Irish must sweat on Solheim skipper’s late wildcard picks

EUROPEAN skipper Alison Nicholas has refused to rule out handing an Irish player one of her four wildcards for the Solheim Cup clash with the United States at Killeen Castle in 150 days’ time.

But whatever about a visible Irish presence inside the ropes for the biggest event in women’s professional golf, global partners AIB — the others are Ping, Rolex and Golf Ireland — will have no corporate branding in place at the County Meath venue from September 23-25.

In 2007, the now beleaguered banking group was locked into an estimated €2.5m, five-year deal to sponsor the Solheim Cup, as well as five editions of the Ladies’ Irish Open until 2012