Yani Tseng of Taiwan is the world's No. 1 but excluded in the Solheim Cup, which pits Americans against Europeans. (Darren Carroll/Getty Images)

Just as the women's golf world is abuzz about Lexi Thompson's exploits — the 16-year-old won the Navistar Classic in Alabama — the LPGA is faced with a harsh reality at the Solheim Cup in Ireland.

With the biennial event poised to take place at Killeen Castle, one has to feel a tad sorry about the bad luck it is having. First, Ireland, the host nation, has no participant in the matches — an unfortunate reality considering Irish men have won six of the past 18 major championships.

The lack of a local draw could dull the atmosphere, though Irish golf fans will surely show some love for the European team if it plays well.

The bigger problem facing the Solheim Cup is that doesn't include the dominant continent in women's golf. Asian golfers are not represented.

To that end, the Solheim Cup has whipped up an almost perfect storm with bad timing. Created in 1990 to give the women pros the same type of competition that

Ryder Cup had on the men's side — perfectly understandable — it was working just fine, highlighted by the Annika Sorenstam juggernaut for the Europeans and a typically great roster of players for the Americans.

Enter Se Ri Pak.

Women's golf in Korea was booming in the late 1990's and exploded soon after Pak won a pair of majors in 1998. Before long, it seemed every event leaderboard was packed with Korean flags, surrounding those raised by Sorenstam (Sweden) and Karrie Webb (Australia).

More recently, Japanese players have joined their Asian rival at the top and Yani Tseng of Taiwant is the most dominant player in women's golf since Mexico's Lorena Ochoa retired.

Yet unlike Sorenstam, both Ochoa and Webb would be frozen out of the Solheim Cup because they are neither American nor European, illustrating for how much of the event's 21-year run that this problem has been at least bubbling under the surface.

The European squad had a dip in form in recent years, in part contributing to three consecutive U.S. victories. The competition not only excludes many of the best players in the game, it has also slipped a notch in excitement.

To be fair, the Europeans have played better this year. Nine team members current rank in the Top 50, though just Suzann Pettersen at No. 2 is in the Top 20.

Europe also had the courage to tweak the selection criteria and award players not playing full-time on the continent more of an opportunity to make the team.

Both the Americans and Europeans have solid teams. The problem, of course, is the proverbial horse is out of the barn with respect to Asian players.

Tseng, for one, will never have the chance to play unless the scope of the event is changed. Ditto for all the other Asians who dot the world rankings. Right now, 19 of the Top 30 hail from Asian countries, mostly from Japan and Korea.

Faced with a myriad of problems — well beyond both Sorenstam and Ochoa retiring in their prime — it could be argued that women's golf was the harshest hit of all international sports properties in the wake of the economic downturn that began in 2008.

The way forward is to try and become a world tour. Part of that transformation will surely have to involve developing an international teams competition like the Presidents Cup.

Whether or not that involves the Solheim Cup continuing on as is or re-inventing itself to include Asian countries remains to be seen. It's not the type of worries women's pro golf should be having in the aftermath of Thompson's remarkable win and ahead of what should be its flagship event.

But something has to happen.