Inkster's 'great ride' ends with whimper

Sunday's wrap-up of the Solheim Cup turned into a farewell for Juli Inkster. The U.S. veteran, 49, said this would be her last appearance as a player in the event.

''I'm not doing a Brett Favre,'' she said, ''but it's been a great ride. I just want to come out and watch. I'd love to be a captain some day.''

Inkster didn't exactly go out in style. She had a water ball and a crazy recovery shot from chest-high rough on the final pull en route to making a double bogey that enabled her European opponent, Gwladys Nocera to secure a halve in their match.

With an overall 15-10-6 record in eight Solheim Cups, Inkster was a stellar 6-1-1 in singles matches. Before her struggles on the last hole Inkster had rallied from 2-down with birdies at the 14th, 15th and 16th holes.

''That comeback was pretty darn gutsy,'' U.S. captain Beth Daniel said.

A WIE BIT

Daniel liked what she saw of Michelle Wie, one of her captain's picks.

''For anybody that's said Michelle Wie can't play under pressure, they were proven wrong,'' Daniel said. ''She did everything and more that we've asked of her. She was like walking on air. She was so pumped up I was worried about her maybe being too pumped up -- but it didn't seem to affect her.''

SECOND GUESSING

European captain Alison Nicholas took some heat for holding Laura Davies out of Saturday's matches while playing an apparently ailing Suzann Pettersen five times. Pettersen needed on-course treatment several times.

Nicholas said Pettersen was ''just a bit tight in her hip flexors ... nothing major.''

Davies, the only player to appear in all 11 Solheim Cups, was 0-1-1 in this one. Nicholas had said Davies ''was fine'' with sitting out three of the four four-ball and foursome matches, but Davies said otherwise.

''I didn't say she was fine about sitting out necessarily,'' Nicholas said. ''I miscommunicated that to you. She didn't say I'm fine about sitting out. Laura wants to play whenever she can.''

NEXT UP

With Chicago's first experience with the Solheim Cup now history, this focus on late-season tournaments shifts to the PGA Tour and the BMW Championship. The second event of the FedEx Cup playoff series returns to Cog Hill on Sept. 10 after being held at Bellerive in St. Louis last year.

The yearlong renovation of Cog Hill's Dubsdread course forced the move to St. Louis, and this year's BMW Championship will be the first major test for architect Rees Jones' renovation work.

PGA Tour officials weren't altogether pleased with the ''new'' Dubsdread after its opening in the spring. They ordered a major removal of sand in the bunkers after June's U.S. Open, and the sand depth is now 2 inches in the faces and sloping areas and 4 inches in the bottom parts.

Cog Hill owner Frank Jemsek has closed Dubsdread to public play today through Friday to facilitate more tournament preparations and play on Saturday and Sunday will be cart path only.

DOWN THE ROAD

The LPGA tour heads to Oregon this week for the $1.7 million Safeway Classic, a 54-hole event that tees off on Friday. Three of the Solheim Cup players decided last year's title in a playoff, with Cristie Kerr beating out Helen Alfredsson and Sophie Gustafson.

The next Solheim Cup, in 2011, will be held at Killeen Castle, a course in Ireland designed by Jack Nicklaus. It opened in April. The next Solheim in the U.S. will be at Colorado Golf Club in 2013.

Color Photo: Juli Inkster, 49, made a double bogey on her last hole that allowed Gwladys Nocera to halve their singles match on Sunday. ;