Philadelphia, PA (My Sportsbook) - Out of nowhere, ladies and gentlemen, it's the Solheim Cup.

The reason this is out of nowhere is that it has been three weeks since the last time the LPGA Tour played, in the Women's British Open, which was the final chance to qualify for everyone on both sides.

Beth Daniel for the U.S. and Alison Nicholas from Europe subsequently made their picks, and teams were finalized.

And there's been no golf since.

Usually the captains get some time to evaluate their prospective picks before selecting them, or the media and public gets a chance to see the captain's picks in action and to criticize them for tabbing those players in the first place.

But in 2009, we get the completion of sides, wait, and away we go from beautiful Rich Harvest Farms.

Seems the only thing the sides have been doing is Tweeting.

Hopefully practicing as well. With all of this time, everyone has had time to get their games back if they were missing, or perfecting in the case of some of the hotter players in the field.

Three weeks is still a long time to wait.

If you remember back that far, Daniel was the one under the biggest microscope. Almost everyone assumed captain-in-waiting Juli Inkster would get one of the spots, but would Daniel actually pick Michelle Wie as her second pick?

She did, with gusto, and she was right. No one Daniel could've selected was playing as well as Wie did this summer. Wie had three top-threes in 2009 and no one on the outside looking into the American team can boast anything close to that.

For Nicholas, her anguish began last year.

Imagine you get the nod to lead your Solheim Cup team after a career dedicated to the Ladies European Tour. It's as big an honor professionally as you can receive.

Then Annika Sorenstam retires on you.

Nicholas should consider calling Paul Azinger and ask him how he handled it when Tiger Woods missed the Ryder Cup after his knee surgery. At least Nicholas has had over a year to make her contingency plans.

Her side is talented, mind you. Nicholas' team has three players ranked in the top 15 in the World Rankings, including Catriona Matthew, who won the Women's British Open the day the Solheim Cup teams were made.

Nicholas' group lacks experience up and down her roster, but who's the only player who has participated in all 11 Solheim Cups? Laura Davies, and she's back. Sophie Gustafson is a veteran. Helen Alfredsson was captain for Europe in 2007, but had two wins last year and is back as a player.

"It's going to be so nice that I can ask to have a banana for lunch instead of delivering the banana for the whole team," joked Alfredsson.

As always, the European team boasts strong players who few in the U.S. know a single thing about. But, they are as good as their American counterparts.

Would it shock you to know that Diana Luna, Becky Brewerton and Tania Elosegui have combined for more wins in Europe this season than Paula Creamer, Morgan Pressel and Wie have on the LPGA Tour? Four more, actually. 4-0.

Granted, the LPGA Tour is a little tougher than the Ladies European Tour, but the point is that these ladies from Italy, Wales and Spain have plenty of game.

Of course their American counterparts do as well. Creamer may not have won this year, but she's fourth in the world, one spot below her teammate, Cristie Kerr.

This team has only two rookies - Brittany Lang and Wie.

Wie is going to be a mainstay on this team for years to come. Better to bring her on board now, because the perception that her teammates don't like her is a legitimate concern.

Wie has been resented since she burst on to the golf scene. Truthfully, Wie's earned the resentment with her talk of how she wanted to excel on the men's tours. She finally realized that notion was ridiculous, and she ought to consider beating women once before those grand plans for male domination.

Wie has come to that realization and the Solheim Cup is a perfect setting for her peers to get to know her better. The team has been together over the weekend, and can get to know the real Wie.

The U.S. is always the feistier of the two on the course. They perform cheers and paint their faces and wear American flags in their hair. That is all well and good, but you better back it up on the course.

This team will.

The Sorenstam loss will be crippling for the Europeans. She instilled confidence in everyone with whom she played and could beat anyone in any format. Sorenstam was the leader. Sure, there were captains, but Annika owned these teams once she started catching fire on the course around 2000.

In her absence, leadership falls to Nicholas, obviously, but also to Davies, who always could handle it. The question is, do the quiet Gustafsons, Pettersens and Matthews want that role? Probably not.

Europe is good and this won't be a humiliating rout, but the U.S. is the superior team. They have better depth, better experience, better players and the home field edge.

Be ready for the cheers. There will plenty of "U-S-A" chants wringing through Rich Harvest.

Maybe some will even be for Wie.