The Solheim Cup has been denied its pantomime villain, in a playing capacity at least. Wednesday’s news that a back problem has forced Suzann Pettersen out of the European team for this weekend’s event in Iowa would be notable enough – she has played eight times in the Solheim Cup – without the colourful backdrop.
Pettersen triggered chaos and tears at the meeting of Europe and the United States two years ago after refusing to concede a tiny putt mistakenly picked up by Alison Lee.
The Norwegian, who will remain with the European contingent as a vice-captain, has swapped roles with Catriona Matthew. Pettersen was strangely reticent to reveal the detail behind what has been described as a recurring disc problem but answered with an emphatic “No” when asked if she had feared a hostile reception from home fans in Des Moines.
“I mean, we’re all here to do a job,” Pettersen said. “I think what happened two years ago was a very unfortunate situation for all of us and for the game of golf. And hopefully this year around everyone can play as good as we can and showcase the best women’s golf.
“We’ve all tried to prepare as well as we can to come here to do the task that we’re asked, and that is to play our hearts out and try to win the cup back. That has been my focus. I know it’s been the rest of the team’s focus. I think you learn from the past, to say it that way. I’m very disappointed not to play.”
On the specifics of the injury, Pettersen initially cited “an incident on Saturday which was not a very pleasant experience”.
Pressed on this, the 36-year-old added: “It doesn’t really matter what you did. Obviously it happened.” A third attempt gleaned a little more clarity. “I was actually out for a little bit of a short, easy run, a morning run before breakfast. I was going to a wedding on Saturday night and decided maybe it was nice to get moving before sitting all day. That’s when it happened.
“If you can’t even be 90% [fit] there’s no point,” Pettersen said. “So you have to kind of be honest with yourself, look yourself in the mirror and say are you fit enough to go or not?”
Annika Sorenstam, Europe’s captain, did little to downplay the element of disruption to the plans of a team who were already the heavy underdogs.
“It’s been a lot of juggling, to put it mildly,” admitted Sorenstam. “I was just glad that Suzann called me on Saturday. I had a plan, I called it plan A. Then we started a plan B.
“Needless to say, we have had a lot of plans back and forth. When Suzann and I spoke this morning, I kind of threw out plan A and now we’re sticking to plan B.
“Catriona has obviously played many times and she knows many of the players. And she’s very easy to pair with. So it’s not going to be any more difficult. As a matter of fact, I think we’re already ready with plan B and we’re going to stick to it. Hopefully there will be no plan C.”
Matthew, a 47-year-old from East Lothian, is a Solheim Cup veteran and has taken 19 points from 33 matches. She is widely expected to captain Europe when the event takes place at Gleneagles in 2019.
First, Matthew will have to put aside an inauspicious run of form which has seen a best finish of tied 30th this year.
“Obviously I’m gutted for Suzann not to be able to play,” said the Scot. “I’ve played in a few of these with Suzann. She’s a great competitor and I feel really sorry for her, but it is a tough week and if you’re not 100%; you want to give it your all if you’re not 100%, you perhaps can’t do that.”
