Irish Golf Desk

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In-form Coakley battered - then teased

It’s cruel to tease but the Ladies European Tour was at it this week.

As if Rebecca Coakley didn't have enough headaches after being bashed on the noggin recently by a pro-am hacker in China.

With the 2011 Solheim Cup coming to Killeen Castle, Coakley is hell bent on becoming the first Irish woman to make the European side to take on the USA. Or at least, she is starting to believe it's more than a pipe dream. 

The identity of Europe's 2011 Solheim Cup captain and the qualifying criteria will be released at a news conference at the County Meath venue in two weeks' time.

But just what did the LET mean by this tantalisingly little line at the end of its news piece on Coakley’s recent run of good form?

The 2011 Solheim Cup qualification system is currently under review and will be published shortly. Coakley may just receive a pleasant surprise very soon.

A pleasant surprise? What does that mean?

A special exemption for an Irish player? Hardly fair to the others, surely.

An extra captain’s pick? Possibly.

Or perhaps Coakley’s last few starts will count towards the 2011 qualifying process. Now that would be good news.

She’s certainly on top form after securing back to back tied fifth finishes in China and South Korea over the past fortnight.

According to the LET, “even more impressive was the fact that she overcame a severe blow to the head at the start of the two week stretch, when she was hit by an amateur player who she was teaching at a clinic on the driving range.”

Apparenty, the Shanghai swinger “accidentally swiped Rebecca hard in the head with his driver on his back swing whilst standing in the next bay. She was taken to hospital for an MR scan but luckily was healthy enough to play in the tournament.”

“Maybe getting smacked in the head last week might have snapped something in me,” she joked, adding that her hard work of recent years is finally coming together. 

“It’s the same stuff, apart from the result,” she said. “I’ve been doing the same things with my coaches and now it’s starting to show. There is no particular thing.” 

It is no secret that Coakley’s main goal is to make the 2011 Solheim Cup side and that she has been singled out by Irish Solheim Cup supremo Roddy Carr for special help as she is regarded as the home player with “the greatest desire” to make the side.

She's getting the best of coaching help in every aspect of the game from the long and short game to the mental game and conditioning. 

Making the side still looks like an impossible dream but Coakley doesn't think so and now the LET is writing about it. 

Watch this space.