break up by 5 ft of stairwell. Junior Solheim Cuppers — a few of them will play within the 2030 Solheim Cup, little question — had been there all morning, up in opposition to the rails of the primary row. 

You’ll see one thing related subsequent week on the Ryder Cup in Italy — a incredible buildout and 1000’s of rabid followers screaming their Olès and U-S-As. However in some way the Whistling Straits power appeared underwhelming two years in the past on the Ryder Cup in Wisconsin.

Between the temperature, the wake-up time and the DJ-curated playlist, no quantity of power is assured. However no matter’s within the water this week on the Solheim Cup appears to have threaded the needle completely. The VIP platform — with the households and mates and LPGA legends — was essentially the most boring place inside 50 yards of the tee field. You needed to be in the stands with the crazies.

This week’s grandstand is as massive as bodily potential, contemplating it was constructed into the facet of a mountain. When you added any extra our bodies to it, the entire thing would possibly simply slide down the ravine. Occasion organizers rearranged the course routing to kick off matches on what’s often Finca Cortesin’s fourth gap, a 280-yard drivable par-4 with a 245-yard carry over a water hazard, including a layer of rigidity to an already nervy scenario. There’s no hitting 4-irons for consolation. 

For Lexi Thompson, a 6-time Solheim Cupper who has missed extra cuts than she’s made this yr, that first tee ball couldn’t have been comfy. She’s struggled extra this yr than the remainder of her profession mixed, however Crew USA has the dignity on the tee all week and captain Stacy Lewis despatched her out first. It didn’t assist that the breeze was in and off the fitting, begging to information a draw into the water. She squeezed out a fast smile throughout her introduction, however not way more.

The gang reached a fever pitch not lengthy later. It had warmed to 75 levels. Pink cirrus clouds and a single drone hung overhead. It was the sort of setting you’d sit in ceaselessly. However earlier than lengthy, Thompson caught a peg within the floor, interrupting the chaos for the primary time in hours with full silence. Not simply out of courtesy, but in addition as a result of one of many gamers who has struggled most this yr had chosen the aggressive play. PGA of America CEO Seth Waugh rotated within the VIP part, raised his eyebrows and whispered the ominous phrases everybody was pondering: “Oh, she’s hitting driver.”

Driver into the wind on the drivable par 4. Precisely what the individuals need. Precisely the way you kick-start a event. The one sound that remained was a stressed toddler cooing within the stands. Was it immediately…too quiet?

However then, just some seconds earlier than Thompson pulled again on her driver, the infant calmed, too. Full silence, interrupted solely by membership on ball. Thompson cleared the water with an influence fade, bouncing into the greenside bunker. It was early and the solar was nonetheless rising over the mountains, however nobody wanted any espresso. Human power was in large abundance.