Europe’s captain Carin Koch is still unhappy about the incident that marred the final day of the Solheim Cup in September and the Swede on Tuesday said she might handle “Gimmegate” differently if she had the chance again.
Tempers at the biennial team event, the women’s equivalent of the Ryder Cup, flared as then-world No. 8 Suzann Pettersen of Norway refused to concede a 16-inch putt to Alison Lee and the US golfer picked Pettersen’s ball up on the 17th green.
That left the referee no option but to award the hole to Pettersen and morning fourballs partner Charley Hull, leading to victory for the pair against Lee and Brittany Lincicome and accusations of a lack of sportsmanship by the European team.
“It’s easy to say now, going back,” Koch told Sky Sports, referring to a question about how she could have handled the incident better.
“It just happened so fast. If there was any chance to slow it down a bit, discuss what happened, if that could have been possible, that probably would have been the one thing,” she said.
“I’m sad that it overshadowed the great moments we had and the great golf we played. That has been overshadowed by one putt on Sunday morning,” Koch added.
“The only thing we could do is give them the last hole. I did say to Suzann that was an option, but she didn’t want to, so I just really had to back my No. 1 player at that stage,” Koch said.
Koch said “Gimmegate,” as the incident was later described by the BBC, was all the incentive the US needed to stage a remarkable comeback from 10-6 down to snatch victory by 14.5 to 13.5.
“They didn’t need any more inspiration to go out on the Sunday afternoon,” she added.
Koch said at least “Gimmegate” had given women’s golf international exposure for a week.
“I was in a taxi in London a few weeks ago and the driver saw my golf clubs and the Solheim Cup logo on my travel bag and he started asking me if I saw what happened,” the Swede said.
“I said to him that I was sort of there, but I’m not sure he would have heard about it otherwise, any media [coverage] is positive I guess,” she added.
Kylian Mbappe struck from the penalty spot as Real Madrid beat a dogged CA Osasuna 1-0 on Tuesday to make a winning start in Spanish La Liga under new coach Xabi Alonso. The France striker, last season’s European Golden Shoe winner, scored early in the second half, after he was fouled in the area by Osasuna defender Juan Cruz. It was enough to seal the points in Alonso’s first game in charge at the Santiago Bernabeu, with Madrid now unbeaten in their opening fixture of a league campaign since 2008. “You can see that Kylian wants to do even more
TO THE TOP: After securing the international title on Saturday, Team Taiwan were to face Las Vegas to potentially win their 18th Little League World Series championship A team from Taipei’s Dong Yuan Elementary School won the Little League Baseball World Series’ international title on Saturday by defeating Aruba 1-0 in the annual baseball tournament held in South Williamsport, Pennsylvania. The Taiwan team, competing under the name Chinese Taipei, were after press time last night to face a team from Las Vegas, Nevada, which beat a team from Fairfield, Connecticut, in the US championship 8-2. Taiwan are seeking to win their first Little League Baseball World Series title since 1996. “Really haven’t taken a moment to data dump right now on Taiwan,” Nevada manager T.J. Fescher said. “They’re a
‘CATASTROPHE’: Despite losing several key forwards in the summer transfer window, Bayern were up 3-0 in the first half before Harry Kane scored a hat-trick in the second Harry Kane hit a hat-trick, Michael Olise a double and newcomer Luis Diaz also scored as Bayern Munich made a “statement” against RB Leipzig 6-0 at home in the Bundesliga season opener on Friday. Bayern’s big-money arrivals, all brought in from the Premier League across the past three seasons, were dominant as the Bavarians begun their title defense in style. Olise scored twice in the first half, either side of a Diaz strike. Not to be outdone, Kane scored three goals in the second half — with two assists coming from Diaz, to bring Bayern’s total to 6-0. Kane told the Bundesliga
Kevin de Bruyne is to lead SSC Napoli’s Serie A title defense today when he makes his full debut at promoted US Sassuolo, but the champions head into the new season rocked by a long-term injury to star striker Romelu Lukaku. De Bruyne was, alongside aging icon Luka Modric, the big new name to arrive in Italy this summer and fans were hoping his linkup with Belgium teammate Lukaku would push Napoli to success both at home and in their return to the UEFA Champions League. The 34-year-old has suffered from hamstring injuries which caused him to miss significant chunks of the
RSS