BLOWN AWAY BY YANKEE TORNADO
Inkster’s marvels too strong for gutsy Europe
ASolheim Cup raised to an entirely new standard by the quality of golf on show and the loud, impeccably behaved galleries ended in a comfortable victory for the United States yesterday.
Trailing by five points going into the 12 singles, europe’s captain Annika Sorenstam vowed that hope would be the last thing her team would lose, and at one stage there were seven flags of blue on the board, only three of red and two matches all square.
But eventually hope disappeared alongside the trophy, buried under a welter of magnificent collective play from the hosts as they completed a 16½-11½ success. Yes, there were european weaknesses but the abiding memory of this 15th edition deserves to be of one of the great American teams we have seen in the past two decades — male or female.
led by one of the great captains, too, in Juli inkster, who showed yesterday she has a velvet touch to go alongside the customary steely glare. The pep talk she gave lexi Thompson in the middle of the ninth fairway will go down in Solheim legend.
The world No2 had been sent out first with a clear message but her signals were horribly crossed early on against Sweden’s Anna Nordqvist. Thompson was so uptight she missed from two feet at the first and shanked wedge shots on the next two holes.
‘look at your shoulders, they’re so tense, just relax,’ urged inkster, wrapping her arms around her before whispering in her ear: ‘Don’t be paralysed by fear. You can do this, you’re the best player here.’
What followed resulted in a match that will surely go down as the greatest Solheim singles of all time. Four up at the turn, Nordqvist actually played the next seven holes in two under and yet was helpless to stop the Thompson tornado.
At the 11th, Nordqvist was three feet away in two but didn’t get to putt as Thompson holed her wedge shot from 112 yards for an eagle. Nordqvist birdied the par-five 15th but lost that one as well as Thompson rolled in a 50-foot putt for another eagle. Thompson had four birdies during the stretch as well to play seven holes in eight under par.
Watching Nordqvist, now one down, play the 17th was the golf equivalent of a boxer trying to recover after being knocked to the floor and taking a count of eight. Thompson actually had a four-foot putt to win, but babied it.
Recovering her senses, how Nordqvist made her pay, hitting an incredible second shot that finished six inches from the 18th hole to secure the most hardearned of halves. if ever there was a match which neither player deserved to lose, this was it.
Thompson looked disappointed but there was the brilliant inkster with another embrace and shouting in her ear once more: ‘Don’t you dare look like that! You’ve just won a half-point that feels like six points to me. That was fantastic.’
one of the things that makes this such a strong American team is players like Paula Creamer and Cristie Kerr, who become completely different golfers when wrapped in the stars and stripes. Creamer has struggled so much she had to qualify to play in the British open three weeks ago. She only got into the team when Jessica Korda had to withdraw with injury.
Yet here she was, taking on the sensational Georgia hall in the second singles and matching her birdie for birdie. The match came to a cruel conclusion when hall, who played all five series, missed a short putt for a half. She looked crushed but you just know she’ll prove one of those players who will be stronger for the setback.
With Kerr beating mel Reid, just the margin of victory was left to be decided, although there were two more moments of defiance from europe. one came from Charley hull, forced to sit out Saturday’s play with her wrist problems, who delivered a point against Brittany lang. The other came from the player who will be europe’s captain at Gleneagles in 2019 — Catriona matthew.
Three down early on, it looked as if four matches during the long weekend was one too many for the admirable Scot who will shortly celebrate her 48th birthday. What a daft thought that proved. Back she came to beat Stacy lewis on the 18th hole for her third point of the week.
What a way to sign off as a player — a Solheim Cup, lest we forget, where she was only drafted in last Wednesday for the injured Suzann Pettersen — and a career points total of 22 bettered only by Sorenstam and Dame laura Davies.
europe might have gone down by a sizeable margin but there was still plenty to enjoy.