Juli Inkster wants no ‘rah rah stuff’ from US Solheim Cup team

Michelle Wie, at captain Juli Inkster’s behest, may have to tone down the raucous partisan cheerleading that has been a hallmark of her three previous Solheim Cup appearances. But that doesn’t mean she can’t kick it USA!-style with her red, white and blue hightops.

Wie, who went all rainbow hair at last week’s Evian Championship, has traded in her new pink Nike Blazer golf shoes for the patriotic edition she’ll don in Germany for the biennial matches with Team Europe that start on Friday. What she and her 11 American squad mates likely will not be waving around, after Inkster made it known she frowned on such shenanigans, are stars-and-stripes nail polish, face paint and other such accessories.

“We haven’t spent any time on nails. It’s a different group, so we’re doing fine,” Inkster told reporters from St. Leon-Rot Golf Club on Tuesday. “They probably do (have their nails done), but not on my time.”

Inkster’s players, who hope to stop a two-time losing streak, back their skipper’s focus on winning golf contests rather than vying for most dolled up.

“It’s just being more mature,” said former world No. 1 Stacy Lewis, who is on her third Solheim Cup team. “Hopefully everybody is past all the tattoos and the face paint and all that ... It’s just growing up a little bit and knowing that you don’t need to go crazy and get the crowd going all the time. We’ve come here with a mission.”

This year’s players view their European jaunt as a “business trip,” Lewis said.

“We’re not here to pump up the crowds and do all that,” she said. “We’re here to win this thing.”

Lizette Salas, making her second Solheim start after losing a home game in 2013, agreed.

“Juli said no more of this rah-rah stuff, and I was, like, ‘okay, we’re not cheerleaders, so none of that face paint or none of those tattoos,’” said Salas. “It’s definitely toned down quite a bit since the first Solheim I was at. I think it’s a lot of excess energy that’s used on trying to put a, ‘where do I put this tattoo or does this ribbon match this outfit?’

“None of that,” Salas added. “We go out and handle our business and play the best golf that we can.”

As if to underscore the changes in this year’s edition of Team USA, Inkster, who is using a variation of 2008 U.S. Ryder Cup captain Paul Azinger’s pod system, had her players meet the press with their on-course partners.

Gerina Piller and Brittany Lang, like Lewis and Salas, were fully supportive of Inkster’s plan to pair players of comparable makeup for the week and during the games -- and do away with the frivolities that might distract them from their goal.

“She hasn’t really said, ‘you can’t do this, you can’t do that.’ But she’s simple, not a lot of flash,” noted Lang, a grizzled veteran of three Solheim Cups. “She wants us to be very courteous to them, be polite and respectful and play as good as we can play. And not have a lot of flash, I’ll say that. She just wants things to be simple.”

And fun.

“Everyone is laughing, having a great time,” added Solheim sophomore Piller. “It’s not so serious. I’m not sure if that even has anything to do with the flashy or not, but I think just putting more of our time and energy in preparation for this week and doing what we can control and that’s obviously the golf shots that we hit and how we prepare. And I feel like it’s just so much more relaxed.”

The Euros were amused by how the Americans comported themselves in bygone tournaments.

“Stopped doing that when I was about 12, I think,” said Solheim Cupper Melissa Reid, who played on the 2011 team.

To Caroline Masson, such escapades were “more of an American thing,” though Reid, sharing the podium with two of her mates, was quick to observe that it was “nothing against what they do.

“I would just look ridiculous with a ribbon in my hair, personally, so I just don’t choose to do it,” Reid said. “It’s just something the European team has never really done. It’s just something they’ve always done.”

For sure, though, Inkster’s no-frills approach had captured the attention of the Europeans.

“We’re not going to underestimate them. We know that they’re going to come out and play, especially with a captain like that,” said Masson. “It’s not really the point of, you know, face paint or painting nails or whatever, it’s just a statement that they’re going to be ready to play.”