Sky Sports.com

Soren Hansen: Second win

I had this nagging feeling at the back of my mind that come the singles there was a golfing class between the Europeans and the Americans.

Mark Roe
Quotes of the week

Also see

• EuroTour Schedule
• World Rankings
• Golf live on Sky Sports

After some terrible weather and some terrific golf, it was the Americans, in the end, who took retained and took home the Solheim Cup from Sweden.

The US team played very well but it was also an extraordinary performance by the European Ladies for the first four sessions in the foursomes and fourballs to hang in there and take a one-point lead into the final day. That they held a lead after two days of golf was a fantastic tribute to their team spirit, fighting spirit and the fantastic way they hung in there.

They made so many clutch shots and fantastic chips to take that lead and Laura Davies perhaps played the shot of the weekend. It came in Friday's fourballs when, on the 16th hole, she found the bushes 50 yards to the right of the green, pounded her second out of the bushes through the trees and to the water across to the other side of the green, only to chip in from there for a Harry Houdini-like par three to win the hole.

Davies and Trish Johnson went on to to take a point out of that game with Paul Creamer and Morgan Pressel and I think they epitomised just how they hung in there over the first two days.

But I had this nagging feeling at the back of my mind that come the singles there was a golfing class between the Europeans and the Americans, and that showed in the world rankings of the individual players. On average the Americans were nearly twice as as good as their European opponents in the rankings per player and their power and strength was going to show.

I don't think the weather was too kind to the Europeans on the Sunday because had it remained inclement, we might have had a closer score in the singles, but the wind died a bit, the rain held off and the Americans quite simply won the event with their superior iron play.

It was a great team performance by the Americans but there were a couple of individuals whose golf caught the eye. The composure of 19-year-old Morgan Pressel to take on, and beat, Annika Sorenstam was a brilliant performance. She wasn't overawed by one of the greatest lady players of all time.

Stacy P, as they call her, Stacy Prammanasudh's short game was absolutely fantastic and Nicole Castrale was four-under par after six holes of the singles, and you just can't live with that sort of golf.

There were some bright stars for the Europeans though too in Becky Brewerton, who came out with a half in the singles against Sherri Steinhauer, and also Linda Wessberg, who followed her half point in her Solheim Cup debut on Friday evening in the fourballs with a 1up win over World No.4 and US Open champion Cristie Kerr on Sunday in the singles.

Those were some highlights for the European ladies and they can hold their heads up having done remarkably well to lead the Americans after the first four sessions.

It must have been an immensely tiring week but they did very well. In the end though there was a gulf in class in the singles on Sunday afternoon.

Great Dane

Our work here at Sky Sports last week wasn't exclusive to the Solheim Cup though and we also followed the Mercedes Benz Championship in Cologne where Soren Hansen secured his second European title, five years after his first in Ireland.

I played with Soren many, many times over my years on the Tour and I can't remember ever playing with a golfer that made the game look easier. We all know the game of golf is not easy, but he had such a simple technique, that he made it look such an easy game to play.

Every time I would play with him I would wonder why he wasn't winning every week and why he wasn't one of the Tour's superstars. Now he is one.

He didn't have a great start to this year though. He was 121st in the Order of Merit going into the French Open, where he finished second, winning 440,000 Euros. That turned his season around straightaway, giving him confidence and reconfirming his belief in his game.

He had a further second place in the Deutsche Bank which won him a further 314,000 Euros and so before he arrived at the Mercedes Benz, he already had a over one million Euros in the bank and was in the top 15 in the Order of Merit.

His career is snowballing and all he needed was a win. Now he has it with a breathaking performance at Gut Lärchenhof. It was a fantastic performance and his two eagles on the back nine, when everyone else was jostling for position, blew the field away; he cruised home.

It was richly deserved and not only has he won himself a lot of money but a place in the European team for the Seve Trophy - those are the bonuses that come your way when you win.

He will also tee up at the HSBC World Matchplay - which is worth a lot of money - and he is in now ranked 49th in the Official World Rankings, which means he will be looking for places in the World Golf Championship events and majors.

All of these good things come when you have a good season, and it has been a truly great season for Soren. It might get better still too because he will win again now that he has the confidence back.