I have been corrected on the details of the Annika story by my good friend and colleague, Debbie Waitkus. Here’s what she said:
“Barb – great newsletter! Need to correct you on your Annika story as it’s a huge bone of contention with a close friend of mine that was the Solheim Co-Captain for the “other” team (Europeans) when that happened.
“Here’s what went down. Play was called due to inclement weather. The women all marked their balls and came back the next day. Upon their return, they replaced their balls and stood around looking at each other for who should go first. Finally, Annika decided to go first. No one stopped her and said that someone else was away. They’d had all night to make that determination. (This is the source of the bad feelings.) Yep, Annika holed her chip shot. It was then that the Americans asked her to re-hit. She did not hit it in the next time. The Europeans ladies were upset since the Americans could have stepped up and just hit after having had the entire night to figure out who was away or they could have just let her have the shot. In the Europeans’ eyes, it was poor sportsmanship. According to my friend, it was the turning point which fueled the Europeans to win. There are such things as golf gods…”