U.S. Solheim Cup points race in final stretch; U.S. Women's Open champion Kerr leads; Castrale, Lang on the cusp In only five weeks, Halmstad Golf Club in Sweden will play host to the 10th meeting of the United States and Europe in The Solheim Cup. The U.S. Team is looking to improve upon their 6-3 all-time record against the European Team and clinch their first victory on European soil since 1996. The Europeans are eager to regain the Cup after losing it to the U.S. Team in 2005. This year's event will be held Sept. 14-16, in Halmstad, Sweden. Following the Ricoh Women's British Open, where points were doubled, U.S. Women's Open champion Cristie Kerr leads the U.S. Solheim Cup Team points race with 706 points. She has just a 10-point lead over 21-year old Paula Creamer, whose tie for seventh earned her 45 points for a cumulative 696 points. Kerr is a three-time U.S. Solheim team member and has 10 career victories on the LPGA Tour. She is 6-6-0 in her Solheim Cup career. Creamer used 14 top-10 finishes in 2006 and eight in 2007 to put herself in position for the 2007 team. Creamer, who used only one year's worth of Solheim Cup points to qualify for the 2005 Solheim Cup, was the first LPGA Tour rookie and youngest member to ever qualify for the U.S. Solheim Team. Her 3-1-1 record, including a 7 and 5 victory over Laura Davies, was a major part of the U.S. Team's 15 ½ to 12 ½ victory over the European Team at Crooked Stick Golf Club in Carmel, Ind For the 12-person U.S. squad, 10 players qualify to represent the Stars and Stripes by earning points for wins and top-20 finishes over a two-year qualifying period, with two players selected by Captain Betsy King. Players began earning points toward the 2007 Solheim Cup at the 2005 State Farm Classic. This season, points are worth 1 ½ times their value from last season with double points at majors. The 2007 U.S. Solheim Cup Team will be announced on Aug. 26 in Portland, Ore., after the conclusion of the Safeway Classic Presented by Pepsi. Kraft Nabisco Championship victor Morgan Pressel is sitting in third and ready for her first-ever professional Solheim Cup appearance with 519 points. Pressel was a member of the 2002 and 2005 PING Junior Solheim Cup Teams, bringing a 4-0-2 record into her professional career against the European Team. Oklahoma native Stacy Prammanasudh is also poised to make her first Solheim Cup appearance. She holds the fourth spot with 483.50 points after a tie for 16th last week gave her 18 points—enough to jump six-time U.S. Solheim Cup Team veteran Juli Inkster. Prammanasudh has seven top-10 finishes this season with one victory at the Fields Open in Hawaii. Inkster, who has a 12-8-3 all-time record at the Solheim Cup, is likely to be the most veteran member of the U.S. Team and is fifth in U.S. Team rankings with 479 points. Solheim Cup veteran Pat Hurst is 30 points behind Inkster with 449 points. She is 8-6-2 in four career Solheim Cup appearances, three of which (1998, 2002, 2005) were U.S. victories. Only one week removed from her first career victory at the Evian Masters, Natalie Gulbis earned a much-needed 60-point boost and is seventh with 412.50 points. In 2005, Gulbis had the best winning percentage on the 2005 team at 75 percent (3-1-0). The 2007 Ginn OPEN champion Brittany Lincicome tied for 11th last week, but remains eighth in the points race with 396.50 points. Angela Stanford (339 points) and Sherri Steinhauer (324.50 points) round out the top-10. Stanford, a native Texan, represented the Red, White and Blue in 2003, while seven-time LPGA Tour winner Steinhauer has played on the American side three times in her 22 years on Tour. Players on the edge to make their first appearances on the U.S. Solheim Cup Team include Ginn Tribute Hosted by ANNIKA winner Nicole Castrale (277 points, 11th), Brittany Lang (238.50 points, 12th), and 2005 U.S. Solheim Cup team member Christina Kim (223 points, 13th). Kim's energetic demeanor helped her to a 2-1-1 record on the 2005 squad.