PHOENIX – Juli Inkster, the most prolific American in Solheim Cup history, has been selected captain of a team that has lost the last two times to Europe.

Inkster is to be introduced Tuesday night at the JTBC Founders Cup, the first domestic event of the LPGA Tour season. She holds the U.S. record for most Solheim Cup appearances (nine), most points won (18 1/2) and most matches won (15).

The Solheim Cup will be in September 2015 at St. Leon-Rot in Germany.

“It’s not do or die. You’re still going to be the same person when get on that plane and fly home, but it will be a lot more enjoyable flight if we have that cup with us,” Inkster said Monday during a conference call.

“It’s not rocket science,” she said. “You just go over there and play some golf, and I think the girls just … believe me, if they just play the way they should play, we’re going to have fun, and we’re going to win. The Europeans, they’re hungry. They always seem to play their best golf as a team during Solheim Cup. And we’ve just got to find a way to play to match their intensity and match their golf.”

Europe won in Ireland in 2011, and then steamrolled the Americans in Colorado last summer for its first win in the U.S.

Golf World first reported Inkster’s selection Monday.

Inkster is among the most respected players of a career that covers 30 years, 31 victories, seven majors and the career Grand Slam. She was the first woman to win three straight U.S. Women’s Amateur titles, and she won two majors as an LPGA rookie in 1984. She last played the Solheim Cup in 2011. Inkster had a 6-1-2 record in singles.

Inkster grew up in the era of Nancy Lopez, Pat Bradley and Betsy King. She relates just as easily to a younger generation, some of whom are younger than her two daughters.

“When we see all the highlight videos, Juli is in most of them, and she’s usually dancing around the green and having fun,” Stacy Lewis said. “And I think that’s what she’s going to bring to his. Like she said, we’ve played tight the last few years. We’ve played to not lose instead of just going out there trying to win. I think she’s going to help us relax a little bit and hopefully have a little bit more fun.”

Inkster said longtime friend Pat Hurst would be her assistant. They have played and traveled together for years. Inkster is all about instincts. Hurst is geared toward the details, which will be fewer as the visiting team in Germany.

Along with the respect from her Hall of Fame career and Solheim Cup career, Inkster said having daughters the same age as some players won’t hurt.

“I think I kind of know where they’re coming from and know what they’re thinking,” she said. “Hopefully, I don’t get any roll of the eyes, but you never know. But I do think it’ll help. No one wants to be micromanaged, and I don’t micromanage my kids, and I’m not going to micromanage the team. They know what they’re doing. It’s not like their first rodeo.

“I’m just going to be there to help them, guide them and lend an ear,” she said. “That’s pretty much what parenting is – helping them make the right decision. And, hopefully, I can do that with the kids.”

VIRGINIA WATER, England – The bonus pool for the European Tour’s season-ending Final Series has been increased to $5 million as part of a series of changes that includes a new qualifying format.

The prize fund, up from $3.75 million, will be shared by the leading 15 players on the Race to Dubai money list competing at the World Tour Championship, the last tournament of the season.

The field will increase to the top 60 available players, rather than only those finishing inside the top 60, and players will no longer be required to play in a minimum of two of three Final Series tournaments that precede the World Tour Championship.

Changes to the FedExCup-style series were announced Monday following criticism of last year’s format from the likes of Ernie Els and Sergio Garcia.

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Team Canada National Team member and Kent State junior, Jennifer Ha, shot a 216 (74-69-73) to finish in a tie for fifth Sunday at the SunTrust Gator Women’s Invite.

Ha, a Calgary native, was one of four Golden Flashes to crack the top 20. She was joined by Natalie Goodson (+5), Erin Hawe (+9) and Wad Phaewchimplee (+10). The individual leader and medalist was Daniela Darquea of Miami University.

Collectively, Kent State finished just one stroke back of Arizona to sit second overall. The Arizona Wildcats carded a 5-over 285 on Sunday’s final round to come from behind for the win.

The Golden Flashes will tee-it-up again in two weeks at the Mountain View Collegiate in Tuscon, Ariz.

For full results, click here.

