Michelle Wie divot becomes big issue for Europeans

Silence the crowds. It is a mantra of any team playing away from home and it is something that Alison Nicholas, the Europe captain, will have drummed into her players yesterday when they set off in pursuit of the Solheim Cup at Rich Harvest Farms, 50 miles west of Chicago.
In the early stages of the match, it seemed as if Europe had done just that. At one point they led in three of the morning fourballs and had an air of confidence that took the galleries, if not their opposition, by surprise.
But as the morning play wore on, and the United States started to turn the tables with some excellent, attacking golf, they had to scramble hard to finish the session trailing the Americans by a single point, 2½-1½, going into the afternoon foursomes.
And for diplomatic reasons it was just as well that Catriona Matthew, who partnered an out-of-sorts Maria Hjorth, sank a hole-winning birdie putt at the 18th hole to secure a half-point with the high-profile pairing of Michelle Wie and Morgan Pressel.
There was consternation among the European players and their captain when Wie asked for, and was given, a free drop from a heavily divoted and pock-marked area of the 18th fairway after she had been forced to lay up short of the par-five hole having been wayward off the tee.
The area had not been designated “ground under repair”, but the rules official nonetheless decreed that it should be considered thus. “We didn’t think anyone would be playing from that spot, so we didn’t mark it off,” she told Nicholas and Matthew. “But we’re trying to do the right thing here.” Whatever happened to the principle of playing the ball as it lies?
In many ways, it was just as well that Wie found a bunker with her third shot and could do nothing to prevent Matthew recording her fifth birdie of the day. The British Open champion had been calmness personified at the start of the round, smiling benignly as the galleries sang their songs and Christina Kim — a self-appointed cheerleader — went into the bleachers to lead the chants of U-S-A, U-S-A.
By the turn the European pair were two up, only to find themselves pegged back by some exceptional approach play and putting from Wie, who was looking more at home as the match unfolded.
The Americans won three holes on the trot from 12th to take the lead for the first time, but it would have seemed unfair if they had gone on to win. A half-point was a fair return for both sides.
Beth Daniel, the United States captain, had made much of her decision to send out Paula Creamer and Cristie Kerr, her top-ranked players, in the first match against Sophie Gustafson and Suzann Pettersen, but it looked to have backfired until Creamer sank a huge putt at the 16th to give her team the lead for the first time in the match. They went on to win by one hole.
Europe’s only winning point came from Helen Alfredsson, a former captain, and Tania Elosegui, who beat Julie Inkster and Angela Stanford by one hole.
If there was one area that should have concerned the officials, however, it was pace of play. With the morning matches taking almost six hours to complete, all the afternoon matches were heavily delayed. Six hours for matchplay? Surely not.
Source:The times