Creamer Sparks U.S. Victory in Solheim Cup

The United States won back the Solheim Cup and picked up a new star along the way -- Paula Creamer, the 19-year-old rookie who all but guaranteed victory and then backed it up with a crushing win over Laura Davies of Britain that set the tone for an American rout in singles.

The finish Sunday at Carmel, Ind., turned out to be anticlimactic. The only match that reached the 18th hole was the last, when Rosie Jones earned a halve with Suzann Pettersen of Norway. All that did was provide a final score for posterity:

U.S. 15 1/2 , Europe 12 1/2 .

“It’s like a dream,” U.S. captain Nancy Lopez said. “These players played their hearts out.”

The matches were tied going into the last day for the first time in 11 years, but not for long. The scoreboard was awash in so much American red that when Jones teed off in the final twosome, Europe led in no matches.

Creamer, who went through her high school commencement only four months ago, shot 30 on the front nine and beat Davies, 7 and 5, as the Americans won six of the first seven matches.

Meg Mallon clinched the cup for the U.S. with a par putt on the 16th hole for a 2-up lead, assuring the Americans of at least the 14 1/2 points they needed to win. Mallon won the next hole with a par for a 3-and-1 victory over Karen Stupples of Britain.

Lopez said Mallon became lightheaded because of the heat and was taken to a hospital as a precaution.

Annika Sorenstam secured the first point for Europe in the sixth of 12 matches, outlasting 48-year-old Beth Daniel and winning on the 15th hole.

The Swede is 20-9-3, giving her the most points of any player in Solheim Cup history.

Creamer, the first LPGA Tour rookie to earn a spot in the Solheim Cup, surprised even her teammates two weeks ago when the U.S. team was selected and she sent a sassy message to the Europeans.

“All I can say is they had better get ready, because they’re going to get beat,” said Creamer, who played all five matches and finished 3-1-1.

Two other rookies shined. Natalie Gulbis, 22, was 3-1-0 and beat long-hitting Maria Hjorth of Sweden in singles. Christina Kim, 21, beat Ludivine Kreutz of France, 5 and 4, and was 2-1-1 for the week.

“They’re not rookies to me,” Lopez said. “They were the best players coming in here. I had to trust them, and I knew they could do it.”

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Mark Calcavecchia struggled with his putter in the final round but ended a four-year winless streak by closing with a one-over-par 71 for a one-stroke victory in the Canadian Open at Vancouver.

Calcavecchia had a five-under 275, the highest winning score for a full-field, non-major PGA Tour event this year.

Ben Crane closed with a 66 and 2004 U.S. Amateur champion Ryan Moore had a 70 to finish tied for second.

The 1989 British Open champion, who picked up the 12th victory of his career, had not won on Tour since the 2001 Phoenix Open, and his on-and-off struggles with the putter had eroded much of his confidence.

Crane, who won at Milwaukee in July and finished second at the Booz Allen Classic in June, matched the day’s best round. He shot a 74 in the first round.

Moore, who turned pro after the U.S. Open and missed the cut in two of his previous four events, birdied the last hole for his finest finish.

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Retief Goosen missed a five-foot par putt on the 18th hole but escaped with a one-stroke victory in the German Masters at Pulheim for his third title in six weeks.

Goosen closed with a five-under 67 to finish at 20-under 268.

Henrik Stenson (68), Jose Maria Olazabal (66), Nick Dougherty (68) and David Lynn (67) each finished at 269.

Goosen sent his tee shot into the brush on the 18th. The South African was forced to take a drop and blasted an excellent 150-yard shot from the rough, but he failed to make the putt and was left with a bogey.

Volleyball

Danielle Scott had 20 points and the U.S. beat Cuba, 25-13, 22-25, 27-25, 20-25, 15-10, to win the NORCECA Women’s Continental Championship final at Port of Spain, Trinidad.

Nancy Metcalf of the U.S. was selected the tournament’s most valuable player.

In the third-place match, the Dominican Republic beat Puerto Rico, 25-19, 25-19, 25-13.

Baseball

Ormari Romero gave up four hits and struck out nine to lead defending champion Cuba over host Netherlands, 3-1, in the Baseball World Cup at Amsterdam. Eriel Sanchez gave Cuba the lead in the second inning with a home run. Osmani Urrutia drove in the other runs with a double in the fourth and a single in the sixth.

Ivanon Coffie hit a home run for the Netherlands in the top of the ninth.

Cuba (8-0) leads Group A, with the Netherlands (7-1) in second place. The top four teams in each group advance to the quarterfinals.

In Group B, Atsushi Fujii drove in five runs to lead Japan over Nicaragua, 11-3.

Cycling

Defending champion Roberto Heras of Spain took the overall lead in the Spanish Vuelta from Denis Menchov of Russia after winning the 15th stage, a 114-mile route from Cangas de Onis to Valgrande Pajares in Northern Spain.

Heras finished in 4 hours 53 minutes 53 seconds. Menchov finished in 18th place, more than five minutes off the pace. Heras leads Menchov by 4 1/2 minutes in the overall standings.

The 21-stage race ends Sept. 18 at Madrid.

Horse Racing

Trainer Rick Dutrow, who beat two of trainer Nick Zito’s horses with Saint Liam in Saturday’s Woodward Stakes, returned to Belmont Park to win the Jerome Handicap with Silver Train as Zito’s favored High Fly finished second.

Also at Belmont, undefeated Shakespeare, winning his fourth in a row, ran 1 1/8 miles on grass in 1:45, setting a track record, in the Belmont Handicap, and Stellar Jayne won the Ruffian Handicap.

Two grass champions have been euthanized.

Pebbles, winner of the Breeders’ Cup Turf in 1985, died at 24 in Japan, where she had been a broodmare for the last three years, and Mac Diarmida, 30, was put down at Cashel Stud near Ocala, Fla.

Mac Diarmida won 10 consecutive races in 1978 and was beaten only once in 13 starts on turf.

Passings

Sportscaster Chris Schenkel, who had a six-decade career in which he covered everything from bowling to the Olympics, died at Fort Wayne, Ind., after a long battle with emphysema. He was 82. Story in Section B.