The Americans went into the final-day singles on Sunday trailing
10-6 but manufactured a thrilling 14 1/2 points to 13 1/2 victory in
front of 29,000 fans at the St Leon-Rot Club.
Azinger plotted Europe's downfall seven years ago by separating his
12 players into three pods of four at Valhalla in the Ryder Cup, the
biennial men's competition between European and American teams.
U.S. skipper Inkster said she had employed the same strategy for the
14th edition of the women's equivalent in a bid to get her team to
gel in a short period of time.
"I felt like it was really hard to get 12 women to really mesh in a
week, even though they all know each other and they all get along,"
the 55-year-old told reporters.
"I had them each take a personality profile test ... and it's worked
out amazing as far as the camaraderie in each little pod. They love
it.
"They eat together, they sit on the bus in a group. It's been a lot
of fun."
Stacy Lewis, Lizette Salas, Brittany Lang and Gerina Piller were in
one pod, Paula Creamer, Morgan Pressel, Cristie Kerr and Lexi
Thompson another, and Michelle Wie, Angela Stanford, Alison Lee and
Brittany Lincicome were in a third.
"I don't think I've ever wanted to win more in my life than for this
time and for Juli," said Kerr after ending 19-year-old Charley
Hull's 100 percent record by winning their singles match 3 and 2.
"It's been a great journey, amazing how she brought us together."
[to top of second column] |
Creamer, who delivered the winning point on Sunday, was similarly
effusive about the job done by Inkster.
"We came out of that locker room with one goal and that was to
dominate and to play strong and we did that because of Juli," said
Creamer.
"All of us might hit the ball, the putts and everything like that
but Juli definitely gave us the words and we did it all for her."
Inkster, a veteran of nine Solheim Cups as a player, said she would
love to captain the side again for the next edition in Iowa in 2017.
"I've never seen a team bond so much, get along so much, hug each
other and tell each other stories," added the seven-times major
winner.
"It was great to be able to share that with them."
(Editing by Peter Rutherford)
[© 2015 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.]
Copyright 2015 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
|