The aroma of cordite fills Solheim Cup air again. A contest with uncanny talent is back in throwing moments of massive print controversy in Ohio. World No. 1 Nelly Korda has benefited from the intervention of rules officials which has left UEFA captain Catriona Matthew visibly angry. No wonder. A decisive moment marked by a stopwatch and a television screen.
Korda’s shot for three on the 13th during a four-ball session on Saturday afternoon rested painfully over the hole. In an apparent attempt to speed up play – the match in question was cautioned earlier in the pace – European Madeleine Sagstrom stepped forward and threw the ball to Korda. Cue chaos. Rule 13.3b states: “If an opponent in a match lifts or moves a player’s ball dangling over the hole before the waiting time has expired, the player’s ball will be treated as punched by the previous hit.” It was Sagstrom’s intervention seven seconds later. 10 She was allowed to Korda according to the rulebook. This incident propelled the United States to first place in the bout, which Korda and Ally Ewing duly won by a one-hole advantage.
It should be noted that Korda did not scream. It was clear that Florida—which was on its knees in dismay—from the perfectly legitimate point of view that its bond would not fall, save for the miraculous arrival of an arctic eruption. The loophole was overcome on the advice and actions of the main Solheim Cup referee. “You’ll never get in,” said Sagstrom, but she was told it didn’t matter. Matthew questioned with the referee that the ball was dangling.
“It was definitely awkward, you don’t want to win a hole like that,” Korda said. “We didn’t want it to happen this way. It was very unfortunate. Hopefully they are [the Europeans] is fine with us. We didn’t even have an opinion.” However, after winning the hole through such dubious circumstances, the American pair could gain widespread praise and protect the integrity of the competition by immediately conceding the next hole and putting the match back all square. They decided otherwise.
Sagstrom, who was partnered with Nana Korsz-Madsen, was visibly and understandably depressed as the match ended. “I believe in the integrity and honor of golf and I wouldn’t shoot a throw that had a chance to play,” she said. “Personally, I don’t agree with the decision with the ball being on the edge but I didn’t follow the 10-second rule. It sucks now. I feel like I let my team down.”
The world of golf looked on agog. “Do the rules officials in golf realize how incredibly stupid they are in making our game look?” said Thomas Bjorn, former European Ryder Cup captain.
The Sajstrom case arrived at a time when the United States was working to turn Solheim in its favour. In the formative stages of the Quad Tournament, Europe – which won the quadruple championships by a three-and-a-half margin – was ahead in all four games. By the end of the match, the overall score was between 5 and 2 scores in favor of Europe.
Amid the craziness, Matthew’s Courtesy Joy from Anna Nordqvist and Matilda Kastern has arrived facing Lexi Thompson and Mina Harrigay at 4 and 3 Amidst this craziness. The United States responded to the 18th green, with Lizette Salas shattering in a single win for herself and Jennifer Kupshaw over Carlota Seganda and Sofia Popov. In the last match, European Leona Maguire and Georgia Hall defeated Brittany Altomari and Yalemi Noh by one difference.
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Earlier, much earlier, Maguire had celebrated her Solheim debut by merging with Reed’s penchant for taking down the Korda sisters – Nellie and Jessica – once. Georgia Hall and Celine Potier have recovered from an ill-fated position of two down with several holes to play to earn half against Ewing and Megan Kang.
Charlie Hall reunited with Emily Pedersen to bid farewell to Lexi Thompson and Altomar through a holeshot. In the event’s opening match, Nordqvist and Castrin defeated Daniel Kang and Austin Ernst. No wonder Matthew called this “the beginning of a dream.” Things changed later, as did the atmosphere surrounding this competition. Europe feels a sense of injustice as it approaches the second day.