Receiving gifts at the Solheim Cup has become a well-practiced tradition among players and this year’s two dozen stars at Bernardus Golf dished on some of the items they’ve opened this week.
From the practical and simple (custom sunglasses and a tote bag) to the super thoughtful and pricey (red-light therapy machine), the array of goodies has been welcomed with a smile — and plenty of gratitude.
Nothing says thank you like putting the presents to use in their first week of being opened, which is exactly what players were seen spotted doing on Wednesday in the Netherlands, wearing the fashionable and practical beanie visors and measuring exact distances with their new rangefinders.
American Lindy Duncan is making her Solheim Cup debut for the U.S. this week and said she couldn’t have been happier when opening her goodie bag.
“We got a rangefinder, and I recently lost mine, so that was pretty clutch,” Duncan told reporters.
“Mine’s kind of old, so it’s nice to have a new one,” added teammate Jennifer Kupcho.
On the European side of things, Germany’s Esther Henseleit said she loved the sentimental gifts in the bag, like watercolor painted postcards of the team and course.
There was also a hand-drawn picture of the team photo in a frame.
And yes, the beanie visor was a big hit.
“They’re cool,” Denmark’s Nanna Koerstz Madsen said while laughing.
“You can pull off the beanie visor,” her Irish teammate Leona Maguire chimed in jokingly.
Rose Zhang, who jumped out of a plane just a week before teeing it off in the Netherlands, noted the going retail rate for the spotted, red-light treatment device in her bag.
“Those are quite expensive, so it’s nice that they gifted us those,” she said.
