NEW YORK — United States captain Juli Inkster opted for both experience and a vocal locker room presence in announcing Paula Creamer and Brittany Lang Monday as her two wildcard picks for this year's Solheim Cup. Creamer, 29, will make her sixth appearance in the biennial team competition against Europe while Lang, 30, will play on her fourth US team when the 14th edition of the event will be held from Sept. 18-20 at the St Leon-Rot Golf Club in Germany. “I'm very pleased with my two captain's picks,” said Inkster, who announced her selections on Golf Channel. “They add a lot to the team not just as far as golf but chemistry and experience. They are very competitive players.” Lang boasts a 5-4-2 overall record after representing the US at the Solheim Cup in 2009, 2011 and 2013, leading the team with three points in her most recent appearance. Creamer, whose only major victory came at the 2010 US Women's Open, has a Cup record of 12-6-5 and ranks third in the all-time points standings for her country. Creamer and Lang will join Stacy Lewis, Lexi Thompson, Cristie Kerr, Michelle Wie, Brittany Lincicome, Morgan Pressel, Angela Stanford, Gerina Piller, Alison Lee and Lizette Salas, who had already qualified for the team. Holder Europe will bid to win the trophy for a third successive time. Europe's cup wildcards Europe captain Carin Koch has named Karine Icher, Caroline Hedwall, Caroline Masson and Catriona Matthew as her four wildcard picks for next month's Solheim Cup. Frenchwoman Icher, Swede Hedwall, German Masson and Scot Matthew join Suzann Pettersen, Gwladys Nocera, Charley Hull, Melissa Reid, Anna Nordqvist, Azahara Munoz, Sandra Gal and Carlota Ciganda in Koch's 12-strong team. Presidents Cup to reduce number of matches The PGA Tour agreed Monday to reduce by four the number of matches in the Presidents Cup, giving the event its fewest matches since it began in 1994. International team captain Nick Price has been lobbying for the change to help keep the matches close and interesting. The Americans have won the last five times by a combined score of 95-75, and by at least three points each time. For the Presidents Cup in South Korea on Oct. 8-11, Thursday and Friday will have five matches (fourballs or foursomes), down from six matches. Saturday will consist of four matches of fourballs and foursomes, followed by 12 singles matches Sunday. Each player will be required to compete in two of the four team matches. Previously, all players had to compete in at least three team matches. The Presidents Cup began in 1994 with 32 matches and went to 34 matches in 2003. The Presidents Cup was created to give international players from outside Europe a chance to compete in a team event made popular by the Ryder Cup. At the time, four of the top 10 in the world ranking were Price, Greg Norman, Ernie Els and David Frost. The Americans had just two players (Fred Couples and Corey Pavin) in the top 10. But this has been a lopsided event with a few exceptions. The Americans have won eight out of 10 times, and the combined score in those eight victories was 153-113. The International team's lone victory was 20½-11½ in 1998 at Royal Melbourne, and the matches ended in a draw in South Africa in 2003. — Agencies
