Golf: Acquired taste of Pepper

It is typical of Dottie Pepper - formerly Mochrie - that she did not just want to make the American Solheim Cup team, but she wanted to top the qualifying standings. For the third time running. After all, she has a reputation to maintain.

Pepper, a New Yorker who is as intense as life is in the Big Apple, burns with a desire to be second to none. If Laura Davies is the Seve Ballesteros of the European team, Pepper is the Americans' Paul Azinger.

In the last match, two years ago at the Greenbrier, the score was 5-5 going into the final day when the Americans claimed a crushing victory by winning eight of the 10 singles. Pepper was the first player to put a point on the board, beating Catrin Nilsmark 6 and 5.

Pepper was seven under for 13 holes, but she denies she is the team's on-course leader. "I am only one player on a team of 12 great players. I just happened to play great last time. In the singles I thought it was important to get some points on the board. I wanted to be the one who got the first point. I just golfed my ball and it went in real fast. It was so lopsided that it charged everyone up."

There are, in fact, two Dottie Peppers. There is the gentle, mild, courteous off-course Dottie who is a pleasure to talk to. Then there is the on-course Dottie, described in an American golf magazine last week as "emotionally hyperactive, a white-hot, blue-eyed tornado built to wave the matchplay flag".

For the week of the Greenbrier, when she won all three of her matches, Pepper dyed her hair red and was appropriately fiery. She seemed to find a natural ally in Brandie Burton and they combined to give Davies and Alison Nicholas a rare defeat. But when Davies missed a short putt at the second, Pepper could not restrain a yelp of delight.

"She is not a problem," Europe's Trish Johnson said. "She is so different off the golf course than she is on it. She is probably the most competitive person I've ever met and doesn't see anything other than winning. But off the course, she's actually a nice person." Dale Reid, who beat Pepper in the singles at Dalmahoy in 1992, added: "I think it is just a case of letting your golf do the talking. I think we have as much will to win but she tends to show it a little more."

The woman herself reflected: "I think there was a lot of over-reaction. We went back and watched some of the videotapes of the matches in the past and they were doing the same thing, high-fiving and getting excited. Jeez, if you can't get excited about representing your country then there is really something wrong with you."

A lot has changed since then. Last year Pepper divorced her caddie and coach Doug. This year, after the US Open when she missed the cut for the first time in a major in her nine-year career, Pepper changed back to forged-iron clubs and returned to her former teacher, Ted Ossoff. The pair worked hard, reviewed videos - including one of the '94 Solheim - and three wins in five weeks put her top of the qualifying rankings.

Despite a month's absence due to a measles-related fever, she completed her fourth win of the season last week. All that remains is to reveal the colour of her hair. Blue has not been ruled out. She confirmed: "Everyone is waiting to know."