Flexibility, adaptability and determination have always been strengths for LPGA veteran Kristy McPherson. From her start in golf as an 11-year-old growing up in Conway, S.C., she had to be that way. It came with the territory.
Still, when the three-time All-American at the University of South Carolina earned her first and only spot on the U.S. Solheim Cup team in 2009, the then-28-year-old rookie was understandably a bit nervous. After all, competing with fellow American professionals against the best of Europe every two years is – along with winning a major championship – the thrill of a lifetime, with all the attendant pressure.
That said, McPherson was reasonably comfortable as the three days of matches – involving team best-ball and alternate-shot formats, followed by singles competition; think Ryder Cup for women – began at Rich Haven Farms near Chicago. That is, until the first day, when her phone rang 90 minutes before her first scheduled foursomes match.
On the line: USA team captain, fellow South Carolinian and Hall of Famer Beth Daniel.
“I’m thinking, ‘Why’s she calling me?’” McPherson said this week as she packed for the team flight to Europe, laughing at the memory. “Beth says, ‘K-Mack, what’s up?’ And I say, ‘well, Morgan (Pressel, her scheduled partner that afternoon) is out there with (teammate) Michelle Wie, and they’re struggling.’
“And Beth says, ‘How do you feel about Brittany Lincicome?’” Meaning, Daniel was thinking of changing McPherson’s playing partner for the afternoon – not exactly a lot of notice.
Not a simple switch, either; “Beth’s asking what golf ball I play (in foursomes/alternate shot, players must use the same ball as their teammate), and what holes do I want to hit first; I was supposed to tee off on the odd holes, but Brittany wanted odd.” McPherson laughed again. “Everything was switched! That was the most nervous I’d ever been.”
She handled it, though. Flexibility, adaptability and determination, you know.
McPherson and Lincicome lost that foursome match to Europe’s Maria Hjorth and Anna Nordqvist, 3 and 2 – not an outcome designed to foster a rookie’s confidence. Still, the USA team led after the first day, 4 ½-3 ½, and in the second day’s matches, McPherson and Pressel took down the powerhouse team of Helen Alfredsson and Suzann Pettersen, 2-up, helping forge an 8-8 tie headed to individual matches.
The final day, the Americans won six of 12 singles matches and halved four others to claim a 16-12 victory. And though McPherson lost to Catriona Matthew, that week remains “the best week of my career, by far.
“Just doing it as a team,” she said. “I’ve been to the Solheim when I wasn’t on the team, and seeing (the U.S.) flag raised, I cry every time. It’s an amazing week, and it flies by.”
The weekend of Sept. 11-13, though, could challenge 2009 for her best-ever. McPherson, Paula Creamer and Brittany Lang will serve as assistants to captain Angela Stanford, a six-time Solheim Cup player and winner of seven LPGA titles, as the USA and Europe square off at Bernardus Golf in The Netherlands. The U.S. leads the rivalry, 11-7-1, and won the most recent meeting in 2024 in Gainesville, Va., after two losses and a tie the previous three clashes.
McPherson, now 45, has seen her playing career wind down since turning 40, playing just 12 tournaments from 2022-25 after playing between 18 and 26 annually from 2005-17. That’s not unusual for older LPGA and PGA Tour players; a torn labrum in 2009 (her best year money-wise) and hip surgery prior to the Covid year of 2020 took a toll.
“But I’m feeling good,” she said. “Back then, I played through pain. I’d say, ‘I’m fine.’ But I had a bone coming out of the joint; I knew that before the Solheim Cup. In hindsight, if I’d gotten (surgery) after 2009, I’d have had a better career, 4-5 more solid years instead of struggling.”
Though she never won on the LPGA Tour (after two victories in four years on the developmental Epson/Futures Tour), McPherson earned a reputation as a gritty competitor. Her three runner-up finishes on the LPGA included the 2009 ANA Inspiration (then the Kraft Nabisco Championship), an LPGA major. That year was her best with $816,182 in winnings, that second-place major finish and a tie for fifth in the Women’s PGA Championship.
Her history, and her friendship with Stanford, made McPherson’s choice as a captain’s assistant a smart one. She’s followed both the Solheim and Ryder Cup competitions, and has seen not just the successes but (especially for the PGA Tour) the failures vs. Europe.
“I think the pressure is equal on both sides (in the Solheim Cup),” she said. “It’s the biggest event of the year for both. We’ve learned a lot from (watching) the Ryder Cup.” The USA men have struggled, especially on foreign soil, and that was an object lesson for Stanford’s crew.
“We saw the Ryder Cup and we said, ‘we’re going to be more prepared and know the golf course better,’” McPherson said. She and Stanford played the Dutch course following this year’s Evian Classic, as did nine prospective American players, seven of whom made the USA team.
Pairings won’t be finalized until Cup Week, but a Team USA stats expert will provide input on who plays with whom, along with the thoughts of the players. “Allisen Corpuz has the best numbers this year, and in the past two Solheim Cups, she and Nelly Korda have won both their alternate-shot competitions, so that’s a pair we’re looking at,” McPherson said.
“We have a good mix with two rookies (Auston Kim and Lindy Duncan, in her first Solheim Cup at age 35), and they’ve all worked their butts off to be studs over there.”
McPherson knows about that part of the equation. At age 11, she was diagnosed with Still’s disease, a form of juvenile idiopathic arthritis that restricted her to bed for a year, after which she couldn’t compete in sports involving running or jumping. But encouraged by her father, David, Kristy took up golf, playing on the boys’ team at her high school.
She had a meteoric career at South Carolina, winning a school-record seven tournaments in four years, and capturing back-to-back Southeastern Conference individual titles in 2001-02 while leading the Gamecocks to their first SEC crown in 2002. As a senior in 2003, she was awarded the Honda Inspiration Award, given to a college athlete who “has overcome hardship and was able to return to the play at the collegiate level.”
McPherson said her father, 75, remains her inspiration after battling cancer (lung and bone) for 23 years. “He’s still here, thankfully,” she said, though health will preclude him being in The Netherlands. “We flirted with taking him, though. I’m just happy he’s able to see us play” on TV.
The thought of that brings tears to McPherson, who admits to crying on occasion. The January evening at an LPGA pro-am in Clearwater, Fla., when Stanford asked her to be an assistant captain, was one of those occasions.
“We were having a glass of wine and she said, ‘Hey, can I talk to you?’ McPherson remembered. “Outside, she started crying, and so did I. She said, ‘I finally got the call (to be team captain), and if I got it, I wanted you as an assistant.’” More tears, for sure.
The two women traveled together for 10 years on the LPGA Tour, “and she knows how hard I work,” McPherson said. “I think I can bring positive energy to the team room. Good energy and insight.”
“I was just always impressed with her attitude,” Stanford said. “It didn’t matter what was going on around her or in her life. She was always ready to give it her best.”
Her health and her attitude have required that for 30-plus years. McPherson always knew what that meant: adaptability, flexibility, determination.
That came with the territory. It still does.