Kan makes debut with Purdue

   Aurora Kan, the three-time Daily Times Player of the Year at Chichester and 2010 PIAA champion, was in deep waters as she made her debut with the Purdue women's golf team at last weekend's Mason Rudolph Fall Preview.
   The 18-team field featured the top 13 teams in the country, including the Boilermakers, who were ranked sixth going into the event. The Mason Rudolph was played on the Vanderbilt Legends Club North Course in Franklin, Tenn. where the 2012 NCAA Tournament will be contested.
   Kan opened her Purdue career with a 5-over 77, which actually tied her with junior Paula Reto for the low score among the Boilermakers. She struggled a little after that, posting an 80 Saturday and an 84 Sunday for a 241 total that left her in 84th place.
   Reto, a native of Capetown, South Africa, bounced back with a 3-under 69 Saturday and a 76 Sunday and finished in a tie for 22nd at 222. Junior Laura Gonzalez-Escallon had Purdue's low round Sunday with her second straight 73 and finished in a tie for 39th with a 226 total.
   Kan's 241 total was third among the Boilermakers, a shot better than redishrt junior Kishi Sinha, who was 85th at 242 and five shots better than Jam Viairatana, who was 89th at 246.
   Purdue's 930 total (313-302-315) left it in last place among as strong a women's collegiate field as will be assembled this fall. Top-ranked UCLA won the team title for the third time in five years with rounds of  296, 283 and 294 for an 873 total. No. 3 Alabama was six shots back in second at 879 (296-289-294).

Disappointment for U.S. at Solheim Cup

   The most compelling TV for this golf nut last weekend was the Solheim Cup, particularly the final matches as the homestanding Europeans pulled out a 17-15 victory to lay claim to the Cup for the first time since 2003.
   Taking nothing away from the European victory, but it might have been a different story had Cristie Kerr not been forced to forfeit her singles match after tendinitis in her arm worsened over the weekend.
   A tearful Kerr recounted how the injury suddenly went from bad to worse overnight from Saturday and Sunday to the point that she could not even grip the club.
   For most of their competitive lives, golfers play an individual sport. If a golfer is hurt, the only person affected is that golfer. Kerr was clearly devastated that this injury would come when it would affect the U.S. team, not just her.
   "The team," an emotional Kerr said, "to let down the team when they're counting on me really hurts."
   Obviously the U.S. players played their hearts out to try to take the onus off  Kerr, but couldn't quite pull it off.
   The Michelle Wie-Suzann Pettersen match featured high drama with Pettersen making birdies at the last three holes to edge Wie for a crucial point.
    With Pettersen four feet from the hole for birdie on the 17th hole, Wie drained a 20-foot birdie putt to put the pressure back on Pettersen. The Norwegian's sometimes balky putter was up to the task, though. And she made one more birdie at the 18th to finish off Wie.
   If Wie was somehow able to capture the kind of intensity she showed down the stretch of her match with Pettersen during regular stroke-play events, she might be able to live up to the unlimited promise her game sometimes shows.
   There will no doubt be something of an uproar over the U.S. women losing this competition. Their male counterparts are taking a fairly regular beating for the U.S. becoming a second-rate golf power, although the Red, White and Blue can still trot out a pretty competitive side when the Ryder or Presidents Cups are up for grabs.
   But it should be pointed out that three of the top young European players -- three players who were involved in three crucial matches down the stretch in the Solheim Cup -- owe some of the development of their games to college golf in the good old U.S. of A.
   Spain's Azahara Munoz, who downed Angela Stanford, 1-up, was the 2008 NCAA indivdual champion as a junior at Arizona State. Sweden's Caroline Hedwell, who pulled out a crucial half with Ryann O'Toole, was the 2010 NCAA individual champion at Oklahoma State. And The Netherlands' Christel Boeijon, who claimed a 2-up win over Brittany Lincicome, was the NCAA runnerup in 2007 at Purdue.
   So while the European victory was a testament to the team's talent and guts, give NCAA Division I women's college golf a little bit of an assist as well.