Maybe this is too obvious but the Solheim might do better with an earlier date. Then again, every golf event that doesn't have Tiger Woods, the man who elevates golf's Nielsen ratings, face an uphill battle for exposure. That's true not only for LPGA and Champions Tour events but for the vast majority of PGA Tour events that he doesn't play.

As much as I liked the Solheim Cup, though, something was missing. (And no, I don't mean Michelle Wie. Well, not necessarily.) I was thinking more of Grace Park. Karrie Webb. Lorena Ochoa. Birdie Kim, the U.S. Open champion. Jennifer Rosales.

It seemed silly when Karrie Webb was the best woman player in the world (if you can remember that far back) and was on the outside looking in at the Solheim Cup because she is from Australia, just as it always seemed silly that Greg Norman and Ernie Els and Nick Price were excluded from the Ryder Cup.

How big would the Ryder Cup be if Tiger Woods, instead of having some Thai ancestry, was a Thai citizen? Somehow, I think the PGA of America would've figured out a way to include the world's best player in the Ryder Cup.

When Samuel Ryder founded the Ryder Cup, the United States and the United Kingdom were the only places where golf was played seriously and in numbers. The golfing world has changed dramatically in the last 80 years, as you may have noticed. The LPGA has really changed -- many of its top players are Asian. In fact, there are 20-plus Korean players on tour, many of them among the top echelon.

Hey, I think I've put my finger on what was missing from the Solheim Cup -- the LPGA's top players. Check out the current money list. Ten of the top 20 players weren't in the Solheim Cup because they're not American or European.

That includes Ochoa from Mexico, Lorie Kane from Canada, Jeong Jang and Kim and several other Koreans. Annika is the biggest name in women's golf, by far. If she was an Australian instead of a Swede and couldn't play, the Solheim would mean less.

The men have an event for the rest of the world -- the President's Cup, which pits the U.S. against Team Potpourri featuring players from the rest of the world except Europe. It's a patchwork team, what with Mike Weir of Canada and Vijay Singh of Fiji, among others, thrown together as strange bedfellows but it's something.

Maybe the women need a third Solheim Cup team -- an international squad. Threesomes would be awkward, just as playing two opponents at once would be. But in between Solheim Cup years, a qualifier could be held for the loser of the previous Solheim Cup and the loser of the qualifier. For instance, the U.S. would automatically be in the next Solheim Cup by virtue of its victory. Next year, a qualifier between Europe and the International team could be held. The winner would advance to face the U.S. the following year. There are minor complications but it's workable.

The teams themselves may need work. Maybe the American team should include all of North and South America. Then the third team could be the Internationals (or Austral-Asians or Pacifics), featuring players from Korea, Japan and Australia. Of course, Korea, Japan and Australia could field a representative team themselves. That would make five teams. Uh, I don't have a format for that.

Maybe the Solheim Cup could become an annual event. In odd-numbered years, the U.S. would play Europe. In even-numbered years, the U.S. would play the International team or the winner of some kind of Japan vs. Korea vs. Australia playoff. The Solheim Cup is a showcase event for women's golf. I'd love to see it every year.

Golf, especially women's golf, has gone global. It's time for the Solheim Cup to figure out a way to do the same.