Oct. 5, 2007

Greenville, S.C. - Former Furman Lady Paladin Beth Daniel, a three-time Rolex Player-of-the-Year and LPGA Hall-of-Famer, has been named captain of the 2009 United States Solheim Cup Team, it was announced on Thursday by LPGA Commissioner Carolyn F. Bivens.

The biennial team match-play competition, featuring U.S.-born players from the LPGA against the best European-born players from the Ladies European Tour, will take place August 17-23, at Rich Harvest Farms in Sugar Grove, Ill. Daniel accepted the position after being named by a six-member selection committee, including Bivens, LPGA great Nancy Lopez and former Furman standout Betsy King.

With Daniel as her assistant, King captained the 2007 U.S. Solheim Cup squad that claimed a 16-12 victory earlier this month in Halmstad, Sweden. The U.S. holds a 7-3 advantage in the competition and has never lost on home soil.

Daniel, a 1981 inductee into the Furman Athletic Hall-of-Fame, played on eight U.S. Solheim Cup Teams and was a member of the 1996 team that became the first to win the cup on foreign soil. The 33-time LPGA Tour winner has earned 13 1/2 points for the United States in Solheim Cup play.

Daniel claimed five career tournament victories at Furman while also helping the Lady Paladins to the 1976 AIAW National Championship. The Charleston, S.C., native captured U.S. Women's Amateur titles in 1975 and 1977 before bursting onto the LPGA Tour in 1979. As a rookie, Daniel scored one victory and 16 top-10 finishes to earn LPGA Rookie-of-the-Year honors.

Now an analyst for LPGA events on the Golf Channel and CBS Sports, Daniel ranks seventh all-time with more than $8.7 million in career earnings.