Golf legend Nancy Lopez hits ceremonial drive for The Solheim Cup

TOLEDO, Ohio (WTVG) - A select group of women spent Wednesday evening in the stands surrounding the first and tenth tees for The Solheim Cup as part of The Women’s Leadership Summit, which began at the Stranahan Theater the day before.

Organizers say they wanted to bring the women to the golf course at The Inverness Club to get them excited for the world championship golf in the days ahead.

To set the mood, legendary golfers Morgan Pressel and Nancy Lopez spoke to the crowd about what to expect when Team U.S.A. hosts Team Europe. Then, Lopez hit a ceremonial drive off the tee to show everyone how it’s done.

“Amazing. I’m mean, for Nancy Lopez and Morgan Pressel to be here and be a part of this event. I mean, what a great experience for these women,” said Paige Ottaviano, who is assisting with the coordinating of The Solheim Cup. “To show them, like, hey, this is what’s going to happen. You’re on the first tee of The Solheim Cup and you saw Nancy Lopez hit that shot and now you’re going to see the greatest American golfers we have, the 12 of them, do that same thing. So, we wanted to show them that this is pretty special.”

Pressel is set to return to the course Thursday for the BMW Celebrity Match.

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