Unlike the men's Ryder Cup, which traces its roots to 1927, teams from the American-born Ladies Professional Golf Association and the Ladies European Tour have been competing against each other in The Solheim Cup only since 1990. The difference is, while it took the men nearly 60 years to kick their biennial matches into high gear - most agree it was the 1985 Ryder Cup won by the Europeans that turned the tide of apathy - the women have reached a higher level of competition in just a brief decade.

There are several factors as to why The Solheim Cup scaled its way to the upper echelons so quickly: network television coverage; a larger, more sophisticated international media; superior internal support from the LPGA and LET; and, of course, the sponsorship of the Solheim family, whose PING products paved the way to make these matches possible. What historians never should overlook, however, is that had it not been for a very unique and highly competitive group of personalities among The Solheim Cup pioneers, the women's competition could have been mired in that same mediocrity once associated with the Ryder Cup.

No thanks, said such Solheim Cup soldiers as Laura Davies, Beth Daniel, Nancy Lopez, Dale Reid, Pat Bradley, Alison Nicholas, Dottie Pepper, Annika Sorenstam, Brandie Burton and Helen Alfredsson. Even their captains - Mickey Walker, Kathy Whitworth, JoAnne Carner, Judy Rankin and Pia Nilsson - played pivotal roles in the rapid growth of The Solheim Cup. Yes, Davies and Nicholas delivered the challenge, Daniel and King served up the controversy, and the fiery Pepper and icy Sorenstam stirred The Solheim Cup pot to the boiling point.

Now "Roamin' in the Gloamin' of Loch Lomond" is ready to unfold October 6-8 on what many feel is the most pristine golf course in all of Europe. May it live up to the dazzling decade of memories that have come before it.

1990 Solheim Cup
Lake Nona Golf Club
Orlando, Florida
Not surprisingly, the emotion and intensity that defines all great rivalries was missing from the initial Solheim Cup clash. The magic of the moment, however, was not lost upon a soul. Even though history will show that the Americans soundly defeated the Europeans, 11 1/2 - 4 1/2, even the vanquished came away as winners.

"To make history, and start history, that's an honor," said Bradley, the current U.S. captain who had the privilege of striking that very first drive of the competition. Added then-captain Whitworth: "I felt like a pioneer," and in every sense of the word, she was.

From a European standpoint, the loss was rooted in the Americans' depth of talent. The Yanks boasted such Hall of Famers as Patty Sheehan, Lopez, King, Daniel and Bradley. The Euros relied heavily on Davies, Alfredsson, Nicholas and Liselotte Neumann. Only Davies saved face among the Europeans, winning two points.

"It's like playing against God and God," declared Davies, who teamed up with Nicholas to beat Bradley and Lopez in the initial foursomes match, but lost the next day with the same partner to Daniel and King in four-ball.

Even though many in the media considered the Americans to be heavy favorites, many of the matches were quite close. Still, the Yanks needed to win just 2 1/2 points during Sunday's singles matches to clinch the Cup, which they did quite easily.

Walker said she felt the scoreline did not do justice to her European team's performance. "We could never have beaten them this year," she remarked. "But if we had gained six or seven points (in the final tally), it would have been more realistic of the way we had played."

Not everyone agreed, especially King, who added a little salt to the Europeans' wound by stating bluntly, "If we could win 16-0, that was my goal."

"We have the best players in the world and we wanted to show that," King added. "Anybody who thought they could beat us, well, there's just no way."

Not this time, anyway.

1992 Solheim Cup
Dalmahoy Hotel Golf & Country Club
Edinburgh, Scotland
If the Europeans needed more incentive than the sound defeat they incurred at Lake Nona, they got it early at Edinburgh from a most unlikely source - the normally down-to-earth Beth Daniel. If loose lips do indeed sink ships, then the American star just happened to be the captain of the Titanic when it came to Solheim Cup II.

"You could put any one of us on the European side and make it better," Daniel reportedly said in a Solheim Cup preview that was published in Golf Digest. "But the only Europeans who could help us are Laura Davies and Liselotte Neumann."

By the time the Americans' plane landed on Scottish soil, ill will had reached new heights among the Europeans. Daniel denied she uttered the in-your-face quote, but the damage was done. Whether she said them or not, her words were pinned high on the bulletin board in the Europeans' locker room. The Americans' doom at Dalmahoy had been set in stone.

