By Matt Slater Golf editor

Tactician, psychologist, cheerleader, DJ, spokesperson and clothes designer - a captain in a team golf event must own more hats than Jamiroquai.

HELEN ALFREDSSON FACTFILE Born: 9 April 1965, Gothenburg Turned professional: 1989 Career wins: 19 (including one major) Solheim Cup: 1990, 1992, 1994, 1996, 1998, 2000, 2002 Solheim Cup record: 11 points from 24 matches Other honours: 1992 LPGA Rookie of the Year, captain of Europe's winning Junior Solheim Cup team in 2003

The likes of David Beckham and John Terry have it easy in comparison.

Lots of people can clap their hands while looking determined, not many can perm four foursomes from a team of 12, reassure those left out, lift spirits, pick the tunes in the team room, convey serenity AND choose an outfit that flatters both your 45-year-old veteran and your 21-year-old starlet.

New European Solheim Cup captain Helen Alfredsson is confident she is one of the few that can.

Alfredsson, in fact, is already starting to think about her "biggest challenge", despite the 10th edition of the biennial matchplay event being almost two years away.

"I'm not going to have anything tight," said the 40-year-old Swede when asked the crucial "team outfit" question.

"I've got to think of the whole team. Everybody will want different things. But I'm going to find something hip!

"[The Americans] have never been hip. They look like a bunch of old ladies...in red, white and blue!"

It's 22 months before the first shots in anger at Halmstad but I make that 1-0 to Europe.

It is hard to measure how important the Solheim Cup has been for women's golf Helen Alfredsson Solheim skipper eyes Ryder reform

I also make it the first volley in what has become a Solheim Cup tradition - the exchange of pre-tournament barbs.

They might smile at each other more than their Ryder Cup counterparts do but these ladies are nothing if not competitive, and that includes the exchanges prior to hostilities.

This year's contest at Crooked Stick was given added piquancy by comments made by American rookie Paula Creamer.

When asked for her pre-event thoughts, the 19-year-old eschewed the diplomatic noises usually made on these occasions and told her European rivals they should get ready to be beaten.

Feature: Solheim Cup clashes

For Creamer in 2005, read Catrin Nilsmark in 2002, Pat Bradley in 2000 and Dottie Pepper just about every time she met a European in competitive golf. The Solheim Cup has never been short of cattiness.

Alfredsson, however, is confident the 2007 contest will be fierce but friendly.

"We know each other better now because more [Europeans] play on the American tour," she said. "It is hard to be a bitch with your friends.

"Of course, it happens - it's part of the game and there have been some incidents - but lately it seems it doesn't take two years to pass before we're all friends again.

"It's great to see women compete but still be feminine. We play hard but finish with a big party.

"That's what sport is all about - particularly now that the money has got so big. It's nice to have an event that is all about the honour, not money."

A TRANSATLANTIC TALE 2005 US wins 15�-12� 2003 Europe wins 17�-10� 2002 US wins 15�-12� 2000 Europe wins 14�-11� 1998 US wins 16-12 1996 US wins 17-11 1994 US wins 13-7 1992 Europe wins 11�-6� 1990 US wins 11�-4� US leads 6-3

And it is clear that the amount of honour on offer at the Solheim Cup has gone up in proportion to the rise in prize money at LPGA tournaments. Alfredsson believes these two trends are related.

"From having three confused spectators the first time, and us being super scared of the Americans, to now where there is true competition, well, it's really brought women's golf to a new level," she said.

"It is hard to measure how important the Solheim Cup has been for women's golf."

But just as the Ryder Cup has only recently emerged as a genuine contest (well, it will just as soon as we let the Americans have the Argentines and Canadians too), the Solheim Cup got off to a decidedly one-sided start.

Alfredsson remembers only too well just how poorly matched the sides were at Lake Nona in 1990 - she was a young pro thrown in against an American team packed full of players she had grown up watching.

"I had only been a pro for a year and I was playing against my idol Nancy Lopez," she said. "I didn't know if I should ask for an autograph or just get out of her way."

Unlike the Ryder Cup, which saw one-way traffic for half a century, true Solheim Cup competition was back on only two years later.

"We won despite nothing going our way," she said. "I remember getting the video afterwards and I had no memories of how grey and wet it was.

"All I could remember was how happy we were. We had incredible team unity."

Finding that same unity will be essential if Alfredsson's charges are to win back the Solheim Cup from a talented American team that is likely to include teen sensation Michelle Wie.

But with the likes of world number one Annika Sorenstam in her side, and thousands of their compatriots cheering them on from behind the ropes, I would not be at all surprised if Alfredsson's army spring a surprise come 2007.