A weekend of golf and a matter of sportsmanship

We have been getting a fair bit of rain the last few days, so the weather here in Kuching has greatly improved. 

So on Saturday morning, our weekly golf session resumed at the Samarahan Country Club and golf being golf. I managed a (poor, could have been much better) 98. Which consisted of a very mixed bag of 6 pars and an 8 on the par 3, 15th. 

After sending two tee shots into the watery hazard I 'finally' convinced my ego to take a drop. Foolish mistake really. My iron game has gone rather haywire too. Gone are the days (not too long ago in fact) where I was confident and striking my iron shots flush. Just one of those patches I suppose.

In other news, can anyone stop Jason Day? He is clearly on fire having clinched the BMW Championship by 6 strokes and ascended to the No.1 along with his fine victory. What a run he's had since breaking through at the PGA Championship. Well deserved.

More interesting was the Solheim Cup where team USA staged one of the greatest comeback in competition. On the final day, singles, team USA earned a staggering 8.5 points to snatch the cup back from Team Europe who appeared to be cruising to a cushy victory.

A fantastic victory for the Americans no less but the controversy on the 17th hole during the fourball match between Lincicome/Lee - Pettersen/Hull will remain a sore talking point. 

Did Allison Lee make a mistake? Yes, she did unfortunately. In a competition where the stakes are this high, get concrete confirmation that a putt is given, don't assume your opponent has conceded. Why risk it? Rules are rules. 

But what about sportsmanship?

Everyone's had their say and the majority feel the same way that I do. That it was poor sportsmanship on Team Europe's part.

From what I have read and gathered, Suzann and Charley both insisted they never conceded the putt. 

Apart from Allison who "thought" she heard someone say it was 'good', no one else heard anything. So, chances are no one said 'anything'. 

But let's look at conduct. How quickly did Charley walk away right after Alison misses? and how far Suzann was?

To be clear though, it was certainly Allison's mistake to assume that the putt had been given. But in being so competitive and stringent to the rules, Suzann wasn't acting in the spirit of the game and that was her mistake.

But at the end of the day, perhaps that was what Team America needed to find that extra gear and kick start their comeback. And what a comeback it was. Superb display from the Americans and it was a fitting finish in the end.

Allison burried the controversy from the morning, winning her singles match in good fashion. 

Angela Stanford (who has the worse Solheim Cup record) taking down villain of the hour Suzann Pettersen.

With the Cup on the line, often criticized, Captain's pick, Paula Creamer secured the winning point by whooping Sandra Gal to clinch victory for the Americans and justifying her Captain's faith in her.

Can't imagine how it will be the next time Suzann tees it up at an LPGA event or worse, when shes grouped with either Allison Lee or Brittany Lincicome or anyone from the American team for that matter. Yikes!

UPDATE : 22.09.2015

Suzann has posted a very heartfelt apology on her instagram account. 

It's never easy to apologize, especially in the manner that she did. I definitely respect that. Big of her really.