THE TAKE By Lewine Mair
You only have to glance at some of the promotional material for the 2019 Solheim Cup – it shows Juli Inkster, the US captain, and Catriona Matthew, her opposite number for Europe, in face-off mode – to be transported back to the match of 2015 in Germany. And what William Hill, the bookmakers, described earlier this year as one of golf’s “four darkest moments.”
That description, though arguably a tad over the top, concerned what happened when Norway’s Suzann Pettersen claimed the 17th hole in the second four-ball series at Golf Club St. Leon-Rot. She did so because she had not conceded the little putt which Alison Lee had snatched from the ground instead of holing out for a half. (Though Lee’s partner, Brittany Lincicome, appeared to be telling her young partner that she had acted in too much haste, Lee claimed that she had heard a call of "That’s good.")
Last week, when Inkster was on a reconnaissance trip to Gleneagles, where she will captain the American Solheim Cup team for a third time next September, she was not averse to revisiting that episode.
“I was watching the game but without being close enough to hear anything, and when the party set off towards the 18th tee, I assumed the hole was over,” she said. “Then, all of a sudden, everything came to a standstill – and that’s when Suzann said that she had not conceded the putt.”
Though Pettersen and Charley Hull grabbed a one-hole lead and went on to win their point, it did them no good. Inkster, a wily enough competitor to have won three consecutive US Women’s Amateur championships and seven professional majors, whipped up a degree of indignation amongst her players which set the stage for a major comeback. Having trailed to the tune of 10-6 going into the singles, the Americans went on to win by 14½-13½. The Europeans, for their part, were totally thrown. Whilst recognising that Pettersen had been within her rights to claim the hole, they were mostly sufficiently embarrassed not to be able to play a lick.
Looking back, Inkster felt that Pettersen should have had a quiet word with Lee long before what happened at the 17th, especially if, as has been alleged, the rookie had been omitting to hole out earlier on. “I don’t know about any of that but, looking purely at what happened at the 17th, Suzann should have viewed Alison’s mistake as nothing more than a good teaching moment.
“As they walked down the 18th, she could have noted, ‘I know you picked up your ball but I never said the putt was good.’ ”
“Foursomes, in particular, are so foreign to my players. They ... need to understand that in foursomes, you can go four or five holes without, say, using your putter, and then you’re going to have to hole a 5-footer.”
Juli Inkster
Amid all the hullabaloo, Inkster had been greatly appreciative of the degree of support given to her and Lee by the other Americans. (In truth, the way they all rallied round Lee left people with the feeling that even if the player had been unsure as to whether or not she had heard a cry of "That’s good," she would probably have ended up being convinced that she had.)
One more learning experience which Inkster extracted from that day was the importance in any foursomes or four-ball for one player in a partnership to be in sole charge of making sure that both teams were agreed on the score at the end of every hole.
Moving on, the US captain did not mind acknowledging that Americans, perhaps because of the greater emphasis on stroke play in their formative years, are not particularly well-versed in the art of foursomes and four-balls.
“Foursomes, in particular, are so foreign to my players,” she said. “They require such a different mentality; you can either get off on the right foot or you can start treading on each other’s toes. What I do is to have the youngsters playing four-balls and foursomes with the veterans to get them feeling comfortable with the format. They also need to understand that in foursomes, you can go four or five holes without, say, using your putter, and then you’re going to have to hole a 5-footer.”
On the subject of pair-ups for 2019, she says she will be concerning herself more with personalities than golf. Looking back to her own Solheim Cup playing days, she says she combined particularly well with Dottie Pepper. A bit of intervention was necessary here …
Wasn’t she a little scared of someone possibly even more feisty in a match-play context than she is herself?
“No, not at all. I knew what to expect. If she had hit me over the head for something I did, I’d have hit her right back.”
In the past couple of weeks, Inkster has been texting Michelle Wie about the surgery Wie had on her wrist that is expected to keep her out of the game until Christmas. “The signs are good and she’s desperately hoping that she’ll be OK for Gleneagles. Apart from dealing with her osteoarthritis, they found a broken bone in there – and Michelle’s hoping that it was that, rather more than the arthritis, which has been the main cause of her problems.”
You ask about two such famous names as Wie and Tiger Woods in a team situation and she waxes lyrical about what Wie brings to a side. “There’s so much passion there. You ask her to take a young one under her wing and she’s great at it. She’s also good at sharing her thoughts. She’ll make a fine captain one day.”
“When it comes to Tiger, I thought that he looked a bit lethargic at this year’s Ryder Cup. Yet you can be tired and you can still do your bit to pump people up. I just felt that he wasn’t doing that with Patrick Reed and Bryson DeChambeau.
“These matches are never about you, they’re about, ‘What can I do to help the team.' Mind you, having said all that, I’ve never been in a team room with Tiger.”
Has she been in any Ryder Cup team room?
“Never.”
Would she, what with those alleged goings-on behind the scenes in September, like to have been in this year’s?
“I would sooner have been a fly on the wall.”