The second factor is that the fans were not drinking alcohol as soon as the gates opened. Granted, there was a lively scene in the tented village but if there were idiots who had overdone the grog, they were few and far between. In New York the boozed-up louts were everywhere, but here, 90 minutes south of Amsterdam they were not welcome.
Credit to the organisers for refusing to copy the PGA of America and shamelessly playing the hype game in the quest of footfall and income. This event is not a sell-out and the US Ryder Cup cheerleaders will claim this as another reason why the passion has not so far spilt over into anything ugly. They will also point out that there have been flare-ups between the players in Solheim Cups past.
Fair enough. But those flashpoints occurred between the ropes and will happen in contests as tense as these. Outside the ropes, the women’s biennial contest is exemplary and should act as a lesson for the men’s equivalent. The only quibble was the music that boomed out from the tented village late on as the players were on the 18th green. But that will be fixed by Saturday.
The sports action certainly warranted this wonderful backdrop. It began with Nelly Korda, the US’s poster girl, taking swift and brutal revenge over Charley Hull, her European equivalent. Yet after losing the first two foursomes, Europe gallantly hit back to tie the session 2-2.