Another Solheim Cup is in the books…….. but I wonder how it will be remembered?

In his Saturday morning report Iain Carter, 5 Live’s excellent golf correspondent, said that the venue and levels of organisation were “shambolic”, insulting to the players and fans and that a great many people would be going home disappointed for whatever reason.  Early in the week the spectators were not allowed to take either water or sunscreen into the venue (although this was later rectified) and then, to further compound that bit of nonsense, the concession stands ran out of water!  And the choice of golf course was ludicrous, with massive changes in elevation making it supremely difficult to follow a match from beginning to end.  It looked to me as if the players were being asked to play golf in a velodrome.

Certainly, in my role as armchair critic, I knew instantly that Sky were not providing the television pictures as the production was woeful and certainly not up to Sky’s usual standard.  They were, it turns out, at the mercy of the host broadcaster which can often be tricky.  At one point in the Saturday afternoon fourballs the two Americans teed off on the driveable par 4 opening hole and the cameras never left the players.  Who knows where their drives finished?  It shall forever be a mystery.

Against this background the players from both sides put on a show that was at times brilliant, often scintillating and certainly unforgettable.  Who in their right minds gives any American team a four-up start?  But that’s exactly what Suzann Pettersen’s side did and it was two-and-a-half exhausting days later that the final result concluded in the first-ever halved match in Solheim Cup history.  Fourteen points apiece.  Well, you can’t REALLY expect to win a Solheim or Ryder Cup when your top players don’t perform.  No wins from Georgia Hall (who was two up with two to play but only managed a half), Charley Hull or Céline Boutier in the final series of singles was the stuff of nightmares for their captain.

There are now calls and cries that a halved match is beyond unsatisfactory and that some sort of play-off should be manufactured.  I don’t agree – I don’t think either team deserved to lose and I see no reason why they shouldn’t share the spoils until the next encounter.  And let’s abolish the holders retaining the trophy nonsense.  Why on earth should they?  A draw and a shared trophy are perfectly fine by me.

It seems to be a recurring theme that European-hosted Solheims and Ryder Cups are short on effective organisation for everyone attending the event in a non-working capacity but the euphoria of victories – and ties – washes away and papers over the shortcomings.  I’m glad I wasn’t there, but I’m thrilled to the rafters for two special people – Carlota Ciganda and Marta Figueras Dotti.

I’ve known Carlota since she was fourteen years of age, watching her take her first steps in junior European golf.  And I’ve known Marta, the current chair of the Ladies’ European Tour and “Señora Golf” in Spain since we first played against one another more than forty years ago.  This Solheim Cup in Spain has been the pinnacle of all their ambitions and for Carlota to emerge the heroine with her closing brace of birdies – well, you couldn’t write it.  You could, but “too far-fetched” would have been the verdict of even the most romantic of Holywood script writers.  And yet, it happened – on an amazing Sunday afternoon in sunny Andalucia.

I had predicted months ago that Europe would win.  I was wrong…….but it didn’t feel as though I was.  Congrats all round to both sets of players.

To the organisers – get your act together and start paying proper attention to your supporters and fan base……….or risk losing them.

The focus is now exclusively on Rome and having met up with the sister on Monday evening in the heart of the Eternal city we have now had two days of sight-seeing in this most incredible of places.

Tuesday saw us take a Skip the Line tour of the Vatican museums, the Sistine Chapel and St Peter’s basilica.   Skip the Line would challenge the trades description act as in reality it is Stand in a Marginally Shorter Line tour, but it had to be done.  Our guide rushed us through the Sistine Chapel at a rate of knots but even that didn’t lessen the sensory overload.  As Patricia said, there was really no need to visit the museums because the entire city is a museum.

It was a long ole day and I must confess that I occasionally rued the fact that Michelangelo had lived until the age of 89 in an era when 40 was the average life expectancy.  If he’d been “average” we wouldn’t have had quite so many masterpieces to file past.  But, as we all know, there was nothing remotely average about Michelangelo.

The following day we did a tour of the Colosseum, the Archaelogical Gardens and Palatine Hill.  Amazing, jaw dropping and fabulous from beginning to end with our wonderful guide Barbara.  What a city, what a place and what a privilege to be here.

Now we have the prospect of a gladiatorial contest of a different hue and, come Sunday, there will undoubtedly be many cheers ringing out from the Marco Simone golf course.  Centuries ago the crowds of old in the Colosseum bayed for the Emperor to give the thumbs down, thus sentencing some poor soul to death.  This Sunday I’ll settle for a few rounds of Ole. Ole.

Bring it on.