NEWPORT BEACH, Calif. – Fred Couples won the Toshiba Classic on Sunday for his 10th Champions Tour title, birdieing the final two holes for a one-stroke victory.

The 54-year-old Couples closed with a 5-under 66 to finish at 15-under 198 at Newport Beach Country Club. Also the 2010 winner, he made a 4-foot birdie putt on the par-3 17th and holed another 4-footer on the par-5 18th.

Colin Montgomerie, Bernhard Langer and Steve Pate tied for second. Langer had a chance to force a playoff, but missed a long birdie try on 18 and settled for a 70.

Montgomerie had a 62, the best round of the week, and Pate shot a 66.

St. Catharines, Ont. native Rod Spittle finished 5-under and tied for 45th. Jim Rutledge of Victoria, B.C. was 8-over and tied for 76th.

Canlubang, Manila – Canada’s Richard T. Lee claimed a sensational comeback victory Sunday at the Solaire Open.

Lee, a Toronto native, overcame a four-shot deficit in the final round thanks to a 2-under-par 69 at The Country Club. The 23-year old finished 7-under par and defeated Thailand’s Chawalit Plaphol by a single shot to win his first Asian Tour title and a $54,000 (U.S.) winner’s cheque.

Overnight leader Angelo Que was on track to pick up his fourth Asian Tour win before disaster struck on the par-five second hole. He made  a 7-over-par 12 after hitting three out-of-bound tee shots.

Carlos Pigem of Spain shot a 69 and finished third at 5-under. Steve Lewton of England, Paul Peterson of the U.S. and Masahiro Kawamura of Japan tied for fourth at 4-under.

“This win means so much to me and it opens so many doors,” said Lee. “To be honest, I felt like I was in contention for the first three days. I shot under-par each day and I knew that if I could came out on the last day to play the way I did then I would have a chance to win. I’m glad I did just that.”

Lee, whose parents are Korean, was ecstatic with his maiden victory after enjoying a solid rookie season on the Asian Tour in 2013 where he finished 32nd on the Order of Merit.  However, there was a sense of disappointment as he had to watch his good friend Que walk away empty handed.

“It was a learning experience for me on the Asian Tour last year. I met some great people like Angelo Que, Unho Park and Lam Chih Bing. They are good players and I learned a lot from them. I wished Angelo luck yesterday and told him to play his best. It was unfortunate to see what happened to him,” added Lee.

PALM HARBOR, Fla. – More than seven years without a victory. A trip to Augusta National riding on the outcome. A three-way tie for the lead going into a daunting three-hole closing stretch called “The Snake Pit” on the Copperhead course of Innisbrook.

John Senden was trying to keep his mind off all of that Sunday in the Valspar Championship.

The finish will be hard for him to forget.

Senden chipped in for birdie from 70 feet on the 16th hole, one of only two birdies in the final round at the toughest hole on the course. He followed that with a 20-foot birdie putt to build a two-shot lead, then made it tough for Kevin Na to catch him with perfect pace on a 40-foot putt on the 18th that left him only a tap-in for par.

Senden closed with a 1-under 70 and had enough strength left to hoist a trophy he said felt like 50 pounds.

“I didn’t turn my phone on because I know there’s going to be 4,000 messages,” Senden said. “It feels good to do it again after seven years. Lot of good things to come.”

One of them is next month – the Masters.

The 42-year-old Australian was No. 123 in the world and his only hope of returning to Augusta National for a third straight year was to win. That didn’t look likely after opening with rounds of 71-72, leaving him in the middle of the pack. He had a bogey-free 64 on Saturday to get back into contention, then closed it off on a wild and windy final round with Innisbrook as tough as it had been all week.

“If I could just stay in the moment, I knew I was swinging well enough to give it a shake,” Senden said.

Na recovered from an atrocious finish to his front nine – including a double bogey when he missed a 3-foot putt – to make it interesting. He nearly drove into the water on the 16th and escaped with par. He holed a 15-foot birdie putt on the 17th to get within one shot. But his pitching wedge out of the first cut of rough on the 18th hole sailed long, and 40-foot birdie putt to force a playoff never came close.

Na closed with a 72 and finished one shot behind.

