Day That Begins In Controversy Ends In Glory For U.S. Team

ByMATT COOPER
September 21, 2015, 3:12 PM

— -- ST. LEON ROT, Germany -- On Saturday night, U.S. captain Juli Inkster had a simple instruction for her team ahead of the final day. "You've got to play with heart," she told her players. "You've got to play with fire in your belly."

Little did she know that 12 hours later activities on the 17th green in one of the three remaining fourball matches on the course would ignite the kindling in those bellies and set them furiously ablaze. When Alison Lee missed her 11-foot birdie putt, she thought the short return had been conceded. For many hours the exact circumstances of what happened next were clouded in mystery, but the gist was that Norwegian Suzann Pettersen was indignant that Lee had erred in assuming the putt had been given, and the Americans thought there was sufficient evidence that she had believed it was and that the situation should be rectified.

The 18th hole was then played in an atmosphere of growing tension and confusion as Pettersen reiterated her belief, fanning the flames in those American bellies.