The Solheim Cup: media representations of golf, gender and national identity (Pre-published)

Abstract

The increasing inclusion of women in sport has been mediated by societal gendered expectations. It is an oft-cited notion that sport is “an institution created by and for men” (Messner and Sabo, 1990: 9), and sport is subsequently inherently rooted in assumptions of hegemonic forms of masculinity (Connell, 1987). This has historically made women’s involvement in most sports problematic, constrained by gender norms and medical myths which symbolically rendered them unsuitable for participation in sport. Unsurprisingly, female golfers have struggled for equality in a golf culture that, like most sports, is “widely regarded as male dominated and exclusionary” (Kitching, 2017: 404). Reis and Correia (2013: 324) highlight that the sport has a “cultural tradition of for-gentlemen-only-clubs that has excluded women from clubhouses and from practising golf”. Despite women’s involvement in the sport dating back to the sixteenth century, women were often symbolically excluded from golf; they could play, but not with the same freedom or flexibility as men. Where they were excluded from full membership and playing rights, women were forced to form ladies’ sections, initiated by the St. Andrews Ladies’ Golf Club in 1867 (George, 2009), and subsequently women’s golf developed independently from the men’s game, with the Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) forming in 1950 and the Ladies European Tour (LET) in 1978. Scholars have highlighted several women throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries that learned and played the sport, and subsequently excelled as golfers, challenging the male hegemony of the game (George, 2009; Reis and Correia, 2013).

Whilst feminist commentators have highlighted sport as a “fundamentally sexist institution that is male dominated and masculine in orientation” (Theberge, 1981: 342), women have continued to engage with sport as both athletes and spectators. In the twenty-first century, Messner and Cooky (2018) highlight a gender transformation in the USA, noting that millions of girls are taking up sports such as football and basketball, and largely attribute this to shifts in the cultural expectation for and acceptance of girls’ athleticism. In a UK context, Velija and Malcolm (2009: 629) claim that “it is widely accepted that there are now more opportunities for females to be involved in sports than ever before”. However, in golf - whilst acknowledged as one of the most successful (and lucrative) professional sports organisations for women - it has been noted by Kitching (2017) that exclusionary practices continue to impact the modern game, where women still struggle for equality of access, participation, employment and decision making in golf. Female golfers are widely perceived as inferior to their male counterparts in driving distance, which is frequently used to frame women as less able golfers (McGinnis et al., 2005). Despite this, women continue to progress in the professional game, with increasing prize funds for the 2020 season on both the LPGA and the LET. The pinnacle of the game however, golf’s mega-event for women, is considered to be the Solheim Cup.

The Solheim Cup, a women’s professional golf tournament, was founded in 1990 by Karsten Solheim as a replica of the men’s Ryder Cup, a biennial team golf tournament pitting 12 Americans against 12 Europeans in match-play format. Whilst not always the case, the current structure of the two events are exactly the same: the first two days involves players from each team competing in fourballs and foursomes matches, followed by a day of singles matches on the third and final day. The Ryder Cup has been claimed to be one of the most important and prestigious events in international sport. Dating back to 1926, it is considered “the oldest competition of nations in professional golf, involving the two golf superpowers: the United States and Europe” (Kali, Pastoriza & Plante, 2017: 102). Kali et al. (2017: 104) indicate that ”the halo of prestige surrounding the Ryder Cup derives not only from being the oldest competition of nations in professional golf and including most of the best professional golfers in the world, but also from the fact that no prize money is awarded for wining it”. The same is true for the Solheim Cup.

Similarly, the Solheim Cup, co-ran by the LET and the LPGA, is subsequently considered to be the pinnacle of professional women’s golf, and female golf’s only ‘mega-event’. Marketed as the biggest rivalry in women’s golf, the Solheim Cup was first staged in Florida in 1990, and prior to the 2019 version has been dominated by the United States 10-5. In September 2019, the sixteenth edition of the event was held at the self-proclaimed home of golf, Gleneagles in Scotland, nineteen years since the country last hosted the event and five years after the venue hosted the 2014 edition of the Ryder Cup. The first part of this chapter will critically discuss the tournament, in relation to literature on golf and national identity, and media coverage of sport and national identity, with a specific nod to work on women’s sport and national identity. The second part of the chapter presents data collected from the British print media during the tournament, which will be analysed using a critical feminist framework to understand how female athletes are represented in women golf’s only mega-event.