“I knew coming into today that I felt like if I shot par I had a chance to win,” Na said. “If I break par, I felt like it was going to be a lock.”

He did neither, though his runner-up finish was his best PGA Tour result since he won in Las Vegas toward the end of the 2011 season. And there were no issues with pace of play that brought Na the wrong kind of attention – again – on Saturday.

Senden finished at 7-under 277, the third straight tournament on the Florida swing won with a single-digit score under par.

Scott Langley, hitting superb shots to account for the wind, didn’t hit a green over the final four holes and still managed to save par on three of them. The one bogey on the 16th hole, when he went long of the green from the middle of the fairway, proved costly.

Langley was the only player who shot par or better all four days. He closed with a 70 to finish alone in third.

Robert Garrigus started the final round with a one-shot lead, and that didn’t last long. His tee shot on the third hole bounced off a lawn chair and against a tree, leading to a double bogey. He made another double bogey on No. 6 and went out in 41. And he went 26 holes without a birdie. By the time he made a birdie, it was too late. Garrigus, now 0-4 with at least a share of the 54-hole lead, had a 75 to tie for fourth at 4 under.

“I know what I’m not going to be doing next year – fishing,” said Garrigus, who figures he caught three dozen large-mouth bass this week. “I’m going to bring a damn chain saw out to the place and cut a few trees down. I kept hitting it behind them all day. I just didn’t get any breaks.”

Will MacKenzie ran off four birdies in a five-hole stretch around the turn and closed with a 69. He tied for fourth with Luke Donald (70) and Garrigus.

Justin Rose had five bogeys over seven holes in the middle of his round and shot 74, a disappointing day for the world’s No. 7 player who had started the final round just three shots out of the lead. In a fitting end, he missed a 4-foot birdie putt on his last hole.

Senden last won a tournament at Royal Sydney at the end of 2006 in the Australian Open. Earlier that year, he picked up his first PGA Tour win at the John Deere Classic. He didn’t imagine going more than seven years until his next win.

“It’s something that makes you believe more than you can get it done again, rather than just once and thinking back then in `06, `Was it a flash in the pan?’ I don’t believe so,” Senden said. “But now it makes me feel (validated) from the John Deere.”

Graham DeLaet of Weyburn, Sask. and David Hearn of Brantford, Ont. both had top-10 finishes. The pair finished tied for eighth at 2-under par 282. DeLaet jumped 30 spots up the leaderboard Sunday thanks to a 3-under 68. Sang-Moon Bae (67) was the only player with a better final round.

Stephen Ames of Calgary finished 7-over par and tied for 65th spot.

SAO PAULO – Jon Curran completed a wire-to-wire victory Sunday in the Web.com Tour’s Brazil Champions, closing with a 2-under 69 to beat Alex Cejka by four strokes.

Curran finished at 25-under 259 at Sao Paulo Golf Club and earned $144,000 for his first Web.com Tour title in only his fourth start. The 27-year-old former Vanderbilt player opened with a course-record 61 and added rounds of 64 and 65.

“I kept thinking to myself all day that I wasn’t nervous, I was just anxious,” said Curran, who led by four at the start of the day. “I said to myself that it was going to be OK if I wasn’t in the lead at some point, I just wanted to have a chance on the back nine.”

Cejka, the winner of the season-opening Colombia Championship last month, also shot a 69. He earned $86,400 to push his total to $221,400, more than enough to wrap a spot next season on the PGA Tour.

Ash Hall was another stroke back after a 70.

Curran, from Hopkinton, Mass., had a tour-record eight consecutive birdies in first round, had the second-lowest 36-hole score in tour history at 125, matched the lowest 54-hole mark at 190 and tied for fifth-best total.

“Somebody once said that you’re going to face something in the final round that you haven’t faced all week,” he said. “The guys who win deal with it and the guys that don’t, don’t win.”

Toronto’s Albin Choi lead the Canadians this week, finishing tied for 26th at 10-under 274.

Adam Hadwin followed up his first Web.Com Tour win last week with a tie for 65th this week. The Abbotsford, B.C. native finished with a 4-under 280.

Mackenzie Hughes of Dundas, Ont. was a stroke back of Hadwin at 3-under 281. He finished tied for 68th.