Well, what a superb contest that was on the Costa del Sol, on a godawful golf course that I’ve unkindly – but with feeling because I spent a lot of time tramping around the bloody place – re-christened Stinka Cortesin.  The resort may be wonderful, the hotel beyond 5-star but the course, described in bunkered mag’s mainly Ryder Cup preview (with a few pages of Solheim) as “renowned across Europe as a gem”, was beyond ghastly.

The players and caddies at the Solheim Cup performed wonders to produce some stunning golf in sometimes sizzling temperatures but it was the fans, not all of us even in the first flush of menopause, let alone youth (whatever that is), who were the real stars.  We all, every single one of us, deserve medals for our efforts – or, at the very least, a vote of thanks and a couple of manageable venues in future.

Fortunately, the Virginia Boys, as I called them (they were old enough not to take offence), who were manning one of the stalls in the Andalucia Plaza, where there was a screen, chairs, not enough parasols and the merchandise shop, assured me that there’s nothing hilly about next year’s venue.  It’s the Robert Trent Jones Golf Club, on the shores of Lake Manassas, in Gainesville, Virginia, just about 3o miles from Washington DC.

And when we’re back in Europe, in 2026, we’ll be in Holland, not renowned for its sharp-edged mountains.  We’ll all be a lot older then, if we’re still around, so the less strain on creaking joints the better…And we’ll probably need the waterproofs.  Europe almost always win in the wet.

Under the nonsensical convention that the holders retain the trophy in the event of a tie, this may technically count as an unprecedented third European win in a row – but I don’t think so, so if they want to win three in a row, they have to start again next year.  As an old golfing friend said to me, “Don’t think this retaining the cup is a good idea.  They should share it.  It WAS a draw.  Both sides made great shots and blunders.”  Alistair Tait, who knows a thing or two about golf, made the same point in his blog entitled “Nothing Wrong With Honours Even”.

I thought it was terrific when the Lions shared the series against the All Blacks in New Zealand, though lots of people moaned and talked about some sort of arbitrary tiebreaker or shootout or whatever.  No way.  They’d fought each other to a standstill and a shared series it was.  One-off games like finals need a decider of some sort but not a series.  Cricket understands draws but most Americans know nothing about cricket and find the concept of a draw anathema, utterly baffling.  They want a winner.  Tell me though, what would have been the point of putting some knackered players, who’d given their all – and a knackered audience – through more, totally unnecessary suffering?

Understandably, having come from 0-4 down, the Europeans celebrated dementedly but it struck me that the Americans, who’d contributed so much to an enthralling contest, didn’t get enough credit – or congratulations.  A few Ryder Cups ago, I remember thinking that I’d keep all camera people, television and photographers, almost everybody in fact, off the green at the end.  There’s such a swarm that the players who’ve completed their match, get swamped and all civility gets swept away.  It’s far too much of an unedifying scrum.

My mate, watching at home on the telly, put it this way:  “Just wish people would not rush on to a green, especially when there is another game behind [Lexi Thompson, who was immense and Emily Pedersen, ditto, the last women out].  US would have been rightly pissed off if Lexi did not close it out.

“Jacklin started this rushing-on nonsense when Torrance holed out and everybody ran after him.  No chance to shake opponent’s hand.  What happened to sportsmanship?  At the Solheim one guy even ran through a bunker to join the celebrations.  Pettersen and Laura D should know better in my opinion…”

And here’s another…

In many ways this match reminded me of Loch Lomond, Killeen Castle (still have no clue how we won that one) and Gleneagles last time out.  As the singles progressed it looked as though the Europeans were doomed to defeat and disappointment, undone ultimately by their abysmal start when they lost the first four foursomes.  They clawed back to 8-all before the 12 singles but towards the end it looked as though everything was going horribly wrong from a European point of view.

By this time I was back watching in the bar at the hotel with a load of other assorted exhausted tragics and WhatsApping Mo, who was glued to the box at home…”Getting tense,” I wrote.  “What do you think?

”Think Lexi and Yin will do us in,” the sister responded….”And wouldn’t trust…[name redacted to protect the innocent]…

”No, not at all and all those little putts missed, we’re doomed….Winning’s so much more fun.

”Yes.  A BBU [brave but unavailing] after the first session.  They’ve run out of gas!”

”Yeah, almost bound to happen.”

”I’d settle for 14-all.”

”Creeping closer.  King is there, Carlota must win in front of el rey….[And she did.  And how.]  So pleased for Carlota, you couldn’t make it up.  Brill.”

”Utterly fantastic!”

”Un-bloody-believable.”

”You know, you think you’ve seen it all and it’s a one-off…..and then it keeps on happening!”

Golf, bloody hell.