{"id":892049,"date":"2026-09-14T20:10:12","date_gmt":"2026-09-14T20:10:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/892049\/"},"modified":"2026-09-14T20:10:12","modified_gmt":"2026-09-14T20:10:12","slug":"usas-solheim-cup-inquest-begins-amid-early-celebrations-and-stats-complaints-solheim-cup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/892049\/","title":{"rendered":"USA\u2019s Solheim Cup inquest begins amid early celebrations and stats complaints | Solheim Cup"},"content":{"rendered":"

The latest inquest into failure by an American team on European soil involves slow greens, the perception of a premature celebration and a curious absence of statistical backup. Angela Stanford, whose Solheim Cup<\/a> team were defeated by Europe in the Netherlands on Sunday, warned Jim Furyk\u2019s Ryder Cup contingent to take note.<\/p>\n

Stanford used the numbers-based evidence of Justin Ray to assist with decision-making and Furyk will do likewise at Adare Manor next year. In the aftermath of the 15-13 defeat and assessing Ray\u2019s input, Stanford clearly had an underlying gripe. \u201cI\u2019m wondering how honest to be,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cJustin Ray is extremely helpful. We were missing some pieces this week. Like, in Spain [in 2023] we had people giving us strokes gained in each match, even in practice. And we didn\u2019t have that this year.<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause I know he\u2019s working with Jim in the Ryder Cup, just now in the locker room, I told him exactly what he needed to do for Jim. Those things do matter and Justin was a huge help. He got us to this point.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s easy to get blown out over here. So I think we had the right formula and he helped us make that formula, so Justin Ray is awesome.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pressed on why there was not the adequate backup resource she had referenced, Stanford said: \u201cWe just didn\u2019t. See, that\u2019s why I couldn\u2019t be so honest with you.\u201d<\/p>\n

It should be remembered that the teams were level, at 8-8, before a Sunday singles session where the USA team stood as the favourites. Following Stanford\u2019s logic, she appears to be implying her team were denied the opportunity to take a lead into day three.<\/p>\n

Saturday\u2019s conclusion had felt significant. Extraordinary pieces of play by Jennifer Kupcho on the last two holes meant she and Lindy Duncan claimed an unlikely point against Carlota Ciganda and C\u00e9line Boutier. Social media lit up with video of the USA team celebrating with beers on the bus back to their hotel. \u201cThey drink on Saturday, we drink on Sunday,\u201d Europe\u2019s team chanted when they made the same journey a day later.<\/p>\n

Stanford disputed any sense of untimely euphoria. She had been unwilling to ask the American players to tone down their joy. \u201cThat\u2019s kind of tricky because you don\u2019t ever want to take away from that moment,\u201d she said. \u201cThe worst thing I could have done is go in there and be like: \u2018OK, y\u2019all. Come off this high.\u2019 You don\u2019t want to take away from those moments. We\u2019re never going to see anything like that again.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think they handled it very well. We\u2019ve never seen that so we don\u2019t really know how to react. I talked to Kupcho and everybody and they\u2019re like, \u2018Yeah, we got good rest, but it did take a minute to come off because it was a pretty high, high.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Another element was the putting surfaces. Anna Nordqvist, Europe\u2019s captain, shrugged off any notion of gamesmanship by pointing out \u201cwe are in Europe in September\u201d, but the pace of the greens had caught out the USA team.<\/p>\n

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\u201cApparently I didn\u2019t get to know the [greens] superintendent as well as I should have,\u201d Stanford said only half in jest. \u201cEven when we showed up in July here, they were faster. And I don\u2019t think it had anything to do with the rain either.<\/p>\n

Anna Nordqvist, the Europe captain, lifts the Solheim Cup. Photograph: Naomi Baker\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

\u201cNow, saying that, it\u2019s my responsibility to get the team ready. This is the one thing I am kicking myself [about], is that I just didn\u2019t keep pushing, \u2018We [have] got to figure out how to hit our putts a little bit harder.\u2019 Which is really difficult, to change the way you putt.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m a little frustrated with myself. Nobody complained about it at all. It\u2019s me saying this right now that I wish I would have maybe hammered it home more; they\u2019re going to be slow, they\u2019re going to be slow, they\u2019re going to be slow. We don\u2019t play on greens this slow usually.\u201d<\/p>\n

There is more than enough blame to go around, it seems.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The latest inquest into failure by an American team on European soil involves slow greens, the perception of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":892050,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[566],"tags":[64,63,755,85],"class_list":["post-892049","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-golf","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-golf","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/892049","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=892049"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/892049\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/892050"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=892049"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=892049"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=892049"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}