AGADIR, Morocco – Alejandro Canizares of Spain completed a wire-to-wire victory at the Trophee Hassan II by shooting a 2-under 70 in the final round Sunday for a five-stroke win.

Leading after all four rounds, Canizares made six birdies and dropped four shots for a 19-under 269 total.

“Golf is such a special game because I came here a little depressed about my game,” Canizares told the European Tour website. “It wasn’t on. I wasn’t hitting the ball well, I wasn’t putting well. And after 10 minutes practicing with my coach and 30 minutes practicing with a putting coach, it just clicked and it just felt so natural, so easy. I felt like the golf course was easy for me.”

Andy Sullivan was second after shooting the lowest score of the day. The Englishman had 10 birdies and a bogey for a 63.

Magnus Carlsson of Sweden carded a 68 to share third place with Seve Benson of England (71) at 276.

Canizares won the Russian Open in 2006 and tied for fifth place at the Qatar Masters in January.

“It’s been a long time since the last win,” Canizares said. “It felt like it was never coming but this week I played great, some of the best golf of my career. I hit good shot after good shot and kept my focus.”

Canizares went into the final round with a six-stroke lead. He birdied the 12th hole to extend his lead to eight strokes. The Spaniard had a such a comfortable cushion that he could even afford a double bogey on the final hole.

“I was very accurate and solid with my irons,” Canizares said. “I left myself lots of chances and although I did not make all of them, the first day was the key. I putted great the first day, shot 10 under and just kept pushing on.”

Sullivan started the final round in 15th place. But he holed seven birdies on the back nine for his best result this season since a fifth-place finish at the Joburg Open in February.

NEWPORT BEACH, Calif. – Bernhard Langer maintained a two-stroke lead Saturday in the Champions Tour’s Toshiba Classic, making four birdies in a late five-hole stretch for a 5-under 66.

Langer, the 2008 winner, had a 13-under 129 total at Newport Beach Country Club. The 56-year-old German won the season-opening event in Hawaii in January for his 19th victory on the 50-and-over tour.

Kenny Perry and Chien Soon Lu were tied for second. Perry made a 15-foot eagle putt on the par-5 18th for a 65, and Lu shot 66.

Fred Couples, Scott Dunlap, Esteban Toledo and Jeff Hart were 10 under.

Langer opened with a birdie, then made his first bogey of the tournament on his next hole. He added two more birdies on the front nine but also had another bogey.

On the back nine, Langer birdied Nos. 13, 14, 15 and 17. One of his birdies came after he hit son Jason in the gallery on his approach shot. Langer then chipped to 10 feet and made the birdie putt.

Perry also had a strange incident. On No. 9, he tried to cut the corner on the dogleg right and caught a palm tree about 37 yards from the tee box. Fortunately, the ball fell to the side of the tree. Perry hit a 4-iron layup, followed by a 9-iron to 4 feet and made the putt for par.

Ryder Cup Captain Tom Watson made a 30-foot eagle putt on the final hole for 63, tied for the best round of the day. It was the first time on the Champions Tour the 64-year-old Watson has bettered his age on the tour. He was tied for 12th at 8 under.

Rod Spittle is tied for 37th at 4-under, while Jim Rutledge is 81st at 11-over.

PALM HARBOR, Fla. – Robert Garrigus missed two short putts on the back nine and had to settle for a 1-under 70 and a one-shot lead Saturday in the Valspar Championship.

Garrigus opened with back-to-back birdies and stretched his lead to four shots through five holes. But he missed a 4-foot par putt on the 13th hole, and ended his round by missing a 3-foot par putt on the 18th.

He was at 8-under 205, one shot ahead of Kevin Na.

Na received a bad time on the 13th tee, and was so deliberate that the final group was two holes behind along the back nine.

John Senden shot a 64 and moved up 32 spots into third, only two behind. Justin Rose had a 69 and was three behind.

Canada’s David Hearn (71-70-70) is 2-under and is tied for 11th heading into the final round.

Graham DeLaet is tied for 38th (75-68-71) at 1-over with 10 players including Stephen Ames (72-70-72).