Adding to the Americans' pre-tournament woes, Whitworth had to return to the States following the death of her mother, who had passed away on the Monday of tournament week. Whitworth was replaced as captain by Alice Miller, who tried gallantly to save her team to no avail. Despite a format that upped each team from eight to 10 players, depth had nothing to do with this second meeting, as the emotionally-charged Euros rolled to victory, 11 1/2 - 6 1/2.

Perhaps fittingly, Davies and Nicholas edged King and Daniel in the initial foursomes match, 1-up. Laura never let up, going undefeated as she and her teammates won seven of the 10 singles matches on Sunday to secure the upset.

The tabloids throughout the United Kingdom went wild: "The Brave Slay Goliath," screamed The European; "Mickey and her Marvels stun bitter Americans," roared the Daily Express; and "Europe Squeezes Moaning Americans'" cried The Guardian.

As it turned out, nothing could have been better for The Solheim Cup than a resounding victory by Europe. For the ladies, it was a turning point reminiscent of the '85 Ryder Cup, even if the Americans' scowls and tears said otherwise. No one took it harder than Dottie Pepper, who was on the brink of becoming famous/infamous (depending on your point of view) in this competition. Dottie needed a crying towel, along with downtrodden teammate Danielle Ammaccapane.

"Women's golf will never be the same after today," declared Walker, and she was right on.

1994 Solheim Cup
The Greenbrier
White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia
The impact from the shocker of '92 was immediately apparent when The Solheim Cup shifted back to the States for round three. With over 200 media present at The Greenbrier, it was obvious that women's golf on an international scale had finally arrived in full force.

"The competition has taken on a much bigger interest," noted King, who had witnessed only a handful of reporters at prior Solheim Cups. "It gives women's golf a whole lot more exposure."

For the first time, NBC offered a network presence, a far cry from the first Solheim Cup, which had been tape-delayed and aired as a one-hour special on New Year's Eve by ESPN. And if NBC needed ratings to stay involved, they got them with some extremely close competition that saw the matches all squared at 5-5 after two days of play.

Pepper, a sandy blonde who had dyed her hair shocking red for these matches, proved to be the linchpin, teaming up with Burton to claim two volatile confrontations before handily disposing of Catrin Nilsmark, 6 and 5, in Sunday's singles. Burton was equal to the task, also going 3-0 to earn co-MVP honors. Between the two they had accounted for almost half of the Americans' points in a 13-7 victory that was closer than the score indicated.

"I like their attitude," said captain Carner of Pepper and Burton. "They are ready, and one's aggressiveness is feeding the other out there. I would put them up against anybody."

But Pepper's banshee tactics - she screamed whenever she or Burton made putts, and also whenever the Europeans missed - became the ire of European journalists attending the matches. Labeled an "Ugly American," Pepper was hammered in headlines in the United Kingdom, including

"Dottie goes Potty over Mayhem in the Mountains."

Always the fireball, the fist-pumping, teeth-gritting, high-fiving Pepper reacted accordingly: "I really don't care (what they write). I know what it takes for me to play well. I don't get in anybody's way. And I have to be happy with myself first and foremost." Those expecting an apology were left slack-jawed.

Once again, The Solheim Cup ended with a twist, as Daniel tried to make amends for the furor she had caused in '92. "Too much has been made about who wins and who loses, about who's better and who's not better," she said. "Women's golf won here, which was good because we've got a lot of catching up to do. We certainly don't need to be fighting against each other."

1996 Solheim Cup
Marriott St. Pierre Hotel & Country Club
Chepstow, Wales
The move to The Greenbrier in 1994 had upped the stature of the venues involved in hosting The Solheim Cup, and St. Pierre was yet another strong step up the ladder of prosperity. By now, the matches had flourished beyond the vision of Karsten Solheim, who sadly was about to attend his final competition due to declining health. As scribe Tim Glover of London's Independent so vividly put it, The Solheim Cup was now "a Ryder Cup with lipstick."

Still, the event was evolving in upwardly mobile fashion. The teams had been increased from 10 to 12 players and the matches from 20 to 28 with the addition of a morning/afternoon format for the first two days of foursomes and four-ball. The double rounds also caused a calendar change, as the matches were moved from early October to mid-September to ensure enough daylight.

