What you can expect at the Solheim Cup

DES MOINES, Iowa - Four years of Iowa preparation and two years of player qualification culminate in one week of tense drama at the Des Moines Golf and Country Club.

The Solheim Cup, a biennial team competition pitting the United States against Europe, is the showcase event in women’s golf.

Whether you’ll be captivated from Monday’s first practice round to Sunday’s final putt, here are some key topics to keep in mind.

The course: Des Moines Golf and Country Club has called its 36-hole West Des Moines acreage home since renowned architect Pete Dye puts his final touches on the property in the late 1960s.

The 1999 U.S. Senior Open brought record crowds to the rolling parkland course, and Solheim Cup officials are hoping for similarly eye-popping turnstile figures almost two decades later.

The championship layout will combine nine holes from each of the two courses. It can be stretched to 6,894 yards, which is the second-longest test in the 15 editions of the Solheim Cup.

A blazing start to the summer and a mild, dry last month have the course primed to present a potentially punishing, fast track.

“(The players) are going to find a nice course, challenging and difficult,” said Rick Tegtmeier, the club’s director of grounds. “And looking ahead – you can never believe the forecast – if we get rain, the rough will just get thicker.”

The format: The Solheim Cup is unlike many of the golf events you’ll see play out on television. Like the Ryder Cup for the men, the competition is all about match play.

The U.S. and Europe each field 12-member squads for three days of matches beginning Friday. There will be two sessions of team matches on Friday and Saturday, while Sunday is composed entirely of singles matches.

Eight team matches take place on each of the first two days of competition. Four of the matches are called four-ball matches. Teams of two square off, each playing their own ball on every hole. The better of the two scores is taken.

The others are called foursomes. Those matches still involve teams of two, but each team plays just one ball. Teammates alternate shots until completing the hole. One team member hits the tee shot on odd-numbered holes, the other on even-numbered holes.

In match play, the number of individual holes won calculates how a match is scored. A team/individual is victorious when it is ahead by more holes than there are holes remaining in the match.

If a team wins an 18-hole match, it gains a point. A match that ends in a tie results in half a point for both teams. The first team to reach 14.5 points wins the Solheim Cup. In the event of a 14-all tie, the team that most recently won the Cup retains possession. In this case, that would be the USA.

The 2017 matches pit perhaps the most decorated pair of team leaders in the Solheim Cup’s 27-year history.

On the U.S. side, seven-time major winner and World Golf Hall of Fame member Juli Inkster leads the way. She oversaw a memorable comeback for the Americans two years ago in Germany and still owns the U.S. record for most points in Solheim Cup play (18.5).

The Europeans will be spearheaded by Annika Sorenstam, who is the most accomplished women’s golfer in the modern era. She amassed 10 major wins and 72 LPGA Tour victories (third all-time) before retiring at 37.

The controversy: The U.S. holds a 9-5 lead in the matches, but the Solheim Cup had never been more contentious than it was the final day of the 2015 matches in Germany.

It was presumed that Suzann Pettersen and teammate Charley Hull, both members of this year’s European side, had conceded a 2-foot putt on the 17th hole of their four-ball match after Alison Lee had picked up her ball.

Pettersen denied she had given the putt to Lee, and when she had picked up her ball, she lost the hole to Europe, which went on to win the match.

The incident left Hull and Lee in tears, and all-time Solheim Cup points leader Laura Davies said on television she was “disgusted” by Pettersen’s actions.

Pettersen was roasted on social media and later apologized. The USA used the incident as a rallying point from a 10-6 deficit to a 14.5-13.5 victory.