of dollars to the Karsten Golf Course at Arizona State University and Karsten Creek Golf Course at Oklahoma State University, and sponsored LPGA tournaments in Oregon, Arizona, and Massachusetts. He was the driving force behind the creation of the Solheim Cup, the biennial tournament between teams of women professionals from Europe and the United States, which was modeled on the men's Ryder Cup, and was first played in 1990. Solheim developed Parkinson's disease and in 1995 he handed over his company to his youngest son John. He died in Phoenix in February 2000 at the age of 88. Solheim's contribution of perimeter weighting and usage of investment casting are recognized as two of the key innovations in the history of golf. Awards and recognition For increasing trade with foreign companies through Ping, Solheim received an "E" award from President Reagan in 1988. Solheim was inducted in 1991 into the Scandinavian-American Hall of Fame. Two collegiate golf courses bear his name: ASU Karsten Golf Course in Tempe, Arizona, opened in 1989, and Karsten Creek Golf Course in Stillwater, Oklahoma, opened in 1994. ME Hall of Fame recipient from University of Washington Mechanical Engineering. After his passing Karsten Solheim's wife Louise Solheim established an undergraduate scholarship fund and the Solheim Manufacturing Labs within the ME Department in memory of her late husband. Solheim was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 2001 in the category of Lifetime Achievement. References External links University of Washington – Mech. Engr. Hall of Fame – Karsten Solheim 20th-century American businesspeople 20th-century American inventors Ballard High School (Seattle, Washington) alumni World Golf Hall of Fame inductees Businesspeople from Seattle Businesspeople from Phoenix, Arizona Norwegian emigrants to the United States Neurological disease deaths in Arizona Deaths from Parkinson's disease 1911 births 2000 deaths 20th-century American philanthropists Inventors from Arizona