For the Americans, however, the biggest change came at the captain's position, where the always-studious Judy Rankin took over for the loosey-goosey Carner. If the Americans needed a jolt to keep them from complacency following their victory at The Greenbrier, Rankin provided the perfect elixir. Considered the best female broadcaster in golf, Rankin was well aware of her troops' strengths and weaknesses, which turned out to be more than expected. After two days of play, the startled Americans found themselves on the short end of a 9-7 score. Yes, Davies and company seemed poised to do what they had done four years earlier at Dalmahoy.

The Americans, who had a 5-3 lead after day one only to get shelled on day two, were in disarray, and Rankin knew it. So she told her players to let it all hang out during a team meeting Saturday night. "To put it bluntly, we were pissed," said Pepper, who with Burton had been beaten earlier in the day for the first time ever. "There were a lot of nitpicky little things going on, the kind of things that happen when you've got 12 people living together all week. We definitely needed to clear the air."

Rankin made the key move, inserting long-ball-hitting Michelle McGann into the No. 3 slot, a guess that turned out to be sheer genius when McGann drew Davies on the final day, then drubbed the British bomber, 3 and 2. "I figured Laura would be somewhere from three to six," said Rankin, who had spent weeks poring over Solheim Cup data in an effort to learn Walker's tendencies. "I must say the pairings went very well. It was one (match) they had penciled in (as a victory) before they teed off."

The Europeans ended up losing 10 of 12 points in singles, which spelled a 17-11 defeat. If a third setback in four Solheim Cups was not enough to dampen Walker's spirit, then a nasty wasp sting to her eyelid late Saturday afternoon certainly was the crowning blow. "I thought (Walker) had been in a serious fight," said Alfredsson, coming close to hitting the nail in the coffin squarely on the head. It was a sad exit for Walker, who turned over the European leadership to Sweden's Pia Nilsson a short time later.

1998 Solheim Cup
Muirfield Village
Dublin, Ohio
The fifth staging of The Solheim Cup had a little bit of everything, including the event's first pregnant participant, as America's mother-to-be Tammie Green made history. That the competition was being hosted at Jack Nicklaus' magnificent Muirfield Village Golf Club also was of great significance. Most important, however, was the fact that the competition set attendance records every day, proving The Solheim Cup was now anchored firmly in the hearts of both continents.

Yes, the rivalry which began on cat's feet had now become a wildebeest stampede. But, while the names and places had changed almost every two years, the final result was, alas, more predictable. For the fourth time in five tries, the Yankees would prove their heart and soul was directly implanted in the Cup. It was as red, white and blue as the Yankees' most controversial player, the pragmatic Pepper.

"It's not the behavior I would encourage in the players I coach," Nilsson complained of Dottie's questionable antics. "She takes responsibility for herself, but it's nothing I look up to." And those were some of the kindest comments from the Europeans that were directed at Pepper during the Americans' 16-12 victory. In fact, the intensity between the diabolical Dottie and her counterparts got so out of control that Sorenstam and Davies started pounding a punching bag that they envisioned as Pepper's face.

"I take it as a compliment," said Pepper, who promptly ran her Solheim Cup record to 12-4-1 by going perfect (4-0) this time around. "If that's what it takes to win, then I'll be glad to be their punching bag. Emotion is part of this game. The crowd has been our 13th player this week, and I've just responded to them."

Trailing by the score of 10 1/2 - 5 1/2 entering Sunday's singles, the Europeans had hoped to emulate the Americans' record 10-2 run of '96. And while Davies, Alfredsson, Sorenstam and Neumann helped jump-start Europe by capturing the first four matches of the final day, it was - who else? - the ever-present Pepper who broke their momentum and their backs with a 3-and-2 win over Trish Johnson in the No. 5 slot.

Despite the verbal sparring that had flared throughout the week, the fifth Solheim Cup ended on a touch of class, when Meg Mallon conceded an 18-foot putt to Swedish rookie Sophie Gustafson that halved their match. "I asked Judy (Rankin) if it was OK, and she said it was up to me," Mallon said. "I don't care about my record. It was such a good match. That's what The Solheim Cup is supposed to be about."

Yes, the game's latest, greatest matches had come a long way, baby, and quite quickly. As the late Dick Taylor wrote so eloquently in an editorial regarding the rise of women's golf and how it has been influenced by The Solheim Cup: "Equal footing is what we now have in women's professional golf. Perhaps not the depth, but equal stars."

Ones that certainly will shine brightly over the fairways and greens of Loch Lomond come early October.