Pettersen achieves rare feat by retiring on top

Suzann Pettersen achieved one of the rarest feats in golf.

The winning shot in the Solheim Cup? Yes, it starts there. That putt she made from just outside 6 feet on the 18th green at Gleneagles was the main reason why Pettersen should be the envy of anyone who has competed as long and as well as the feisty Norwegian.

No one had ever faced a moment like this in the 15 previous editions of the Solheim Cup — the final shot on the final hole, all the other matches concluded, one putt to determine who wins, even if Pettersen didn’t know the score until she was mobbed by her teammates.

“Can you ask for more?” Pettersen said when it was over and Europe had the cup.

And then she got a little more. She retired. Pettersen didn’t tell anyone beforehand because even she didn’t know. Whether it was an impulsive decision — and it sure sounded like one — is irrelevant. With one putt, she celebrated the decisive point for Europe and a career packed with 21 victories worldwide, two majors and four winning Solheim Cup teams.

In an ageless sport where no one really retires, Pettersen walked away a winner, her last shot the most important of her career.

“She went out the way we all would like to,” Judy Rankin said Tuesday.

Rankin was in Scotland as the lead analyst for Golf Channel. Her lasting impressions were the quality of the putt, which started outside the hole and broke gently to the right, and the image of Pettersen holding 1-year-old son Herman.

“It doesn’t get more perfect,” Rankin said.

Retirement is never easy in golf, and only a select few manage to pull it o .