Inkster Wore Two Hats on FOX

By: Nancy Berkley


Juli Inkster wore two hats as a FOX commentator during the recently concluded 2015 U.S. Women's Open in Lancaster, Pa. They weren't real hats but metaphors for her double role. In the TV booth she wore the "U.S. Women's Open" reporter hat. Her other invisible hat said "2015 Solheim Cup Captain." In mid-September, Inkster will captain Team USA, which will be comprised of 12 LPGA Tour players in the competition against Europe.

For the U.S. Women's Open, Inkster joined co-commentators Greg Norman and Joe Buck in the main broadcasting booth. With two U.S. Women's Open victories to her credit, she was a great choice for FOX at it moves into more golf coverage.

Her comments had a different style than the other announcers. Instead of technical talk and swing analysis, she focused on mental make-up, often mentioning a player's attitude and confidence. After Stacy Lewis missed a putt during Saturday's third round, her advice was to move on and "shake it off." Her concerns about a player's emotions will serve her well as the captain.

Unlike the current U.S. Women's Open, which was individual stroke play, the Solheim Cup is match play. Match play is scored hole by hole, incorporating wins, losses or ties. An easy way to understand match play is that if a player (or team) wins the first 10 of the scheduled 18 holes, the match is over. But don't expect that to happen at the Solheim Cup as most matches are not won or lost until the final few holes. And, in some cases, teams can end their match "all-square" and have to play extra holes until one team wins "1-up."

Inkster had the Solheim Cup on her mind as well. Several times during the Women's Open broadcast she analyzed the competition between contenders as if it were a match-play event, admiring a player who "bounced back" after a bad shot.

That made sense, because as Solheim Cup captain Inkster is thinking about the dozen women who will qualify for Team USA. They must have the emotional elements she mentioned frequently from the broadcasting booth. And they need to make putts under pressure.

Ten of the 12 will qualify for Team USA are based on points earned in LPGA tournaments over the past two seasons as well as the Rolex Rankings. Players earn double Solheim points for "major" victories, like this U.S. Women's Open and the upcoming Women's British Open to be played in Scotland at the end of July.

Inkster will also have two "captain's picks" for the team. Based on her comments during the U.S. Women's Open, it appears she will select players imbued with the kind of competitive spirit that she brought to her competitions. She even referred to the importance of having a "killer instinct." When Inkster said she liked the way Morgan Pressel was never short on a putt, or the way Lewis approached each putt with the confidence that "she can make everything," Inkster was probably wearing her Solheim Captain's hat.

In April, Juli took 16 LPGA Tour golfers to the CordeValle Resort south of San Francisco. She selected eight players at the top of the Solheim Cup points list at that time, while adding eight others who were likely candidates. She wanted to get to know the players personally and begin observing their attitudes and how they would come together as a "team" - not just as individual players.

But the players now atop of the points list are different from those in April, which makes the ultimate makeup of the American Solheim Cup Team still a moving target. There are five more tournaments on the LPGA schedule, including the Women's British Open with its double Solheim Cup points. The final points for Team USA will be computed after the Canadian Women's Open August 17 -23. The Solheim matches begin at the St. Leon-Rot Golf Club just outside Heidelberg, Germany, on September 17th and conclude on Sunday, September 20th.

To follow the Solheim Cup Point list for Team USA, go to http://www.solheimcupusa.com/events/us-solheim-cup-points.aspx. And follow Team USA on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/SolheimCupTeamUSA.

Nancy Berkley, President of Berkley Golf Consulting, is an expert on women's golf and junior-girls golf. She is a frequent contributor to www.cybergolf.com/womensgolf. Her book, "Women Welcome Here! A Guide to Growing Women's Golf," published by the National Golf Foundation, is an industry reference on marketing golf to women and spotting trends within the industry. She offers information and advice about the golf industry on www.berkleygolfconsulting.com and is often quoted in national publications. Nancy is a member of the World Golf Foundation Women's Committee that launched www.golfforher.com a comprehensive new website for all women golfers at the PGA Merchandise Show in January 2015 in Orlando, Fla. She is a featured speaker at PGA Section meetings and at national conferences. She was a contributing editor of "Golf for Women" magazine and a founding advisor of "Golfer Girl Magazine." Her interviews with women in the golf industry now appear on www.golfergirlcareers.com. Nancy lives in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., and is a graduate of the University of Minnesota, Harvard University and Rutgers Law School. After a business and legal career, she decided to write about the game she learned and loved as a teenager. She describes herself as a good bogey golfer with permanent potential.